Casa del Alfeñique (Museo Regional de Puebla)

The Casa del Alfeñique stands on 4 Oriente in the historic center of Puebla de Zaragoza and was built in 1790 for a wealthy silversmith, taking its name from the elaborate white stucco and tile ornamentation on its facade, which resembles the delicate white sugar-paste candy called alfeñique traditionally made in the city. The three-story building is considered one of the finest surviving examples of Puebla's civil Baroque architecture, combining red brick, white stucco relief work, and Talavera tile panels in a densely decorated facade unusual even by the standards of the city's ornamented colonial houses. The building now houses the Museo Regional de Puebla, whose collection spans the state's history from pre-Hispanic archaeology through the colonial period and into the 19th century, including period furniture, religious art, and historical objects displayed across rooms that retain much of the house's original residential floor plan. The upper floors preserve original wooden balconies and window frames typical of prosperous 18th-century Puebla residences, while the ground floor's construction in exposed brick contrasts with the elaborately stuccoed upper stories. Restoration overseen by the Puebla state government has focused on maintaining the stucco relief work and tile panels on the facade, a recurring conservation challenge given the material's vulnerability to weathering, without altering the original decorative program.