Twin Houses, French-style mansions on Paseo de Montejo, Mérida, Mexico

Twin Houses are two four-story Beaux-Arts mansions at 495 Paseo de Montejo, designed by Gustave Umbdenstock in the French Second Empire style. Each has ten bedrooms and eight bathrooms around a triple-height central hall under a skylight, with Carrara marble floors and columns, iron balustrades, and Art Nouveau chandeliers. The south house opened as the Montejo 495 museum in 2021; the other remains private.

The Cámara brothers commissioned French architect Gustave Umbdenstock in 1905; plans were published in La Construction Moderne in 1907. Construction began in 1908 under civil engineer Manuel G. Cantón, continued through the Mexican Revolution, and the south house was finished in September 1911. One house was sold to Fernando Barbachano in 1964 and opened as a museum in 2021.

Locals call them Casas Gemelas because the two façades look nearly identical, though they are not exact copies. The name Casas Cámara recalls the brothers Ernesto and Camilo Cámara Zavala, who commissioned them. Since 2021 the house at 495 Paseo de Montejo has opened as a museum, while the other remains a private home.

The mansions are located between streets 45 and 43 on Paseo de Montejo and can be viewed from outside since they line the avenue. Since they remain private homes, visitors cannot enter, but the architectural details are fully visible and worth observing from the street.

The southern house features a third floor with a mansard roof that sets it apart from its twin. This different roofline was intentional and gives each building its own visual character despite their overall similarity.