Polanco is a neighborhood in the
Miguel Hidalgo borough of
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. Polanco is an affluent ''
colonia'', noted for its luxury shopping along
Presidente Masaryk Avenue, the
most expensive street in Mexico, as well as for the numerous prominent cultural institutions located within the neighborhood.
Originally a
residential area
A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas.
Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...
of large
single-family homes, the land use of the neighborhood began to change in the second half of the 20th century. Particularly after the
1985 Mexico City earthquake, the former residences were replaced by
commercial properties and high rise buildings. Today, Polanco is best known as a
shopping district.
Polanco is known for having one of the country's densest concentrations of luxury shopping, with the most upscale restaurants,
high-net-worth individuals, upscale hotels, and
diplomatic missions and embassies. It is one of the most expensive real estate markets in
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
.
A newer development north of Polanco, popularly termed "''
Nuevo Polanco''", is a
business district
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit."
A business entity is not necessar ...
that is home to BBVA, WeWork and Telecel while also housing important cultural institutions such as the
Museo Soumaya and the
Colección Jumex. ''Nuevo Polanco'', officially in the colonias of Granada and Ampliación Granada, is not part of the Polanco neighborhood. However, Polanco and ''Nuevo Polanco'' are sometimes grouped together.
History
The colonia takes its name from a river that crossed what is now the Avenue Campos Elisios (Elysian Fields Avenue), named in memory of the Spanish Jesuit
Juan Alfonso de Polanco, a secretary of
Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the S ...
, whose relatives, members of the Polanco family, were members of board of the Kings of
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
in the 17th century and came to Mexico as officers of the Crown.
In a plan made by
Francisco Antonio de Guerrero y Torres and dated 1784, a "ruined house Polanco" is located on the grounds of the Hacienda de San Juan de los Morales. This hacienda sits on land donated in the sixteenth century to
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...
by the King of Spain, under the jurisdiction of
Tacuba. At the beginning of the colonial times, parts of this land (near the current center of the Hacienda) were occupied for planting mulberry trees for breeding silkworms (hence the name "los morales"). The hull of the Hacienda as currently known dates from the eighteenth century. Extension lands belonging to the estate began to be divided in the late 1920s.
Polanco was developed in 1937 by the Aleman family, the same developers of
Ciudad Satélite and San José Insurgentes districts, on the land that was originally the Hacienda de los Morales, just north of Molino del Rey town and
Bosque de Chapultepec. The first area to be built is now called Polanco Reforma and lies just north of
Paseo de la Reforma, the entrance to the new neighborhood marked by a tiled obelisk to
Simon Bolivar facing Reforma. In those days, there were only mansions surrounded by gardens and tree lined streets.
By the 1960s, the first department store arrived in the neighborhood, forever transforming the face of Polanco. In the 1970s, the last piece of land to be developed was sold, the triangle of Ejército Nacional, Ferrocarril de Cuernavaca and
Periférico, where no stand-alone housing was built, only apartment buildings.
The
1985 Mexico City earthquake reshaped the city layout, and Polanco was no exception; restaurants, embassies, boutiques and corporate business slowly moved from
Zona Rosa and established themselves in Polanco. Big houses were torn down and replaced with new buildings. The former inhabitants typically moved to neighborhoods such as Bosques de las Lomas and
Lomas de Tecamachalco.
Land prices have become some of the most expensive in the city, as zoning rules forbid skyscrapers in the area. There are few mansions remaining which are protected by
INBA, therefore large building projects cannot be undertaken like the ones in
Lomas de Chapultepec, or
Santa Fe, two areas which have an edge on attracting new inhabitants. Ruben Darío Avenue, facing Chapultepec Park, and Campos Eliseos Avenue are two of the most expensive streets in Mexico City, with apartments ranging up to US$15 million.
Geography

Polanco consists of five officially recognized ''
colonias'', called "Polanco I Sección", "Polanco II Sección", "Polanco III Sección", "Polanco IV Sección", and "Polanco V Sección".
The borders of Polanco are:
[
* On the north, Avenida Ejército Nacional and the Nuevo Polanco area as well as Colonia Irrigación
* On the south, Paseo de la Reforma
* On the east, Avenida General Mariano Escobedo and Colonia Anzures
* On the west, Blvd. Manuel Ávila Camacho ( Anillo Periférico) and the ''colonias'' of Lomas de Chapultepec, Reforma Social and Residencia Militar
Formerly Polanco contained nine ''colonias'' whose names were: Bosque de Chapultepec, Bosque de Chapultepec Polanco, Chapultepec Morales, Chapultepec Polanco, Los Morales - Sección Palmas, Los Morales - Sección Alameda, Polanco Reforma, Polanco Chapultepec, and Rincón del Bosque.
Nuevo Polanco is an area bordering Polanco to the north across Avenida Ejercito Nacional. It contains the Antara Polanco and Plaza Carso shopping malls, the Museo Soumaya and Museo Jumex, establishments which are sometimes incorrectly reported as being in the Polanco neighborhood.
]
Demographics
The population of Polanco is 27,322, distributed as follows across the ''colonias'':
* Zone I: 5,385
* Zone II: 4,943
* Zone III: 3,603
* Zone IV: 3,634
* Zone V: 9,757
Culture
Architecture
Polanco enjoyed a construction boom in the 1940s, when large single-family residences were built. The architectural style of most of these buildings was "Colonial Californiano", inspired by the Mission Revival Style in the Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
, with pseudo-baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
windows, front-side gardens and inside halls. Some of these mansions have been renovated and converted into businesses and restaurants; many others have simply been torn down and replaced with new buildings.
Restaurants
Notable restaurants in Polanco include Pujol, Biko, Nobu, Morimoto, and Mr. Chow.
