About Us
The Origin: The Convent of Santa María de Gracia
The site where the Del Carmen Concept Hotel and Café Chai stand today was originally part of the vast Convent of Santa María de Gracia, the first convent of Dominican nuns in Guadalajara, founded in the 16th century. At the height of its splendor, the convent occupied several city blocks in the city center. With the Reform Laws of the 19th century, the Church’s assets were confiscated and the convent was broken up, giving way to private homes and public buildings. Thus, a space that for centuries had been one of silence and seclusion gradually opened up to the city’s civilian life.
Jacobo Gálvez and the Mansion on the Street Named After Him
On that former convent grounds, the mansion now occupied by the hotel and café—located at 45 Jacobo Gálvez Street—was built around 1867–1870. Its design is attributed to Jacobo Gálvez himself, the renowned Guadalajara architect and painter who designed the Degollado Theater, and who, following the secularization of the convent, participated in the construction and remodeling of several estates in the area. The street is named after him precisely in honor of that legacy, and there is an oral tradition—not entirely verifiable, but deeply rooted—according to which Gálvez not only designed the house but also maintained a close connection to it while overseeing his major nearby projects: the dome of the Hospicio Cabañas and the Degollado Theater itself.
The estate is one of the few residential buildings he designed that still stand in downtown Guadalajara, and it is also known as the Camarena Ruiz House, named after that family; another account links it to the Rulfo family as its first owners. Whatever its exact origin, it is a remarkable example of the civil architecture that Gálvez left in the city, second only to the Degollado Theater.
Preserved Architectural Elements
As you walk through the building, you can recognize the hand of a master of Neoclassicism and 19th-century Romanticism:
The central courtyard, which retains the classic structure of traditional Guadalajara homes, with arched walkways and a layout designed to let in light and air.
The gray and gold quarry stone, a material characteristic of Gálvez's works.
The high ceilings and window frames, where the transition from the understated colonial style to 19th-century elegance is evident.
From home to a coffee shop, from a coffee shop to a hotel
Before becoming a café, the house served various purposes—offices, retail spaces—but it always retained its original structure. Chai’s arrival helped restore the space and open it to the public, allowing people to appreciate the interior of a house that would otherwise remain hidden behind private walls. Today, the café occupies the ground floor and the central courtyard, while the Del Carmen Concept Hotel—operating under the “Concept Hotel by Chai” brand—is located on the upper floors, preserving the structure that Gálvez designed more than a century and a half ago.
Jacobo Gálvez Street is also one of the narrowest and most picturesque streets in the historic center, which helps preserve the atmosphere of old Guadalajara that the architect himself helped create. Just a few steps away, inside the Degollado Theater, you can see his most famous fresco: a depiction of the Fourth Canto of Dante’s Divine Comedy, painted on the theater’s vaulted ceiling.
The Bridge Between Two Centuries: From the Academy to the Ruptura Movement
Although Jacobo Gálvez died in 1882 and the Ruptura Generation did not emerge until the 1950s, the Del Carmen Concept Hotel serves as a meeting point between these two eras. The hotel’s owners decided that a house designed by an academic and classical architect like Gálvez would be the perfect canvas to pay tribute to the artists who broke with that very same academic tradition and with nationalist muralism.
Thus, the hotel names its suites after key figures of the Ruptura movement and Mexican Surrealism—Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, Rufino Tamayo, José Luis Cuevas, among others—creating a deliberate contrast:
Jacobo Gálvez, *
* (19th century)
Style: Neoclassical, order, symmetry, academic rigor
Hotel Stone walls, semicircular arches, high ceilings
's Philosophy: Building the Identity of a Young Nation (Post-Reform Mexico)
's "Generation of the Break" (20th century)
's Style: Abstract, subjective, emotional, rebellious
At the hotel
: Paintings, suite names, a bohemian and surreal atmosphere
's Philosophy: Defending the Artist's Individual Freedom Against the State
In both cases, these are, in their own way, movements of openness: Gálvez broke with colonial Baroque to introduce European Neoclassicism; the Ruptura movement broke with nationalist muralism to introduce art with a universal vocation. The result is a building where the rigorous order of the nineteenth century and the creative freedom of the twentieth century coexist, interact, and contrast in every hallway: the semicircular arches and gray stonework serve as a sober framework that, inside the rooms, is disrupted by the iconography of artists who precisely despised the academic realism that Gálvez represented so well.
