José Villagrán and Enrique del Moral: Pioneers in the Defense of Heritage

This article describes two of the pioneers of modern Mexican architecture in the context of their works and of their writings on the defense and conservation of heritage: José Villagrán García (1901–1982) and Enrique del Moral (1905–1987). Villagrán is acknowledged as the father of modern Mexican architecture, and designed what is widely regarded as the first modernist building in Mexico, the Granja Sanitaria de Popotla, completed in 1925. Villagrán also played an equally critical role in Mexican architectural pedagogy through his collected Teoría de architectura (1963) and a teaching career that spanned six decades. Del Moral was one of Villagrán's disciples, a key member of the modern movement in Mexico, and someone who combined architectural avant-gardism with a deep understanding of vernacular building. Villagrán and Del Moral were the authors of two of the most important Mexican texts regarding heritage and its preservation: Villagrán, with Arquitectura y restauración de monumentos (1966), an excerpt of which appears in translation as "Architecture and Monument Restoration" in this issue of Future Anterior, and Del Moral, with the book Defensa y conservación de las ciudades y Conjuntos urbanos monumentales (1980).