Historic Buildings and Sites of Santa Fe
/An article by Pete Warzel
Kim Strauss, our good friend who commits much of his time to the Randall Davey House at the Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Santa Fe, sent me a pristine copy of the 1962 pamphlet Historic Buildings and Sites of Santa Fe. The cover price was 10 cents, and he promises he did not pay much more for it.
Timing is everything, and we have included a pdf version of the HSFF published pamphlet in this article for your education and entertainment, since this was the pre-cursor to the first edition of our iconic book, Old Santa Fe Today, to be published in its elegant new fifth edition by the Museum of New Mexico Press in Spring 2022. We are eagerly awaiting the new copy, so long in coming with so much volunteer commitment and professionalism since we began the planning process. In November 2018, Melanie McWhorter and I met with Anna Gallegos and Lisa Pacheco at the Press to make our pitch and they were immediately all in.
Interior spread of the Historic Sites Brochure (click on image to download pDF of both sides of the brochure)
So, this pamphlet, what we would consider today a proof of concept, cited our first 10 Register Properties, with another eleven properties described and located on the map. Seven of those additional eleven would be added to the Register over the ensuing years. “THIS PRELIMINARY LIST of historic buildings is a small fraction of those worthy pf preservation, but by bringing to a wider audience these few first examples of Santa Fe’s truly indigenous architecture, it is hoped that these buildings and others like them may be preserved for the enjoyment of our own and future generations.” It should be noted that one of the “buildings” is not in fact a building – Acequia Madre – but was added to our Register in 1989. Another listing, not a singular building is rather a group of historic buildings - the Barrio de Analco, included in this pamphlet but added to our Register in 1964.
I find myself frequently consulting the original board minutes of the Foundation for my own orientation of how we came to be where we are now are. February 1962 is the first discussion of preliminary list of properties to be “marked” by the Foundation. In March 1962, there is a rough draft of the pamphlet with a map and key. In May 1962, the budget estimate for the printing is given as $36.00 for artwork, and a total of $225 for the entire project. A draft press release announcing the publication of Historic Buildings and Sites of Santa Fe is dated July 29, 1962, and, by September, it is reported that over 1600 pamphlets have been sold, generating many visitors to El Zaguán.
In parallel, the plaque design was in process, and so our Register and the seeds of Old Santa Fe Today were moving forward quickly, as HSFF had not yet received its tax exempt status at this point.
Contrast that February to September timeframe to our 5th edition of Old Santa Fe Today, from November 2018 to Spring 2022. Granted, there are 96 properties included in the new book, all on our Historic Register, new photographs, new research, map-making and a massive group effort of volunteers, staff and contracted creatives. The costs are not $225 all in, and fundraising for the project took the first half of 2020 to complete, just as we all entered a health emergency shut down.
Enjoy this electronic version of the first publication by the Historic Santa Fe Foundation, and think of it when you have the new edition of Old Santa Fe Today in hand. The #13 entry in the pamphlet states that one of the apartments at El Zaguán “…is now an office for The Historic Santa Fe Foundation, Old Santa Fe Assn., Spanish Colonial Arts Society.” One office for these three entities. I do hope they rotated their time in there in 1962.
Pre-order the upcoming Old Santa Fe Today, Fifth Edition below (due May 2022)
Old Santa Fe Today: A History & Tour of Historic Properties
Audra Bellmore, Author
8”x10.75”, 288 pages, 173 color & 82 black-and-white photographs, 8 maps, flexi-binding
Now Available
Old Santa Fe Today is an engaging read about Santa Fe’s architecture, history, and important figures through its culturally significant properties, among them churches, government buildings, and homes. The book also serves as a walking tour guide for locals and visitors wanting to sightsee. Originally published in 1966, Old Santa Fe Today has been used by writers and scholars exploring the history and architectural significance of Santa Fe. With new essays updating the 1991 fourth edition, this fifth edition of the classic reference book also has a complete inventory of properties—now approximately one hundred—including those recently added to the Historic Santa Fe Foundation’s “Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation” since 1961. Each property entry includes revised and expanded narratives on its architecture, history, and ownership, providing social and cultural context as well. Among the Register are the former homes of past influential artists and writers such as Olive Rush and Witter Bynner. The William Penhallow Henderson House, 555 Camino del Monte Sol, was the home of the famed painter and craftsperson and his poet wife Alice Corbin Henderson. Constructed over a decade from 1917 to 1928 and designed in the Spanish Pueblo Revival Style, it would serve as a model for other artist home studios in the heart of the Santa Fe art colony. The de la Peña house located at 831 El Caminito is a nineteenth-century Spanish Pueblo adobe farmhouse owned by the de la Peña family for eighty years. Artist, writer, and historic preservationist Frank Applegate purchased the home in 1925. In the late 1930s, the National Park Service added the house to its Historic American Buildings Survey, an honor reserved for the most important historic structures in the United States.
Photographs shown here by Simone Frances, 2020 for Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition.