Early Architecture in New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1976. Hard Back. Very Good/No Dust Jacket. 8 3/4" X 11 1/4. 122 Pages Indexed. Red boards with silver lettering. Also in silver lettering on the front is Compliments Of and the company logo of S & J Enterprises. Some damage to top of spine area. No other defects noted to this otherwise As New book. Interior text pages are faultless. Illustrated with 64 black and white photographs and drawings. Man has been constructing permanent shelters in New Mexico for more than 1,500 years; for over half that time his buildings have been large and substantial. An account of his building activity carries one back to primitive pithouses which appear as early as A.D. 350. Construction of multiunit dwellings above ground began about A.D. 700. Given such antiquity and continuity, it is surprising that so little is left today in the way of ancient buildings. In Indian pueblos structures of genuine antiquity can be counted on one hand, and include Taos Pueblo and fragments of buildings in a few other places. Of thirty surviving churches which were built before 1800 in Indian and Spanish communities, less than a dozen retain a convincing colonial appearance. Of Spanish civil and domestic building even less remains except for foundations and portions of early walls incorporated into later buildings. This is true even of the Palace of the Governors, begun in 1610 in Santa Fe. Although an adobe wall built in 1700 is not very different from one erected in 1900, the appearances of completed buildings from those dates vary considerably. It is therefore misleading to suggest that just because a building was begun long ago, its present aspect is representative of that early date, an impression too often conveyed by tourist books attempting to underscore the antiquity of the area. Contents in Five Chapters: Introduction, Architecture of the Indian Epochs, Spanish Colonial Building, Architecture of the Early American Period, and New Mexico of the Railroad Era 1880 - 1912. Plus Sources of Illustrations and Bibliography.