New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

05/29/2026

Join us this afternoon for the 54th Annual Heritage Preservation Awards.

Presented by the Cultural Properties Review Committee, Heritage Preservation Awards recognize projects, organizations and leaders who best exemplify a dedication to preserving New Mexico's cultural heritage.

Friday, May 29, 2026, 1:00 p.m.
National Hispanic Cultural Center. Grand Hall
1701 4th Street SW, Albuquerque

For more information, visit:
https://nmhistoricpreservation.org/programs/preservation-month.html

05/28/2026

This Week in New Mexico History

Old St. Joseph Hospital, located at 715 Martin Luther King Drive NE, in Albuquerque, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 27, 1982.

Built in 1930, the building is four stories with aY-shaped plan. The building is constructed of dark brick and light concrete, with a concrete block foundation. The façade is divided into two wings separated by an entrance bay. The building was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by W. Miles Brittelle.

Ornament is concentrated on the re-entrant angle in the center of the plan with a tower rising above a three-part entrance. The entrance includes round-headed arches and machicolated cornices in the flat and raking cornices. Arcaded towers anchor the ends. In recent years, a port cochere was added to the east side.

In the late 1800s, Albuquerque became known throughout the country as a center for the treatment of pulmonary diseases. The hospital building is the oldest standing building in the St. Josephs’ Sanitorium institution. The building is significant for its role in the development of Albuquerque as a health center, and for its architectural contribution to the city.

The first Sanitorium, Saint Joseph’s Sanitorium, was built in 1902 and demolished in 1968. It was established by the Sisters of Charity. The Sisters played an essential role in caring for thousands of health seekers who arrived in Albuquerque in the first part of the 20th century.

In 1928 hospital administrator Sister Mary Lawrence decided that the original sanitorium and its additional cottages and halls were too small and commissioned the firm of George Williamson to design a new hospital. W. Miles Brittelle, who worked in the firm, drew up a plan for the new hospital and construction began on the new building which was just east of the sanitorium. Other buildings in Albuquerque designed by Brittelle include the President’s House at UNM and the Springer Building.

The hospital opened in March of 1930, and the structure had 150 beds, cost $350,000 to build and was reported to be the most modern hospital in the southwest. The original 1902 building was replaced with an 11-story building and in 2002, the hospital was sold. The building is now a part of the Lovelace Medical Center.

The nomination for listing may be found online, here:
https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/cecc9030-0d64-487f-a61a-ee2626044a3f

More about Miles Brittelle may be found online here:
https://grokipedia.com/page/miles_brittelle

05/21/2026

This Week in New Mexico History

The Pinos Altos Historic District, located in Pinos Altos, Grant County, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 21, 1984.

The town began in 1860 when Californian prospectors discovered gold and established a mining camp. Word spread quickly and over 820 names were listed on the local census report later that year. Among Pinos Altos’ first citizens were merchants from El Paso Texas, and from Dona Ana, seeking to capitalize in the growing town.

Pinos Altos was designated the county seat of Grant County in 1869. In 1870 a group of miners made the discovery of silver ore, leading to the development of a new camp, later becoming Silver City. Two years after Silver City’s founding, the county seat was removed from Pinos Altos to the new metropolis, where it remains today.

Mining at Pinos Altos started with placer or surface operations, where gold-bearing sand was rinsed in rocker boxes, to the use of burro-driven arrastras which crushed ore between flat stones to the more sophisticated stamp mills. A stamp mill is a heavy crushing machine that pulverizes hard rock or ore by repeatedly dropping vertical iron stamps (like a giant mortar and pestle). In August of 1897 most of the Pinos Altos mining district property was transferred to Phoebe Apperson Hearst, widow of Senator George Hearst of California and mother of William Randolph Hearst.

The Hearst company got to work hauling ore to Silver City, constructing a boarding house at the mines, and piping water from a recently purchased ranch above Fort Bayard. Mrs. Hearst made a large contribution toward the construction of a church, familiarly known since as the Hearst Church.

The boom was short-lived and by 1902 Pinos Altos mines had ceased operations. In early 1906 Hearst interests in Pinos Altos were transferred to the Comanche Mining and Smelting Company of Duluth, Minnesota. The Comanche company established a narrow-gauge railroad linking the minds to Silver City. The railroad consisted of sixteen miles of track, including forty-eight trestles. The railroad was only in operation for a short time. High grad ore was struck in 1913 but the pocket of rich ore quickly played out and another boom ended.

