The José Alarid House is an early nineteenth-century house that has been owned by a series of prominent local citizens. Like many properties in the area, the home developed and expanded over time, exhibiting the styles and building materials transported to the region on the rail lines that arrived in New Mexico in 1880. A Mexican Army veteran of the Santa Fe Presidio Company, José Alarid built his home on this property about 1835. Subsequent owners included Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy; Epifanio Vigil, son of a former acting civil governor of New Mexico; Donaciano Vigil (see Donaciano Vigil House), who also served in state politics; and Anita J. Chapman, eldest daughter of prominent local businessman James L. Johnson (see El Zaguán). Chapman worked as a secretary for celebrated anthropologist Adolph F. Bandelier and served as both the first Territorial librarian and the first New Mexico state librarian from 1917 to 1937.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MELANIE MCWHORTER