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Also, let's not pretend that it was Penn Station or something.
In point of fact, there was NOTHING architecturally unique about the house. It was the same style as MOST bungalow homes built in that era and leading up to WWII.
OTOH, there has been a long-time effort to preserve and restore many of the old churches of NM. Not that they are of architectural significance either, but it seems that churches invoke a different awareness in people generally.
As an artist who has made some effort to "preserve on canvas" old buildings that are destined for the wrecking ball, I too find small churches to be subject matter much more appealing than people's houses - ie: given the choice between depicting a dilapidated old adobe house and a dilapidated small church, the church wins out every time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ABQConvict
What I mean is that the Hispanic and Native American heritage of New Mexico is appreciated and invested in by the vast majority of New Mexicans of any race or ethnicity.
It's hard to argue with that part of your statement. But saying that other architectural styles are not considered worthy of preservation or restoration is too much of a stretch, IMO.
What should define the need for preservation is the historic significance of the structure (along with other usual factors). When it comes down to architectural styles - should we have the same concern for a landmark Greco-Roman building that is 20 years old as we usually have for the exact same building style that is 200 years old?
What I mean is that the Hispanic and Native American heritage of New Mexico is appreciated and invested in by the vast majority of New Mexicans of any race or ethnicity.
Anglo history and heritage, not so much. Especially in Northern New Mexico.
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that most Anglo Albuquerqueans (and I am singling out Albuquerqueans because I cannot speak for Santa Feans) don't have a long history in the state, most far less than 100 years, and are not attached to the Anglo contribution to the state (in terms of material culture such as architecture) while for the Hispanics and Native Americans, their material culture was created by their actual ancestors not simply people who happen to share the same race or ethnicity.
By that token, while a Hispanic New Mexican would balk at the destruction of a historic Hispanic house in the South Valley, his Mexican immigrant neighbor might not.
" Anglo history and heritage, not so much. Especially in Northern New Mexico."
Though I've not spent much time there, isn't downtown Las Vegas primarily Anglo/Eastern US in style? There's a lot of restoration of the old commercial buildings, including that cool hotel..is it the Plaza Hotel?
The same is true, I think, of most towns that had a railroad heritage.
Most of the really, really old buildings in NM are not Eastern in style, so it's not surpising that Hispanic and Indian architecture is going to attract the majority of preservation interest. Or so it seems.
But in fact, a lot of Eastern architects (I'm thinking Mary Coulter and John Gaw Meem, for starters) worked in what they saw as the traditional Southwestern vernacular. Particularly in the case of Meem, they pretty much redefined it. Meem is one of the main reasons Santa Fe looks like it does. He waged war on Eastern styles there in the 20s and was a leading force in creating Santa Fe style. The old flat roof and portals look was really disappearing when he arrived in town, and he was the guy who had portals built around the plaza. In terms of our discussion it's a bit ironic that the famous look of Santa Fe was really the result of the efforts of an Anglo architect, among others, no?
So are their creations legitimately Southwestern or Hispanic or Pueblo, or are they an Eastern/Anglo view of what the Southwestern style was? Maybe both? They took existing looks and materials and reformulated them with an Anglo eye, and their work is now seen as almost defining the Southwest in architecture. Nobody is tearing down Meem or Coulter buildings, though at least some of Coulter's Harvey/railroad hotels bit the dust back in the 50s and 60s. That would never happen now.
...though at least some of Coulter's Harvey/railroad hotels bit the dust back in the 50s and 60s. That would never happen now.
Other structures that seem to excite the preservationists have been old movie theaters and playhouses. People of Santa Fe especially still enjoy the use of the old Lensic theater there. As do people in Alamogordo at the Flickinger - another old movie theater now used for various performing arts events.
Good point, cosmicrowbar, about the Anglo role in preserving pre-Anglo styles. Architect Isaac Hamilton Rapp has been called the "creator of Santa Fe style" because of his design of the New Mexico Museum of Art, off the Santa Fe Plaza, which opened in 1917, and a few other buildings in Santa Fe. An Anglo from Illinois who moved to Trinidad, Colorado at the height of his career. The museum was important in gaining public acceptance of the "new-old" style and paved the way for architects like Meem to work to establish this style as the norm.
I love the fact that the dimensions of St. Francis Auditorium at the museum were determined by the length of available Ponderosa pine logs used for the vigas. They determined the 40-ft. width of the auditorium which has amazing acoustics.
many states in the west are spanish names for example colorado means colorful in spanish and montana means mountain,nevada means snow-covered,and of course, new MEXICO! it was spanish settlers who started it all
I'm really surprised I've seen no mention of Missouri, which is at the other end of the Santa Fe trail. Most of the earliest Americans into NM (Becknell and the Coopers in the 1820s) came from Western MO. MO also sent a lot of troops there during the Mexican-American War. Kit Carson came from MO as did Charles Bent, your first American governor. I'd say the Midwest had by far the largest influence on NM during the early American period.
The Midwest basically, the accents are a giveaway.
California does have an influence of Dust Bowl migrants from Oklahoma and Arkansas in the Central Valley and some parts of Southern California. New Mexico also has a influence from West Texas.
Old downtown Belen, what is left of it near the rail yard, has a few remaining big brick false fronted buildings that would fit in perfect with the midwest and eastern types of business building styles popular around 1880 or so. There is even an original Harvey House hotel (now " museum ") there. Near the old multi-storied Belen Motel a small false fronted single story building that currently is a bar caught my eye. The interesting part is the one side wall, that must have been a joint wall with another building long gone, where there was some damage due to age that led to the removal of all the wood and brick. An extremely old section of original real adobe bricks became exposed that apparently were covered up long ago. At one time, all the adobe stuff most of us think is neat now must have been really out of style. It looks like one of this building's long forgotten owners opted to cover it up to look like the other newer "modern" false fronted buildings that were going up way back then.
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