Carlos Vierra, a Portuguese-American painter and photographer, built a house in Santa Fe that is considered the first purposefully designed Spanish Pueblo Revival Style residence. Vierra was born in California and trained as an artist in San Francisco. He came to New Mexico, like many other health seekers, to be treated for tuberculosis. In 1905, Vierra opened a photography studio on the Santa Fe Plaza. He became enamored with New Mexico’s ancient architecture, which he studied, photographed, and painted. Begun in 1918 and completed four years later, the Vierra home became a prototype for later Spanish Pueblo Revival residential architecture in the area. Together with John Gaw Meem, a prolific architect and popularizer of the regional style, Vierra developed the Santa Fe–based grassroots historic preservation group known as the Committee for the Preservation and Restoration of New Mexico Mission Churches. Today, a family committed to its preservation privately owns the Vierra home.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.