Tezontle

One of the Houses of the Mayorazgo de Guerrero showing tezontle walls with cantera accents.

Tezontle (Spanish: tezontle) is a porous, highly oxidized, volcanic rock used extensively in construction in Mexico. It is usually reddish in color due to iron oxide.[1] Tezontle is a well-cemented, agglomeritic and scoriaceous rock.[2]

Uses

Construction

Tezontle can be mixed with concrete to form lightweight concrete blocks,[3] or mixed with cement to create stucco finishes.[1] Many colonial buildings in Mexico use the reddish cut tezontle on their facades.

Tezontle is a common construction material in the Historic Center of Mexico City as the relatively light-weight stone helps impede a building from sinking into the unstable lake bed on which Mexico City was built.

Other uses

Non-building uses include its inclusion in flower arrangements and botanical gardens, as substrate for aquariums, and for temazcales and ovens.[4]

Tezontle is often used as the top layer of gravel on unpaved roads in Mexico.

Facades

Many buildings use tezontle to create an aesthetic facade. Here are some examples.

• Church of San Bernardo, Mexico City
• House of Count de la Torre de Cossio
• Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
• Nacional Monte de Piedad
• National Palace (Mexico)

References

1. "Tezontle" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2009-01-04.
2. Segerstrom, K. (1962) Geology of South-central Hidalgo and Northeastern Mexico, USGS Bulletin 1104-C, page 124.
3. Acevedo-Davila, J.; Torres-Trevino, L.M.; Gomez z, Lauren Y. (September 2007). "Tezontle aggregate substitute optimization in building blocks mixture.". Electronics, Robotics and Automotive Mechanics Conference (CERMA 2007). IEEE. pp. 307–311. doi:10.1109/CERMA.2007.4367704. ISBN 978-0-7695-2974-5.
4. Ramirez, Moni. "Tezontle: Uno de los materiales para la construcción favoritos en la Conquista". Rubicón México. Retrieved 25 November 2020.