He SCOP Center, which was once the headquarters of the Ministry of Communications and Public Works (now Ministry of Communications and Transport)was one of the architectural buildings most important in the capital in the 20th century, however, it ended in total decline after two events that forever marked the Mexico CityNow, in an attempt to rescue the historic space, its future will have a completely different function.
After receiving orders from the then president of Mexico, Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, the Mexican architect, Carlos Lazo Barreiro, Then Secretary of Communications and Public Works, he began the construction of the SCOP Center with the intention of concentrating all the dependencies of said secretariat in one place.
Lazo, who also built the University City belonging to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)called the architects Augusto Perez Palacios and Raul Cacho who got to work in 1953. Completing the work took them a record time of 14 months, since by 1954 the large-scale complex was ready, which included:
It is worth mentioning that the The complex of buildings was developed in an area of 92,572 square meters.which gave an enormous dimension to the construction.
Who made the murals at the SCOP Center?
As with his team of architects, Lazo invited back the artists who collaborated with him in the construction of the UNAM University City. Characters such as:
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Juan O’Gorman
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Jose Chavez Purple
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Jose Gordillo
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Guillermo Monroy
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Jorge Best
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Arturo Estrada
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Rosendo Soto
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Luis Garcia Robledo
On this occasion, they created polychrome murals using natural stones from various regions of the Republic, which illustrate the history of communications and transportation in the different historical stages of Mexico. Previously, figures such as Juan O’Gorman participated in the creation of the mural of the Central Library of the country’s highest educational institution.
Why was the SCOP Center abandoned?
In 1985, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake marked Mexico City forever as it caused more than 20 thousand deaths and severe structural damage throughout the capital. The SCOP Centre was one of the thousands of buildings affected by the quake, including the last three floors of Building B that collapsed and 14 employees of the department were reported dead.
Among other damages to the SCOP Center, the polychrome murals at the top of the building were completely destroyed, while those at the north end, which were made by Juan O’Gorman, suffered partial damage.
Although a reconstruction plan was implemented, the SCOP Center was not left as it was in its heyday and the 2017 earthquake ended up leaving Building A and B uninhabitable.
What will happen to the SCOP Center?
The Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) delivered a contract for about 518 million pesos to the company Cav Diseño e Ingeniería SA de CV for the rescue of the murals of the SCOP Center.
According to the verdict of a tender, published on the Compranet portal, in addition to the rescue of the artistic work, The company is in charge of demolishing the building, which was damaged by the earthquake in September 2017.
The Chapultepec Project, which has been in development since November 2023, aims to build the “Mexican Muralism Park”, which seeks to rescue the murals of the old SCOP Center and give a cultural function to the new space. However, this work has had controversies due to the way in which the complex was demolished.
|| With information from Juan Luis Ramos of El Sol de México ||