1. An ox tr ain arrives at the Santa Fe Plaza 1880's La Villa de Santa Fe = = preservation of historical areas and buildings," actu­ 1 'IVALKING Toun - 2 l\[lLES ally the ordinance offers no protection for areas and This brief walking guide to the architecture of only unenforceabl e restrictions relating to demolition the central part of Santa Fe does not pretend to be of historic structures. exhaustive. [either is it offered as a substitute for the In summary the ordinance: 1) requires exterior more compl ete account of historic architecture in Old wall surfaces to be of "adobe plaster or hard plaster Santa Fe Today edited by Sylvia Loomis for the His­ simulating adobe, laid on smoothly." Th e color of the toric Santa Fe Foundation. This section is limited to walls may range from a light to a dark earth color. an area that can be covered in a comfortable morn ­ White is permissible only under portals or within ing's walk. inset wall panels under a roof. 2 ) prohibits pitched Before commencing, however, some explanation roofs, 3) limits the combined window and door areas should be given of the Santa Fe architectural control on a street elevation to a maximum of forty per cent ordinance passed in 1957. Th e ordinance docs not of the total area of the facad e. Larger window or door cover the entire city. It does cover the central historic areas are permissible under a portal. Th e size of glass part and most of the early 20th century expansion panes is set at a maximum of thirty inches square, areas-Canyon Road , the Camino del Monte Sol, and thou gh larger glass sizes are possible under portales, Garcia Street- (about 3.5 square miles in extent) , 4 ) limits acce ptable architectura l styles to Spanish Co­ Th e whole of this tour, however, falls within its juris­ lonial or Territorial, and 5 ) prohibits neon, flashin g diction . Essentially the ordinance deals with the ex­ or moving signs or signs placed above the cornice line ternal appea rance of buildings erected or remodelled, and limits the sizes of the rest. and the design and placement of signs; it does not Th e Plaza cover interior design. Whil e the stated purposes in­ As in every Spanish Coloni al community, the clude protection for "the continued existence and plaza is the center of activity and, as the monument \ NMA Septemb er -Octob er 1970 13 4. Governors Palace 1970 there tells us, this plaza was also the goal of the 800 gradually "modernized." Glass windows were inser ted, mile Santa Fe Trail. While the original aspect of the doors installed that swung on iron hinges, and board plaza was not record ed, its early appea rance is not floors replaced packed earth in some rooms. As there hard to reconstruct. It was a large barren area of rec­ are variations in the wood trim used on facade win­ tangular shape where horse races, bull fights, and dows and doors, it seems unlikely that all changes military drills took place and where, after commerce were made at one time. A major renovation of the increased, wagon train s could round up. Originally building, however, was carried out in 18i 8. At that the plaza extended as far cast as the Ca thedral, but time a Territorial style portal was added, only to be in the late 18th century ( Urrutia map ) private houses superseded in 1913 by an "authentic" Colonial style had begun to be built in the eastern half. Evergreen colonnade. Here the territorial legislature met until trees were planted in 1843 by the wife of Governor 1886 when the second capital was constructed south Mariano Martinez, and the Civil War monument was of the river. erected in 186i . About the same time the appea rance The second most imposing building on the plaza of the area changed rapidly when portales with is probably the Museum of Fin e Arts. Designed in squared posts were erected in front of buildings, 191i by Rapp and Rapp, it is a variation of the tem­ around the plaza and along San Francisco Street. In porary structure erected by the State of ew Mexico contras t to the low one-story structures of the Spanish for the 19li San Diego Exposition. This scheme, era, some buildings of two stories were erected, as we which sought inspiration in the traditional architec­ can tell from the first preserved photographs of the ture of the Rio Grand e area, had scored such success town, and windo w glass for store fronts and windo ws with visitors at the exposition that it must have im­ became common. In contrast to heavy Colonial mem­ pressed Edgar Hewett, then director of the museum bers, the architectura l trim now had a classical