Frequently named as the best restaurant in Mexico, in 2022 Pujol ranked 5th in The World's 50 Best Restaurants.
Parks
Part of the city's iconic park, Chapultepec, falls within Polanco's borders.
Parque Lincoln is the neighborhood park most associated with Polanco. The park's clock tower has become a symbol of Polanco.
Other parks in Polanco are the smaller Parque América, Parque Machado and the Plaza Uruguay.
Museums
The most important cultural institution located in the neighborhood is the National Museum of Anthropology, located in the area of Chapultepec Park that is officially part of Polanco.
Other institutions located in Polanco include the Museo Tamayo (in Chapultepec) and the Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros (highlighting the work of David Alfaro Siqueiros).
Government
The address of the Campo Marte, a venue under the administration of the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) is in Polanco. A '' Field of Mars'', it is used for military and government events, as well as equestrian events.
Economy
In addition to the above-mentioned shopping and dining, Polanco and Nuevo Polanco together are one of the primary areas for Class A office space in the city and metro area. As of 2017 Polanco was the second fastest-growing area of new construction of office space. Samsung, Coca-Cola, Visa, GM, Nestlé, Telmex/Grupo Carso and many more multinationals have their headquarters in the middle of Polanco.
Shopping
Avenida Presidente Masaryk
The highest-priced street and the one with the most upscale boutiques in Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
, it is compared by some to Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive or New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...
. The Avenue was named by President Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revo ...
in honor of Tomáš Masaryk, the first President of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
.
Shops include Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Chanel, Corneliani, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany & Co., DKNY, Ermenegildo Zegna, Brioni, Burberry, Bulgari, Chopard, Gucci
Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...
, Hermès
Hermès International S.A. ( , ) is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, silk goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Since the ...
, Frette, Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...
, Max Mara, Hugo Boss
Hugo Boss AG (stylized in all caps) is a designer fashion company headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company sells clothing, Fashion accessory, accessories, footwear, and Leather, leather goods. Hugo Boss is one of the ...
, Rolex, Jaeger Le Coultre, Galerias Tehran, and Berger Joyeros.
Freestanding department stores
Measuring 55,248 m2, the largest department store in Latin America is the flagship Palacio de Hierro Polanco, designed by Javier Sordo Madaleno.
Polanco also has a freestanding Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
department store, which at 37,000 m2 is the largest in the chain.
There is a Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...
in the Pabellón Polanco mall. The defunct París-Londres had a branch in Polanco at Horacio 203, now an Innovasport superstore, as did Saks Fifth Avenue from 2010 to 2020.
Shopping centers
Shopping centers include:
* Galerías Polanco, adjacent to Liverpool Polanco
* Pabellón Polanco, anchored by Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...
and Cinemex cinemas
* Pasaje Polanco, originally called simply the ''Pasaje Comercial'' and now popularly known as ''Polanquito'', a smaller but historic collection of shops around a courtyard, built in 1938 in Colonial Californiano style (Mexican interpretation of California Spanish Colonial Revival architecture) It encompasses a block located south of Avenida Pdt. Masaryk toward Avenida Emilio Castelar.
Four other large shopping centers are located across the street from the northern edge of Polanco: Antara, Plaza Carso, Miyana and Centro Comercial Polanco.
Transportation
Polanco is bordered on the west by the Anillo Periférico ring road and the Avenida Río San Joaquín freeway is just to the north, connecting the Periférico via Polanco to central Mexico City. Main east-west thoroughfares include (south to north:) Paseo de la Reforma, Avenida Presidente Masaryk, Ave. Horacio, Ave. Homero, and Ave. Ejercito Nacional. Main north-south thoroughfares include (east to west): General Mariano Escobedo, Molière, Ferrocarril de Cuernavaca and Juan Vásquez Mella.
Public transit
Polanco is served by the Polanco and Auditorio stations of the Mexico City metro (subway). The western terminus of the double decker buses of the Reforma line of the Metrobús ( bus rapid transit) is in Polanco. '' Peseros'' (minibuses), city buses and trolleybuses ply numerous streets in Polanco continuing to and from other parts of the city.
Education
Schools in Polanco include:
* Lycée Franco-Mexicain (''Liceo Franco Mexicano'')
* Colegio Ciudad de México Plantel Polanco[Plantel Polanco]
" Colegio Ciudad de México. Retrieved on April 5, 2016. "Colegio Ciudad de México, Plantel Polanco. Campos Elíseos 130, Col. Polanco."
* Conservatorio Nacional de Música
In popular culture
The mansion of '' The Exterminating Angel'', the main setting of the 1962 Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
film, is in Polanco. The address of the building is on Homero Avenue (formerly Rocafuerte Avenue), although it is no longer visible from street level as the mansion's former gardens are now occupied by high rise buildings.
Gallery
File:Musee National Anthropologie-Entree.jpg, National Museum of Anthropology
File:Mexico City (29960379412).jpg, Casa de Arte
File:Mexico - Mexico City, Lincoln Park at Polanco 2015 - panoramio.jpg, Parque Lincoln
File:Centro Cultural Coreano 2.jpg, Korean Cultural Center
File:Mexico City (26015281860).jpg, Louis Vuitton boutique on Avenida Masaryk
File:Sinagoga Maguén David 01.jpg, Maguén David Synagogue
File:Polanco skyscrapers.jpg, High rise buildings in Polanco
See also
* Nuevo Polanco
* Lomas de Chapultepec
* List of most expensive streets by city
* List of leading shopping streets and districts by city
References
External links
*Polanco. Las transformaciones de un barrio. Rafael Fierr
{{Authority control
Polanco, Mexico City,
Central business districts
Financial districts in Mexico
Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City
Neighborhoods in Mexico City
Edge cities in Mexico