While Pinos Altos’ days with a self-supporting industry were over, it never became a ghost town, retaining a small population. Today, Pinos Altos has a charming main street with buildings dating back to the 1800s

The nomination for listing may be found online, here:
https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/ed72dc72-ce17-47ad-a5c2-d229de60b04f

05/18/2026

Coming up, Friday, May 29! Join us at 1:00 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center!

Don't forget, the Heritage Preservation Awards, hosted by the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, are coming up next Friday, May 29! Join us at the National Hispanic Cultural Center at 1:00 pm as we celebrate the best in preservation.

Learn more at https://nmhistoricpreservation.org/.

05/14/2026

This Week in New Mexico History

The Folsom Hotel, located in Folsom, Union County, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 14, 1987.

The Folsom Hotel was the first permanent store in Folsom, a town created by the railroad’s entry into northeastern New Mexico in the 1880s and during an increase in industry in the 1890s. The building was used primarily as a general mercantile store until the 1920s when it was converted into a hotel. It functioned as a hotel until the 1960s.

Folsom is most often associated with the nearby Folsom Man Site, but its existence is owed to the railroad. In 1888 the Denver and Fort Worth Railroad Company built south from Trinidad, Colorado, to meet the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, which was building north from Texas. On March 14, 1888, the two lines met at Union Park, a few miles north of Folsom.

Cattle ranching had begun in the area in the mid-19th century and the establishment of Fort Union, Fort Bascom, and Fort Sumner drew cattlemen to the area with a need for supplies to feed soldiers. By the 1880s there were a number of large cattle ranches around Folsom. The combination of cattle ranches and the coming of the railroad assured Folsom’s temporary growth. By 1891 the population was 377 and by 1903 it was the largest in Union County with a population of 750.

Folsom Hotel was built in 1888 by F.B. Drew who had established one store at Capulin and one at Cottonwood Plaza (now Los Alamos). Drew and his partner, J.D. Phillips, built the two-story rock building and opened their general merchandise store. By 1902 the building had been sold to J.P. O’Dell. The Folsom Townsite Company had great plans for the town, building a depot, restaurant, 22-room hotel, newspaper building, land office, and one-room school. Most of the buildings in town were wiped out by the Dry Cimarron flood in 1908. After the 22-room hotel burned in the 1920s, the store was purchased by M.H. Crabtree and he and his wife operated the building as a hotel.

The nomination for listing may be found online, here:
https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/eb187df0-b4b6-4dfb-bfbe-dfe9f454fbb4

05/07/2026

This Week in New Mexico History

The Hayt-Wientge House in Santa Fe was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1977.

The house is situated on a low hill overlooking Santa Fe and is one of the earliest brick residences built in the area. Constructed by Walter V. Hayt in 1882, the house is an excellent example of Victorian architecture as it was executed in New Mexico. It is one of only two historic buildings in Santa Fe that has a mansard roof.

Walter V. Hayt came to the New Mexico Territory in 1879 from New York with his wife, Alice B. Hayt of Georgia. Hayt purchased the property with Joseph S. Sanford in 1882 for the sum of $400. In late 1882 Sanford conveyed the western portion of the property to Hayt.

In 1879 Hayt became a prominent merchant, operating a store on San Francisco Street with a partner. By 1882, Hayt was in business alone and an advertisement noted that he was a dealer in books, stationery, toys and notions. In 1884, Governor Sheldon appointed Hayt to the position of Inspector General.

Hayt built the house in 1882, and the house is visible in Stoner’s lithograph of Santa Fe. The Hayts left New Mexico in 1888 and sold the house to Christina and Frederick Wientge. The Wientges were jewelers and silversmiths from New Jersey. Christina added two brick rooms at the northeast corner of the house and after her husband died, she rented the second floor of the house to support her family.

In the 1920s, the front porch was extended, and stone terracing was built by Dave Steele who had married one of the Wientges’ four daughters. Steele operated a stable on West San Francisco Street. The Steeles made several updates to the property until they sold the property to Bill Williams who in turn conveyed it to Michael Weber in December of 1978. Weber served as Curator in Charge of the History Division and Director of the Museum of New Mexico and was the house’s owner when the nomination was completed in 1977. The house was recently up for sale and photos from Zillow depict the interior and exterior.

