These include a mostly Mexican art collection spanning the 16th to 20th century, with works by Picasso, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Jesús Reyes Ferreira and Miguel Covarrubias.

[4] The house was built on property that Barragán probably purchased in 1939 as part of a larger development at a time when his career was shifting from real estate to architecture.

[5] The house was designed and built in 1947 for Luz Escandón de R. Valenzuela, but in 1948, Barragán decided to move into it himself, despite the fact that at the time he was developing the elite subdivision Jardines del Pedregal in the south of the city.

[5][7][8] In 1993, the government of the state of Jalisco and Arquitectura Tapatía Luis Barragán Foundation acquired the house, turning it into a museum in 1994.

It was named because of its representation of 20th-century architecture, which integrated traditional and vernacular elements and mixes various philosophical and artistic tendencies of the mid 20th century.

[7] Despite its importance, the house is little known to Mexico City tourism, generally visited by architects and art aficionados from various parts of the world.

[8][10] The house was completely restored in 1995 at a cost of 250,000 pesos for its function as a museum, with money coming from CONACULTA, the national lottery and the Jalisco government.

These include a mostly Mexican art collection spanning the 16th to 20th century, with works by Picasso, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Jesús Reyes Ferreira and Miguel Covarrubias.

[9] Temporary exhibits held at the house include that of Jorge Yázpk (2008), Azul Pacífico by Sofía Taboas (2008), Homenaje al cuadrado by Josef Albers (2007), Equus by Teresas Zimbrón (2007), Little did he know by Aldo Chaparro, Mauricio Garcia Torre and Mauricio Limón (2007), Frederic Amat (2006), Luciano Matus (2006), La mancha by Santiago Borja (2006), Valeria Florescano (2004),[14] Alberto Moreno, (2008), José Limón (2008), Intervenciones a la aquitectura by Humberto Spindola (2009), SANAA by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (2009) and one by Francisco Ugarte (2010) .

These artists included Pedro Reyes, Claudia Fernandez, Damian Ortega, Anri Sala and Koo Jeon-A.

[4] When he returned to Mexico, he began building houses in Guadalajara, a number of which became featured in publications in the United States and Italy.

During his career, he developed projects in Mexico City, Manzanillo, Guadalajara, Acapulco, La Jolla, CA but his best known work is that on Ciudad Satélite.

[17][18] Barragan's work is notable for its use of traditional materials, rich spaces, broad planar forms and unlike most of his contemporaries, the use of bright colors.

[7] The main facade is on Calle General Francisco Ramírez numbers 12 and 14, a small street near the historic center of the former town of Tacubaya.

[6] The facades of the house align with the street and are very plain, with rough cement walls very similar in color and composition of its neighbors.

The house has been compared to an oasis with high walls to keep out the “urban chaos.”[16][17] The qualities of his architecture are expressed in the interior, including the garden space.

[4][5] The house represents an integration of modern and traditional architectural styles, which has since been influential, especially in the design of gardens, plazas and landscapes.

[10] Past a low threshold and parchment screen is the living room, with a double height ceiling of wooden beams and a floor of pine planks.

[10] Other spaces on the ground floor include reading room/library, and a dining area, which has a low ceiling and a fuchsia wall with ceramic bowls from all parts of Mexico on display.

The windows that face this garden were moved after the building was finished and the marks left by their old sites give this facade an unkempt look.

[5][10] The upper floor contains a master bedroom with dressing room, a guest room and an “afternoon room.”[5] The main bedroom has a window facing the garden and was where the architect slept, simply calling it the “white room.” It contains a painting called “Anunciación” as well as a thirty cm tall folding screen with images of an African model which were cut from magazines.