\tI tell the taxi driver I\u2019m looking for a splendid residence in downtown Quito, and he drives me into the historical center and to the home of Maria Augusta Urrutia. From outside, the house, though two tall stories, looks rather small and narrow, cramped by contiguous buildings, but upon entering I see a courtyard and realize her place expands left, right, and rear, forming a substantial space. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019d like to speak to the lady of the house,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cTwo dollars,\u201d a uniformed guard says.<\/p>\n
\tThat seems an unusual though not immodest request, particularly given my assets, so I pay and again ask to see Maria Augusta Urrutia. The guard and two others laugh and one says, \u201cShe\u2019s not home now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAll right,\u201d I say. \u201cPlease ask one of your agents to show me around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIn English or Spanish?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSpanish, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tA delightful young lady emerges and says, \u201cBuenas tardes.\u201d She can\u2019t be more than five-feet tall, a hundred pounds, and twenty-two years old. Her skin\u2019s dark brown, her hair silken black, her voice soft, and her manner gentle. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m interested in learning more about this house,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI can help you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhen will the lady of the house return?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cShe died in 1987.\u201d <\/p>\n
\t\u201cSorry to hear that,\u201d I say, but think, my God, a quarter century and they still haven\u2019t been able to sell the place. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhat was she like?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cShe was very nice. She and her husband were quite wealthy. After he died of typhus, in 1931, when she was only thirty, she wore a black dress every day the rest of her life. She never remarried and dedicated herself to helping poor children. She and her employees fed fifty kids a day. They ate between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. She also made candy for them. Each child got one small piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat\u2019s a lot of work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYes, but they were well-organized. Please step out here onto the patio. They brought in cows from her various ranches and killed them here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cDid Maria Urrutia personally kill them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNo,\u201d she smiles. \u201cHer employees did that. And then they hung a cow head up there on a hook for good luck.\u201d A skull, rather than a fresh cabeza, provides the example. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cTo the right you\u2019ll see an outdoor kitchen. There\u2019s another kitchen upstairs you\u2019ll see later. Here, they cooked next to the patio. And there\u2019s the cuarto frio (cold room) where they kept meat, milk, and eggs, and cut and prepared the meat, pounding it with a twenty-five-pound balanza.\u201d The latter looks like a large steel grenade. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat meat cutter\u2019s pretty old,\u201d I say. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s from the 1950s.\u201d\t <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I buy this place, I\u2019ll get rid of the meat cutter but will keep the balanza as a conversation piece. I don\u2019t eat meat, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agent again smiles and says, \u201cThough she was very religious, Maria Urrutia served beer to her guests.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe children?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, adults, very powerful people. This beer was the first to be made anywhere in South America. She also had Indian grinding stones, over there, where she and her employees prepared medicinal plants. Please step over here. Those are carriles, original backpacks for the children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maria Urrutia, I learn, lived on the second floor. Pictures from her early adulthood show an attractive and introspective woman with long brown hair. Photos thereafter reveal a matronly but more outgoing person. She was quite a hostess. The agent shows me a machine Urrutia used to make alcohol. We pass a pajarera, a room for birds, before we enter the second-floor kitchen, which is quite large but equipped with very old appliances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a charcoal stove,\u201d says the agent. \u201cBelow the stove top are drawers for charcoal. There\u2019s a hot-water machine, and a cold-water machine. They couldn\u2019t get what they wanted from the tap in those days. And that refrigerator is from about 1950.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI admire antiques,\u201d I say. \u201cBut I\u2019m sure you realize I\u2019d have to replace all these appliances.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d work quite well as is. This way, please.\u201d She leads me into a tiled bathroom about the size of an average living room. There\u2019s one toilet for urination and one for the other that\u2019s specially designed to also dispose of paper. The shower\u2019s in the bathtub, which is rather mundane but I don\u2019t comment. That would be sacrilegious in a bathroom boasting huge stained glass windows aglow with landscapes of Venice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely keeping those,\u201d I say. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver here, we have a large bedroom for the principal employee.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cDid she keep a man in here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, this was always for a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
A well-dressed woman, indeed, having an enormous mirrored wardrobe next to her bed. <\/p>\n
Down the hall we enter the art gallery. There have been other paintings in the residence, but here\u2019s where they keep the heavy hitters, all by Victor Mideros, a superb creator of modern religious paintings that retain the majesty of older works but blend light and colors in a less-ethereal manner to create more accessible characters. One work presents a saint and an angel giving light above hell fire below. Another depicts Adam and Eve on their knees, lifting a pyramid. Mideros invites viewers to enter paintings, not behold them. <\/p>\n
Down the hall from the gallery is a spacious dining room anchored by a long table seating twelve. Paintings, a large mirror, china cabinet, and bronze chandelier would no doubt sooth my guests and won\u2019t have to be altered. In the sewing room, however, where employees used old machines to make clothes for poor children, I see I\u2019ll have to renovate. That\u2019s really not an issue since tailors make my clothes in their shops, not in my homes. Discretion prevents me from telling the young lady that Maria Urrutia\u2019s office is devastatingly outdated. The creaky accounting machine should\u2019ve been replaced by a computer, the wobbly typing machine by a computer, and the prehistoric phone by an iPad. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s the master bedroom?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis way,\u201d she says, leading me to a bedroom in front. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is pretty nice, but overlooking the street it would be too noisy. I prefer the rear bedroom used by the principal employee. Don\u2019t you think that one\u2019s nicer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI like both.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, how much does this place cost?\u201d <\/p>\n
![To see a photo of Maria Augusta Urrutia\u2019s bedroom, please click here\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I tell the taxi driver I\u2019m looking for a splendid residence in downtown Quito, and he drives me into the historical center and to the home of Maria Augusta Urrutia. 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