The Felipe B. Delgado House is a significant example of a late nineteenth-century Territorial Style adobe house. Prominent Santa Fe merchant Felipe B. Delgado built the house in 1890 on the site of his mule-trading business at the end of the Santa Fe Trail. The exterior’s most significant feature is a second-story balcony extending across the front façade, with a central bay and roof supported by columns, forming a sheltered veranda with views of the Plaza and the Palace of the Governors to the west. In 1970, John Gaw Meem and his wife Faith Bemis Meem purchased the property, which was suffering from neglect and under threat of demolition, and paid for the restoration cost. The Meem family donated the house to the Historic Santa Fe Foundation, specifying general preservation guidelines. In 2019, the HSFF added a conservation easement to the property and sold the house to a private owner committed to its ongoing preservation.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MELANIE MCWHORTER AND MARA SAXER