An airy, vertical home built into the hillside during the 1930s, its seven levels and 4,000 square feet include four bedrooms - one on each main level and one with a balcony overlooking the courtyard garden - and four-and-a-half bathrooms. A split-level rooftop area offers a view of San Miguel's historic center.

Throughout the house, a dual attitude of elegance and whimsy prevails. Contemporary Mexican paintings by Manuel Velásquez of Veracruz and Gilberto Sanchez of San Miguel, among others, are hung along with carved masks and various folk-art pieces.

The most striking of these is a 6-foot plaster/wood/papier-mâché woman in pious dress and pose, which stands sentinel at the bottom of the main stairwell. "I call her my Mexican virgin. She's at least 100 years old," Ms. Mead said. "She's from an old chapel owned by a family outside of Mexico City, and they were selling some of the statuary. I loved her right away." Read the whole article.