We love the old original Pueblo Style New Mexican homes, but the push in 1912 to boost tourism in Santa Fe, ushered in more architectural control and a resurgence of the Pueblo-Spanish style, which became known as the Santa Fe Style. Many of the wonderful 1880s era brick structures and early Craftsman-style bungalows fell out of favor and were demolished to make room for the Pueblo Revival homes. Fortunately, an array of architectural styles that define the history of this unique American Southwest city still remain. The National Historic Trust has named Santa Fe one its Distinctive Destinations in America, citing the city’s individual architectural style, well-preserved historic districts, and dedication to cultural conservation.

Santa Fe’s characteristic architecture reflects the diverse cultures that left their influences on the region: the ancestral Pueblo dwellers, the Anasazi, built stone dwellings at the bottom of canyons and inside caves and Northern tribes built pueblos; the Spaniards brought their portals, enclosed patios, dramatic sculptural shapes, arches, bell towers, Moorish heavy doors and elaborate corbels; the Anglo wave via the Old Santa Fe Trail in the 1820s and the later gold boom of the 1860s contributed the neo-Grecian, Victorian, and Craftsman-style influences of millwork and trim, and the most dramatic change to the architecture of this region, the double-hung window.

Pueblo-style architecture evolved from the adobe homes of the Native Americans and became the basis for traditional New Mexican homes: walls of sun-dried clay bricks mixed with straw for strength, mud-mortared, and covered with additional protective layers of mud.

Roofs were supported by a network of vigas — long beams whose ends protrude through the outer facades — and latillas, smaller stripped branches layered between the vigas and covered with 18” of dry dirt. Other adapted Pueblo architectural elements include plastered adobe-brick kiva fireplaces, bancos (adobe benches that protrude from walls), and nichos (small indentations within a wall in which religious icons are placed). These adobe homes are characterized by flat roofs and soft, rounded contours.

The Spaniards integrated many of the Pueblo style elements into their missions and colonial haciendas. And another New Mexico architectural phenomenon: homes were added onto year after year. Doorways were typically low and floors rise and fall with the natural contours of the earth. Hacienda-style homes were built without windows facing outward, with many small rooms and doors opening out to a main interior courtyard. The Spanish also used canales, or spouts, to carry off rain and melting snow from the flat roofs.

In the 1830s, the architecture of NM was influenced by the arrival of wagon trains on the newly-opened Santa Fe Trail that brought new tools, wood pediments and moldings for windows and doors and glass for windows. In 1850 New Mexico became a U.S. territory and became more exposed to building materials from the outside world.

The influence of these tools and technology can be seen in the change of the architecture from the Spanish pueblo style to what is known as the Territorial-style. Brick coping defining the flat roofs and protecting the adobe parapets were typical of the Territorial style. Millwork on doors and wood trim around windows and doorways and Victorian bric-a-brac began to appear on the homes.

As the railroads expanded westward around the 1880s, other more modern building materials became available. Larger pieces of glass, ready-made doors and windows, metal roofing and hardware, and larger quantities of brick characterized the Northern New Mexican style. Metal roofing allowed for steep pitched roofs on most homes seen in the villages of northern New Mexico where snow is more abundant. Development of the brick facade, pitched metal roofs, large double-hung windows and the extensive millwork of the Folk Victorian and Craftsman Style era further defined the Northern New Mexico style.

We spent our entire trip to New Mexico this year focusing on the architecture, relishing the wealth of architectural styles and discovering the subtle differences everywhere. We encountered an ox-blood floor, for example.

An old Spanish tradition, ox blood is mixed with dirt and spread in layers to dry, hardening into a glossy finish that’s known to last centuries. We saw coyote fences — thin cedar posts lined up side by side — a system early settlers devised to ensure safety of their animals. Winding around homes and buildings we still see the acequias, ancient irrigation canals maintained by locals for watering crops and trees.

Gallery, below, shows progression of Santa Fe architectural influences from Pueblo, Spanish Pueblo, Territorial style, to the Victorian and Craftsman style bungalows. Photography by Stephanie Chambers