The nomination for listing may be found online, here:
https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/12127841-25dc-43a8-ac51-bc9c72516cde

05/04/2026

The Newest NRHP Listing in New Mexico

The Carl and Lulu Hopping house, located in Albuquerque, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 1, 2026.

Built in 1902, the House is significant under National Register Criterion C at the local level in the area of architecture because it is an excellent example of a pyramidal cottage, which is less usual in residential settings in Albuquerque. This property type is characterized by a square floor plan with four roughly equal-size rooms. The rooms interconnect without corridors to make best use of the interior space.

Many houses in Albuquerque neighborhoods were built with tall hip roofs and near-pyramidal roofs, but few have pyramidal roofs. Pyramidal cottages were commonly built in the early 20th century for workers in mining camps in northern New Mexico.

04/29/2026

This Week in New Mexico History

The KiMo Theater in Albuquerque was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1977.

At the turn of the 20th century there was not one building in the United States devoted to showing motion pictures. By the 1920s movie madness was sweeping the world and the designing and building of movie theaters became a unique specialty. The KiMo Theater is among the best and most complete examples of modernized Pueblo Revival style in the state and is a jewel in downtown Albuquerque.

Built in 1926, the KiMo Theater is a three-story building with a rear five-story fly loft. Built of steel, brick and concrete, it follows a standard plan with an entrance foyer and box office, lobby and an auditorium. The auditorium has seating for 650.

In 1925 Italian immigrant and aspiring theater promoter, Oreste Bachechi, decided to build himself a theater in response to the national enthusiasm for exotic movie palaces. He traveled to Hollywood where he met Carl Boller. Boller was the senior partner of Boller Brothers, the well-known firm of theater architects responsible for designing nearly ninety theaters in the Midwest and California.

The design of the KiMo Theater is a romanticized regional style of architecture sometimes called Pueblo Deco. In developing the design, Boller toured New Mexico pueblos to collect Native American motifs to give his Art Deco design a specific southwest flavor. The governor of Isleta Pueblo, Pablo Abeyta, won a $50 prize from the Albuquerque Journal for suggesting that the theater be named, KiMo - the Tewa word meaning “king of the beasts.”

The theater cost $150,000 to build, which included $18,000 for the intricate organ. The KiMo theater opened on September 19, 1927. The opening program had a full house, and tickets were sold for 75 cents.

The City of Albuquerque has owned the theater since 1977 when voters approved a $324,00 bond to purchase the theater. A federal grant matched by City funds funded the first phase of rehabilitation in 1977 and there have been several rehabilitations since.

The nomination for listing may be found online, here:
https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/ad26f139-c214-447a-8b0e-56c38771b7fe

04/23/2026

This Week in New Mexico History

The Severino Martinez House in Taos was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 23, 1973.

Built between 1804 and 1824, the Severino Martinez house was built in the tradition of Hispanic linear houses in which rooms were added, a few at a time as needed like when family size increased. In its early years, the house had fewer windows and doors, as it served as a fortification. Livestock could be brought through the wide zaguan for protection.

In 1804 Severino Martinze moved from Abiquiu to Taos. Severino and his wife, Maria del Carmel Santistevan, had six children. He became a leading citizen in the Taos area and was appointed alcalde or Mayor in 1825. The house became an important trade center for the northern boundary of the Spanish Empire.

The house began as a four-room dwelling an grew as the family grew and as Martinez became more successful. The house was built in a vernacular style with two feet thick adobe walls with limited openings, packed earth floors, and numerous fireplaces. Later changes to the building made in the mid-19th century include punching doors and windows into the outer walls.

The hacienda provides visitors with a rare glimpse of the rugged frontier life of the early 1800s. The Martinez Hacienda is now a historic house museum; a link below provides more information as to when the property can be visited. The Martinez hacienda is among the largest and best examples of a courtyard house in the state.

The nomination for listing may be found online, here:
https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/e7857fdc-a10a-4a6c-813a-03fbfcfe477d

Visitor information for La Hacienda de los Martinez:
https://www.taoshistoricmuseums.org/martinez-hacienda

04/17/2026

This is your chance to show up for New Mexico. Join Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Salamanca Twins at The Great NM Clean Up, April 17 & 18 in Española, Taos, Los Lunas, and Socorro to help keep litter out of our territory. Keep Litter Out NM

Find clean-up events around the state at breakingbadhabits.nm.gov