Brick Hotel

Sir William Newbold, head of the Bank of London & Mexico, built his house on Calle Orizaba early in the twentieth century from straw-yellow bricks that had crossed from England as a ship's ballast. They gave the hotel its name, and they are still in the walls of the old house, round its arched windows and up a rounded corner bay under deep wooden eaves. The newer building keeps out of its way in black steel and glass, with a lit stair running overhead across a terrace of plants and orange cushions. Inside, parquet is laid in chevrons, and the bar is a long counter of white marble with a brass rail for the feet.

Recommended for grown-ups who want Roma Norte on foot and a small house to come home to: seventeen rooms, and nobody under twelve. Guests say the neighbourhood's restaurants and bars are a walk away, and Parque México, over in Condesa, is twenty minutes. The concierge goes further: to Teotihuacán, by balloon at sunrise for anyone who wants the pyramids from above, or to Xochimilco and a trajinera along the canals. Dinner is closer still, at Cerrajería. It is Mexican fine dining, and Spanish for the locksmith's, a reassuring name in a banker's house. Ask for the SUD Signature Suite, with its terrace, or the two-level Rooftop Suite, which has a piece of roof to itself. One of Mexico's presidents later owned the house, and the presidents have stayed on: portraits of old ones line the corridor to the speakeasy. The hotel keeps the speakeasy for private events, so most guests get as far as the presidents and no further.