Casa Vistas de San José

This amazing home has everything, including history. Enter past 16th century stone walls laced with bright bugambilia blossoms into a loggia bustling with water at a colonial style fountain, transporting you centuries back in time. Walk through an original arch into a cozy family room where 16th century walls surround a flat screen TV. Around the corner are two bedroom suites that open onto terraces with luscious greenery and a more contemporary delightful fountain.

The stairwell, with sliding glass roof where sunlight pours in, leads you to the second story where the dining room opens onto an ample terrace where you can sit to have a glass of wine or a lazy Sunday morning brunch overlooking the views that made San Miguel famous.  The main living room, the Master bedroom and bath enjoy the same view of lush gardens.

 Stroll though the winding paths of the magical garden, designed and maintained by famous landscape architect Timoteo Wachtel and you will  find local plants like "hoja santa" (holy leaf), and trees  laden with pomegranates,  limes, oranges, pears, peaches, and other fruits.The "secret garden" has banana  trees, a fountain and a grill. Continue to the natural stone hot tub surrounded  by 16th century walls and a stone "waterfall" where water lands in a small  pool filled with aquatic  plants..

The property adjoins the 400;year;old Church of San José, and once housed soldiers who protected the church. Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (the royal inland route),  from the 16th to the 19th centuries, wound its way past the church, carrying silver and  travelers back and forth from Veracruz and Mexico City to Texas and New Mexico.  

The 15 minute walk to the Main Plaza down Callejon de los Curtidores takes you past the landmarked Arches of the Atascadero with homes where Diego Rivera, Chavez Morado and other famous artists stayed when visiting San Miguel. Within about nine blocks you will pass tree-lined streets, the site of the original Stirling Dickinson home, and about a dozen good restaurants.

The photographs that appeared on the cover of Life magazine in the early 1950's, when San Miguel de Allende was referred to as a "GI haven" were taken from the churchyard adjacent to this grand estate....causing generations of expats fall in love with San Miguel de Allende.