Voicing modernity. The architectural renovation of Monterrey in El Norte newspaper (1945-1963)

Abstract

The city of Monterrey, in northeastern Mexico, is characterized by an early technical development that transformed the city and marked its appropriation of modernity using local industrialized construction materials. The dissemination of the architectural and urban renovations that were happening in the pages of the newspaper El Norte provides a vision of the city that is born industrial and that seeks its conversion into the paradigm of the modern western city. The buildings that were being disseminated would consolidate this imaginary, at the same time as the deficiencies inherent in the growing economies of Latin American countries mark a constant criticism of the modernization process. The dissemination in the local press, marked by a strong inclination towards private initiative works, such as the pioneering construction of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies campus, would gradually accommodate public budget works, such as those significant of the Mexican Social Security Institute and the University of Nuevo León. Thus, this analysis seeks to broaden and enrich current interpretations of one of the different national modernities.