Current Period
Our Current Hotel and Team
Who
The Soul Behind the Shelter
We are a group of experience facilitators. Our team does more than just manage a property; we act as guardians of a legacy and cultural mediators. We are defined by a people-centered philosophy: we are people taking care of people. Our job is to create a warm and personalized atmosphere, ensuring that every technical detail is flawless so that our team can focus on what matters most: pampering our guests.
Why
The Purpose of Existence
The hotel exists to be an oasis of intention in the heart of the city. We seek to blend the art of the Ruptura Generation with hospitality that celebrates history. Our purpose is to offer a space where, despite the hustle and bustle outside, guests can find a sanctuary of design and comfort. It is the union of avant-garde aesthetics with respect for Guadalajara’s past.
What
An Offer of Transformation
Our proposal combines the best of the physical and digital worlds:
- Narrative Suites: Rooms inspired by great artists that invite you to a unique visual experience.
- Culinary Partnership: Although the restaurant is an independent entity from the hotel, we maintain a close partnership to delight our guests. This independence allows us to specialize in providing a relaxing experience, while the restaurant focuses on culinary excellence.
- White Glove Service: Guests enjoy the exclusive privilege of having restaurant dishes delivered directly to their rooms, combining the independence of business with absolute comfort.
- Digital Efficiency: Technologically optimized processes to ensure a smooth and hassle-free stay.
Where
The Pulse of the Historic District
We are located in the heart of Guadalajara, next to the Exconvento del Carmen. Being a downtown hotel means being right where history unfolds, surrounded by culture, museums, and the vibrant life of Guadalajara. We see ourselves as a living cultural hub that fosters experience, connection, integration, learning, entertainment, fun, and the joy of living.
When
The Timelessness of the Guest
We adapt to the traveler’s needs. Whether you’re visiting Guadalajara for its vibrant festivals or seeking a weekend getaway, the hotel transforms to meet your needs. Our neoclassical architecture maintains a natural coolness in summer and a cozy warmth in winter, offering an experience that transcends the seasons and focuses on your well-being in the present moment.
The Art of Leaving a Mark
(and a Few Other Stories)
José Luis Cuevas (1934–2017): The Leader of the Ruptura Movement
Known as the “enfant terrible” of Mexican art, Cuevas was the public face and strategist of the Rupture Generation. While Gálvez represented order and the academic tradition, Cuevas embodied raw drawing and rebellion.
- His art: a masterful draftsman, focused on the degraded human condition—deformed figures, prostitutes, madmen, beggars, butchers—with a nervous line and ink washes that explored the ugly and the grotesque.
- The “Cortina de Nopal”: a term he coined in 1956 to criticize the muralism of Rivera and Siqueiros, whom he accused of shutting Mexico behind a barrier of nationalism, rather than opening it up to universal art.
- The “Ephemeral Mural” (1967): Right in the heart of Mexico City’s Zona Rosa, Cuevas rented a billboard, painted a mural, and announced that it would be destroyed—a direct rebuke to the muralist ideal of eternal and monumental art. The event is considered one of the first happenings in Mexican art.
- The daily self-portrait: For decades, he photographed or drew himself every day, documenting his own aging; he said that his best work was himself.
- "The Mafia": that was the ironic nickname given to the Ruptura group—which also included Manuel Felguérez, Vicente Rojo, and Alberto Gironella, among others—of which Cuevas was the most belligerent voice in opposition to the old guard of muralists.
- The Castañeda Mental Hospital: He would spend hours there sketching the patients, searching for human truth on the fringes of society, far from academic perfection.
Unlike the abstract artists in the group, Cuevas never abandoned the human figure: he “broke” it from within, distorting it to reveal pain and existence.
Rufino Tamayo:
The Spiritual Father of the Ruptura Movement
He was the first to move away from political muralism to focus on color, texture, and a universal worldview, demonstrating that Mexican art could be universal without ceasing to be Mexican. Tamayo opened the door that Cuevas would later walk through with even greater flamboyance.
Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington: The "Witches" of Surrealism
Although they technically belong to the European Surrealist movement based in Mexico and not to the Ruptura movement in the strict sense, their presence is essential: they brought dreamlike qualities, magic, esotericism, and psychoanalysis, breaking with the rational order represented by Gálvez’s architecture.
They lived just a few blocks apart in Mexico City’s Colonia Roma neighborhood and visited each other almost every day. For them, cooking was a form of alchemy and a social experiment:
- They served dishes with unusual ingredients—strands of hair mixed into the rice, tortillas stuffed with cotton and fabric—to observe their guests' reactions.
- They would pick names at random from the phone book and invite them to dinner, acting as if they'd known them all their lives.
- Remedios Varo, who had a scientific background, labeled jars of common spices with names like “stardust” or “cobra venom,” and cooked in front of her guests, relishing their nervousness.
- They shared automatic writing notebooks and wordplay that enriched the symbolism of their paintings.
For them, humor was a way to cope with the reality of exile, and everyday life had to be “desecrated” in order to find creative inspiration: hence the machines that grind stars or the characters that feed the caged moon in their paintings.
Gunther Gerzso and Vlady: The Order of Abstraction
In contrast to Cuevas’s chaotic style, Gerzso and Vlady brought a different kind of order than that of Gálvez: not neoclassical order, but that of emotional geometry and sacred space.
- Gerzso, who came from the world of film set design, was a close friend of Varo and Carrington; his style of “psychological landscapes”—sharp, precise, overlapping planes of color—emerged from that shared introspection. His painting *The Days of Gabino Barreda Street* (1944) abstractly portrays the group of exiled friends—including Varo and Benjamin Péret—as a sort of group photograph made up of planes and color.
- Vlady, who is of Russian origin, used light and glazing techniques to explore psychological themes within a socially conscious form of Expressionism.
Juan Soriano and the Coronel Brothers
- Juan Soriano moved from classical portraiture to monumental and abstract sculpture—famous for his birds—and was known for his sharp tongue and his ability to move among all groups without strictly belonging to any of them.
- Pedro Coronel was the quintessential colorist, blending abstraction with pre-Hispanic motifs.
- Rafael Coronel, Pedro’s brother, leaned toward the figurative and theatrical: melancholic faces, monks, and figures with an air of dark magical realism. He married Ruth Rivera Marín, Diego Rivera’s daughter, thus ironically linking himself to the muralist tradition even though his own style leaned toward the fantastical and somber, in keeping with the spirit of Varo and Carrington.
Pedro Friedeberg: The Iconoclast
A protégé of Mathias Goeritz, Friedeberg developed his own style, described as “psychedelic-kitsch Art Nouveau”—famous for his hand-shaped chair—bringing humor, irony, and playful design to the group. While Cuevas challenged conventions with the grotesque, Friedeberg did so with the absurd and with decorative elements taken to the extreme.
Jacobo Gálvez: The Architect
An architect and painter from Guadalajara, and the designer of the Degollado Theater and the dome of the Cabañas Hospice, Gálvez embodies the neoclassical style and academic rigor of 19th-century Mexico. He is credited—according to the most widely accepted attribution—with designing the mansion that now houses the hotel, and his obsession with the use of natural light, evident in the dome of the Degollado Theater, is also evident in the building’s central courtyard.
What do they all have in common?
- Freedom of subject matter: Unlike the muralists, who painted the Revolution and the working class, this group explored the unconscious, dreams, and geometry.
- Exile and cultural fusion: several were foreigners who made Mexico their home—Varo, Carrington, and Gerzso, who were of European origin, and Vlady, who was Russian—building a bridge between the European avant-garde and the Mexican light.
- "Rupture" as an attitude: almost everyone—except for the Surrealists, with their own universe—shared the view that art did not have to be political to be Mexican.
Taken as a whole, they did not share a common style, but they did share a common enemy—compulsory artistic nationalism—and a common love: creative freedom. The Del Carmen Concept Hotel brings these diverse voices together within Jacobo Gálvez’s classical structure, creating a space where the order of the neoclassical past and the chaos of modernity coexist in every corner.