From the NMMS eNewsletter July 2011
For most New Mexico MainStreet communities, architectural styles may be summed up in four major categories: “adobe,” “Victorian,” “classical,” and “modern.” Of these, “adobe” is perhaps easiest to recognize because of the earthen colors, organic contours, and natural wooden elements such as vigas, corbels, and posts.
Adobe architecture is our state’s unique tradition, and it is further defined by two major stylistic themes: “Territorial” and “Pueblo Revival.” The Territorial style was developed during New Mexico’s Territorial period (1846-1912) by skilled carpenters who grafted Greek Revival (think classical) elements onto adobe structures. Many older communities that grew in the nineteenth century such as Las Vegas, Taos, Socorro, Albuquerque and Santa Fe have Territorial buildings. The Pueblo Revival style gained popularity right after statehood as the ancient pueblo architecture was modified for larger buildings such as libraries, museums and courthouses. Towns that prospered after statehood like Gallup, Roswell, Carlsbad, Artesia and Las Cruces have interesting Pueblo Revival public buildings, some built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s.
Victorian architecture refers to the highly stylized and ornamented buildings built nearly everywhere during the reign of England’s Queen Victoria (1837-1901). New manufactured building elements such as cast iron columns, fancy milled wood, wallpapers, bricks, glass, and cut stone were easily shipped by rail to distant towns. Victorian architecture is often called “eclectic” because architects and builders borrowed forms from many European traditions, sometimes mixing and matching Italianate, Gothic, Queen Anne, French Second Empire, and even exotic influences such as Egyptian or Moorish. Railroad or mining towns that flourished after the Civil War, such as Las Vegas, Raton and Silver City boast scores of interesting Victorian buildings.
The classical language of architecture was perfected by the Greeks and Romans and has never really gone out of fashion. The latest revival on a mass scale occurred after the wildly popular Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 where America’s leading architects built a great “White City” of classical pavilions. Classical buildings graced the streets of many New Mexico towns between 1900 and 1930.
Finally “modern” buildings inspired by streamlined machine aesthetic and built with new industrial materials such as aluminum, steel, reinforced concrete and glass block were stripped of excess ornament and decor to present clean, simple and elegant forms. Modernism has been popular since World War II, and Farmington, Artesia, Roswell and Carlsbad have fine examples.
Contact NMMS Cultural and Heritage Projects Program Associate Elmo Baca with questions about your town’s regional architecture.