Inmaculada Concepción, Church, Col. El Reloj

The Inmaculada Concepción Church is one of the celebrated modernist churches of architect Alberto González Pozo. He built four churches in Coyoacán in the 1960s. A fifth followed in 1983.

Here in the Colonia El Reloj, Pozo began with a corner lot. A small rectangular chapel was first built at the rear of the lot. Pozo’s design called a conical roof in two different heights and central illumination. The main nave of the church is covered by three hyperbolic paraboloids of poured concrete. These rest on a compression ring supported by columns. The resulting interior seems flooded with light and atmosphere.

Much of this atmosphere is provided through the prolific stained glass windows. José Reyes Meza designed them in the 1960s specifically for this space.

Perhaps the church’s most unique feature is the dramatically angled bell tower. It leans well out above the entrance to the lot and provides presence and visibility to the otherwise subdued temple.

The Inmaculada Concepción Church was only finally finished in 1984. By that time, the Colonia El Reloj was solidly established as a middle  class community. It’s a newer neighborhood right between two original settlements. Santa Úrsula Coapa stands directly to the south. Most of El Reloj was former farmland of that community. To the immediate north is San Pablo Tepetlapa.

The church is just a few minutes walk past the Mercado El Reloj and still only about 5-minutes walk from the Registro Federal Light Rail station.