The Casas Gemelas, or Twin Houses, tell the story of Mérida at the height of the “green gold” era, during the henequén boom. This agave fiber was exported on a massive scale to Europe and the United States, where it was used to make ropes, sacks and industrial nets, bringing immense wealth to the region and turning Mérida into one of the richest cities in the world per capita at the dawn of the twentieth century. The houses were built between 1908 and 1911 for brothers Camilo and Ernesto Cámara Zavala, powerful Yucatecan hacienda owners who wanted to showcase their success along this new avenue inspired by Europe’s grand boulevards. To do so, they hired the French architect Gustave Umbdenstock, trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, who designed two perfectly identical residences in a French neoclassical style, using materials, decorative details and furnishings imported directly from France. These twin houses reflect the local elite’s desire to associate itself with European elegance while clearly displaying its economic power. Today, one of the two remains a private home, while the other has become Casa Museo Montejo 495, offering visitors a rare glimpse into the luxury, lifestyle and ambitions of Porfirian-era Mérida at the beginning of the twentieth century.