New exhibition and event series launching at the Edwin Brooks House on November 1, 2024

© Don J. USner

Historic Santa Fe Foundation (HSFF) is excited to announce a new chapter for the Eugene and Clare Thaw Education and Research Center at the Edwin Brooks House. In addition to housing the Foundation's reading room, the historic property will now serve as a vibrant hub for exploring New Mexico's rich cultural heritage and contemporary identity. Thought-provoking exhibitions will delve into themes of architecture, land, water, and heritage, and encourage visitors to reflect on the interconnections between New Mexico's environment and its people throughout history.

Programming at the Edwin Brooks Houses will officially launch on Friday, November 1, 2024, with the opening of Sabino’s Map: Life in Chimayó's Old Plaza. This curated exhibition, a visual anthropology of Chimayó’s cultural tapestry, celebrates the community of Chimayó and the thirtieth anniversary of Don J. Usner’s seminal publication of the same name.

The exhibition will be on view through Thursday, March 27, 2025, and the gallery at the Edwin Brooks House will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-5 pm or by appointment. Discover exhibition-related events below.

© Don J. USner

Talk & Book Signing

Thursday, November 14, 2024 | 3 pm | The Edwin Brooks House, 553 Canyon Road, Santa Fe | Free for HSFF Members | $10 per person for non-members | Register in advance

Complementing the exhibition, a lecture and book signing with Don J. Usner, will be held on Thursday, November 14. Register and pre-order a signed copy of Sabino's Map: Life in Chimayó's Old Plaza here.

Fundraising Dinner with Don J. Usner 

Saturday, December 7, 2024 | 5:30 pm | The Edwin Brooks House, 553 Canyon Road, Santa Fe | $115 per person for HSFF Members | $135 per person for non-members

Check-in at 5:30 pm, dinner and remarks by Don J. Usner at 6 pm. Join us for an intimate evening with acclaimed author and photographer Don J. Usner as we celebrate the thirtieth-anniversary edition of his seminal work, Sabino's Map: Life in Chimayó's Old Plaza. This exclusive dinner event offers a unique opportunity to delve into the rich narratives of Chimayó with one of its most insightful chroniclers. The sala, or main living room, of the Edwin Brooks House serves as the venue for this intimate buffet-style dinner. This inviting space embodies the distinctive designs and craftsmanship of William Penhallow Henderson, showcasing hand-adzed wooden beams, elaborately carved radiator covers, an interior balustrade balcony, and Henderson's signature rose motif. This fundraiser supports the preservation of architectural gems like the Edwin Brooks House and HSFF educational initiatives promoting Northern New Mexico’s diverse cultural heritage.
 

Casa Santa Fe: A Book Review

Casa Santa Fe: Design, Style, Arts and Tradition

Photography by Melba Levick
Text by Dr. Rubén Mendoza
Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.
Hardcover, $55.00
288 pages

Review by Pete Warzel

The book that set the “style”, Santa Fe Style by Christine Mather and Sharon Woods, was published thirty years ago, in April. The past six months seems to have opened the floodgates on related publications, with Santa Fe: Sense of Place and Santa Fe Modern both published at the end of 2022, and now Casa Santa Fe: Design, Style, Arts and Tradition just released in 2023. They all are hefty, elegant books, each taking that original look at Santa Fe homes and gardens a step further in breadth and quality of the photography.

David Skolkin designed this most recent book for Rizzoli. David did the scheme for our very own 2022 publication, Old Santa Fe Today, and although different in purpose, is just as elegant as the house-style publications.

Casa Santa Fe is a handsome, substantial book, replete with engaging photographs of the subject houses. Melba Levick, photographer, has contributed to over sixty books, including two other collaborations with archeologist and educator Dr. Rubén Mendoza – The California Missions and The Spanish Style House: From Enchanted Andalusia to the California Dream. Rizzoli has found a duo that presents very well.

The cover jacket is a photo of the Amelia Hollenback House, an extraordinary John Gaw Meem house built in 1932, that was the site of one of our Steward events in 2021, thanks to Temple and Mickey Ashmore. Coincidentally, the back jacket cover is an image of the Donaciano Vigil House, the location of another of our Steward events in 2022, hosted by Christopher Watson. (Both of these houses also have entries in the book proper). The Vigil House is listed on the Historic Santa Fe Foundation Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation, and wears our shield plaque proudly on its exterior adobe plaster wall. Four other homes on the HSFF Register are included in the book, with excellent interior photographs of each.

The book begins with a comprehensive introduction by Dr. Mendoza that addresses the pre-history and history of the Santa Fe area, evolution of architectural styles, and the architects who worked to present a livable, visually pleasing, built environment that stewards the heritage of the area. Casa Santa Fe presents elegant home facades, grounds, and interiors, in defined sections: Historic and Spanish Pueblo Revival, Meem houses, Collector’s homes, Eclectic adobes, Artists’ homes, houses of the Cinco Pintores, Ranches, and finally Contemporary homes. The broad survey is interspersed between home entries with two page photo essays on various subjects that flow from the preceding chapters: tins and lanterns, portales, fireplaces and hornos, nichos, and more. This structure provides a feast of visual elements that define design and style of how we envision the city’s architecture.

All of the homes are wonderfully presented. We obviously have interest, and pride, in the homes designated on the HSFF Register. Of special interest to me are several other houses that are stunning in design, or provide room for collections that define the space or its owners. Architect Beverley Spears’ family house is a contemporary adobe house with barrel vaulted ceilings, creating what Mendoza terms a “sanctuary for the owners.” In the “Collector” section of the book, the home of Christina and Curt Nonomaque pictures a shelf in a dining area, that holds an extraordinary collection of Patrocino Barela carvings, certainly the most I have ever seen in one place. J.B. Jackson’s house in La Cienega, now owned and restored by the artist Billy Schenck and Rebecca Carter, is an expansive museum of art and prehistoric ceramics. All fascinating. Each a special look at properties that are so individually, personally designed.

The book ends with a glossary of terms, completing the excellent survey of residential architecture that helps to define the aesthetic of northern New Mexico. It is an elegant reminder of why Santa Fe feels like home to so many of us around the world.