Why go
The building's three front entrances, high base and broad central stair make a useful contrast with nearby Casa del Venado. Its name comes from traces of red paint inside, while an inscription above the passages to rear rooms gives the structure an unusually direct written layer.
The full story
Casa Colorada is known as Chichanchob, a name associated with the small openings in its façade. The building is dated to about 850 CE and counted among Chichen Itza's earlier buildings. It stands on a high base with a broad stair. The front had three entrances and relatively plain wall surfaces, defined by cornice bands and decorated cresting. A long hieroglyphic inscription ran across the front room above openings to rooms behind it. Small remnants of red paint inside gave the building its Spanish name. Later builders attached a ballcourt to the rear of the high base. That ballcourt covered an earlier, smaller court of the same type. That sequence makes Casa Colorada more than a single-period façade: it records changing use around an already prominent building. Remains of a badly damaged portico building lie on the court's east side.