Three Properties Added to HSFF's Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation
/Historic Santa Fe Foundation recognizes the Dorothy McKibbin House, Roque - Lobato House, and El Delirio/SAR campus
Photograph of El Delirio/SAR above by Simone Frances for the new edition of Old Santa Fe Today
At the August 27, 2020 Board of Directors meeting, the Historic Santa Fe Foundation's Board of Directors voted to add three properties -- The Dorothy McKibbin House, Lobato - Morley House, and El Delirio/School for Advanced Research (SAR) to the HSFF Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation. The properties were approved unanimously by the Board and the Register now holds a total of 96 to be included in the new edition of HSFF's upcoming book Old Santa Fe Today authored by Dr. Audra Bellmore with photography by Simone Frances, and published by Museum of New Mexico Press. The book will the culmination of all the efforts of those who nominated, researched, and listed properties and resources on HSFF’s Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation, one of the first initiatives of the foundation since the incorporation in 1962. There are many properties in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico that deserve this attention and recognition. Our efforts in listing these historic structures and resources brings attention and awareness to the need for their continued preservation and maintenance.
Please find brief information below about the three new nominated, reserched, and approved properties. Contact Pete Warzel at pete.warzel@historicsantafe.org or 505-983-2567 for more information or visit HSFF's 545 blog piece on the three new properties or HSFF's Register page.
Terraced landscaping at El Delirio, as viewed from the White sisters’ home. Photo by T. Harmon Parkhurst, 1928, SAR Archive, AC 18 418 30a, Courtesy of the School for Advanced Research
El Delirio/SAR
Nomination written by Dr. Nancy Owen Lewis and Jean Schamberg
You may know this property as the campus of the School for Advanced Research (SAR). “El Delirio” is the original name given the estate by the White sisters, Amelia Elizabeth and Martha, who purchased the land, including a small adobe house, in 1923.
Dr. Nancy Owen Lewis, PhD, and Jean Schaumberg, each with intimate knowledge of SAR and the estate, researched and wrote the nomination for the property. Lewis has previously published the book A Peculiar Alchemy: A Centennial History of the School for American Research, 1907-2007.
The property and its architecture, the history of its use through today, as well as the significance of the people associated with El Delirio over almost a century, certainly signify the former estate worthy of preservation, recognition, and addition to the HSFF Register. It is an honor to make that addition.
Photograph of Lobato - Morley House above by Simone Frances for the new edition of Old Santa Fe Today
The Lobato – Morley House
Nomination written by Dr. Audra Bellmore
The Roque Lobato House was one of the first properties added to the newly instituted HSFF Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation in 1964. In 1978, it was unceremoniously removed when the then owner did renovation and reconstruction after asking HSFF to review his plans, but completed the work before any evaluation was undertaken. The property remained on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and lingered contentiously in the background of HSFF history.
Chris Wilson, Regents Professor of Landscape Architecture, Emeritus, at University of New Mexico (UNM), co-authored the book on the property with Oliver Horn titled The Roque Lobato House: Santa Fe, New Mexico (2014). In that publication, Wilson opined that “…the Roque Lobato House is unique even among its peers in its historic breadth and density.” So, in mid-2020, Dr. Audra Bellmore, PhD, Associate Professor and Curator of the Center for Southwest Research, Special Collections, at UNM, researched and wrote the nomination for the more properly named Lobato – Morley House.
HSFF welcomes back this Santa Fe treasure to the Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation, where it belongs.
The Dorothy McKibbin House
Nomination written by Katie Dix
This home is an architectural gem and a fairly unknown center of significant Santa Fe and U.S. history. Dorothy McKibbin was the renowned ‘gatekeeper’ at 109 E. Palace Avenue in Santa Fe for entry and exit to the WWII-era Manhattan Project up the hill at Los Alamos Laboratories. This was her home, built in 1936, and the center of social life for scientists and employees at the Lab when in Santa Fe.
The nomination was researched and written by Katie Dix, a UNM graduate student in the School of Architecture and Planning, and our first official Mac Watson Fellow. This fellowship program was specifically designed to engage grad students from UNM to participate with HSFF in research of significant properties as additions to our Register. Dix’s work and written nomination made an elegant argument that the Dorothy McKibbin House be added as “an outstanding example of New Mexican architecture and Santa Fe styles, showcasing the work of Kathy Stinson Otero as an architect.”
For more information or questions, contact Pete Warzel at pete.warzel@historicsantafe.org or 505-983-2567 or visit HSFF's 545 blog piece on the three new properties or HSFF's Register page.