over­ and proponent of Santa Fe as a center of artistic and tone, inspired by the Greek Revival movement "in the anthropological studies, as an appropriate architec­ States" and paint was used with increasing frequency tural idiom. A composite design that depends heavily to contras t hand somely with the adobe plaster. on the church and convent of Acoma, it is the most Picturesqu e as this was, progress did not end important , though not the first, example of what be­ here. Several curious, high-ceilinged business blocks came known as the Santa Fe style. Tod ay we are with pressed iron fronts were added after the railroad aware of the exaggeratedly picturesqu e qu ality of arrived in 1880, and by 1895 Santa Fe was catching such early revival work: a profusion of projecting viga up ! The local definition of progress then was an eradi­ ends (often nonstructura l), undulatin g parapets, cation of the "Mexican" past and the construction of blunted corners (es pecially on bell towers ), eroded square-shouldered American stores of red brick or espaiiadas whose openin gs have a worn , nonstructural artificial stone with big plate glass windows equipped shape, and randomly placed, unus able Indian ladders. with awnings. Streets were paved with brick and side­ Nevertheless this building works better visually in this walks festooned with electric wires and telephone part icular location than most designs of 191T. lines. Two decades later, however, progress was being In the opposite come r of the plaza is La Fonda redefined in quite different architectural terms, ones Hotel, designed in 1920 by Rapp, Rapp, and IIen- <­ that once again recognized the value of the South­ drickson for the Santa Fe Railroad. This was an ex- of western heritage. This produced buildings like the ample of that railroad's awareness of the cultural Art Museum and La Fonda Hotel, and by the 1960's uniqueness and pot ential of the area, an instinct the it was once again time to rebuild Territorial and Co­ railroad management has since lost. In the same pe­ lonial portales and legally to compel adherence to tra­ riod they bought paintings of Indi an scenes or South­ diti onal architectural idioms. western landscapes to reproduce as calenda rs. Th e Always the most important building on the plaza, hotel has been twice enlarged, 1929 by John Gaw the Palace of the Governors is also the oldest civil Meern, and 1950 by Holabird and Root. Recently structure in the United States. But the present appea r­ sold to local interests, it is currently being re-fur­ ance, thou gh "restored" in a Southwestern vein in bished. 1913, is certainly quite unlike its original condition. On the square's south side once stood La Cas­ The old palace was much longer, extending 50 feet trense, a military chapel erected in 1i60 but demol­ further to the west than at present, and at each front ished just a century later to make way for stores. For corner stood a rectangular fortified tower. Its fenes­ this chapel was made the splendid stone retable that tration must have been very different, given the primi­ has since been installed in Cristo Rey Church. Sev­ tive technology of the area and the impossibility of eral of the late 19th century commercial houses on the transporting fragile window glass over the rugged south plaza were vigorous Victorian designs but they 1500 mile trail from Mexico. Begun in 1610, the pal­ were "territorialized" or "colonialized" in the 1950's ace was used as a Spanish bastion when the Indians and 60's. Th e only Victorian building to survive is the revolted in 1680 until the defend ers were defeated and Catron block (c. 1890-95) on the east side, now forced to abandon [ew Mexico. Wh en the Spanish re­ painted an unobtrusive buff color. gained Santa Fe in 1692, they found the buildings Th e most recent change in the plaza has been burned out and pillaged but capable of restoration. the reconstru ction of a series of portales (1968) over After Yankee occupation in 1846 the palace was the sidewalks. Following a design by John Gaw Meem NM.4. Sept ember·October 1970 li3 5. The long por­ tal. The Prince house is along the left and center, with th e Sena house at the far right . and alternating between Territorial and Pueblo de­ tions and beautiful stone masonry for its distinction. tail, they recall the covered walkways one sees in the Auth orized in 1850 to serve as the territorial capitol earliest photographs of the city. and half finished at the outbreak of the Civil War, Leaving the plaza by the northwest comer, one it was not complete until 1889.