Tour a Designer’s Vibrant 19th-Century Mansion in Mérida, Yucatan

Marjorie Skouras brings a dilapidated historic casona back to color-saturated life

Photography by John Ellis

Product designer and decorator Marjorie Skouras relocated from Los Angeles to Mérida, Mexico, to restore a dilapidated 19th-century mansion in the Santiago neighborhood of the city’s Centro Histórico.
- 2/14“This was once the grandest street in the city,” explains Skouras. “The façades are particularly beautiful, and I fell madly in love with this pistachio green one.”
- 3/14In the entry foyer, Skouras commissioned local artisan Miguel Rivero to paint a grisaille-style flora pattern on the walls. One of her light fixtures hangs above a 19th-century French table and English majolica vases.

4/14Most of the original flooring has been restored, including the tiles in the sala grande. Skouras designed the light fixture, the side table, and the iron cocktail table base, which is topped with antique leather and glass. The chaise longue is a one-off piece by London-based artist and musician Alannah Currie, the 18th-century Italian settee is upholstered in a Fortuny silk, and the Aubusson tapestries are from the 19th century.
- 5/14The biblioteca’s original wall stencils and beamed ceiling were restored, and Skouras filled the room with one of her coral light fixtures, a custom cocktail table she designed with a granite top, and chairs from Cassina that once belonged to her parents. The sofa fabric is a David Hicks linen.
- 6/14Although the kitchen was relocated to another area of the home, the copper vent hood is original to the house. Skouras designed new cabinetry and installed Calacatta marble countertops as well as a granite-topped island. The green agate light fixture was designed by Skouras.
- 7/14Off the kitchen is a patio with a botanical scene painted by Rivero. Skouras designed the iron-and-marble table, the mirror, and the console. The chairs are from her line for Currey & Company.

- 8/14Another portion of the patio contains a sitting area featuring an Austrian bentwood settee circa 1910, a pair of Thonet rocking chairs, and another wicker pair that are antique. “This space is meant to take you back in time, to 1900,” says Skouras.
- 9/14A newly excavated pool completes the outdoor oasis. “When you are here, you don’t feel like you’re on a busy street in the middle of the city,” says Skouras.
- 10/14In a guest bedroom, the armoire is an antique piece found in Mérida that Skouras had painted to match the circa-1900 bedside table and cabinet from Sicily. The painting is by Neil Stokoe. The original floor tile, known locally as pasta tile, is “highly unusual and cannot be reproduced,” notes Skouras.
- 11/14A sitting area in the primary bedroom contains a 19th-century French settee, an antique English majolica side table, and a vintage Chinese floor lamp. Skouras commissioned a series of watercolors from Allison Cosmos based on the flora of her native California. The primary bedroom required new flooring, so Skouras chose new tiles that were in keeping with the rest of the Art Nouveau flooring in the home.

- 12/14One of Skouras’s Currey & Company light fixtures hangs in the primary bedroom, where she also designed the rose quartz−and−gold leaf bedsides tables and the headboard, which is upholstered in a Fortuny fabric. The lamps are vintage Murano and the painting is by David Serrano.
- 13/14A pair of hand-painted custom armoires flank the hallway leading from the primary bedroom into the bath. In the bath, Skouras designed the amethyst–and–rock crystal light fixture, the vanity, and the lapis lazuli hand-painted mirrors.
- 14/14Rivero painted the mural in the primary bath, which features a Brazilian granite floor, a 19th-century Mexican bathtub, an antique French console, and an Italian chair from the 1960s. “At one point during construction, the bathtub actually sank into the ground and needed to be hoisted out,” recalls Skouras. “It was actually our very first purchase for the home.”