It has been 6 years since the previous review of this WHS, and some things indeed have changed. The entrance fee now is a steep (from a Mexican perspective) 210 pesos, which equals 12 EUR. For a further contribution of 500 pesos, you're also allowed to take pictures inside the house, something that has been strictly forbidden for a long time and has added to the site's mystery. I forgot to bring extra money (500 pesos is much more than what you need on an average day in Mexico), so the visitors of this website will have to make do with the ugly exterior views of the house.

The entrance still is on appointment and with a guide only. I joined an English-speaking tour at 12.30. Another tour in Spanish had just ended when we started. There were about 12 people on that tour, and 5 on mine. It's quite a miracle that these tours are so popular: the Casa Luis Barragan is a secret that is well-hidden from the general tourist public. Lonely Planet does not mention it, and the Michelin Green Guide has only a small entry in its Mexico guidebook. Most of the other visitors seemed to be architects or modern architecture buffs.

My tour around the house and the studio took about an hour. The complex has many doors, and we entered all the rooms except for the bathrooms and kitchen. Barragán's private quarters appealed the most to me - I could see myself living there, a cozy room that like most of the other rooms still holds the original furniture and carpets. When you've visited a number of these modernist structures on the WH list, you'll notice a lot of familiar things such as the large windows to connect the outdoor and the inside. Unfortunately for me, this building did not live up to its hype, I prefer for example the Paimio Sanatorium by Aalto or any structure by Frank Lloyd Wright.