The historic lakefront landmark known as Villa Virginia was reduced to rubble by a bulldozer on Tuesday, November 11, erasing a valuable piece of the city’s architectural heritage.
The once-stately mansion was built on land acquired in 1905 by the English couple Victor and Elizabeth Hunton and named after the U.S. state where Elizabeth was born. Constructed during the turn-of-the-century era, it featured an architectural style similar to that of Casa Braniff and Villa Reynera. However, the building stood abandoned and in a state of increasing deterioration for many years after changing hands several times following the mid-1960s.
Villa Virginia was better known to locals as La Casa Negra due to its dark history: the tragic drowning of the Huntons’ eldest daughter, Inés, aged seven, and her British nanny while swimming in Lake Chapala in May 1909.
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