Museum Campus
The 1930 Pueblo-Spanish Revival Director’s Residence is the only residential building in Santa Fe open to the public designed by John Gaw Meem, one of Santa Fe’s most prominent architects.
The structure was built with single and double-wide Penitentiary hollow-tile blocks, not adobe bricks, as a more permanent material that was hand-sculpted to appear to be made of earth. Meem, along with Isaac Hamilton Rapp and Mary Coulter, were instrumental in the definition and development of our unique Santa Fe Style architecture.
Placement of this residence within the landscape is oriented toward Sun Mountain to the east, which is appreciated immediately upon entering the front door with views through the window wall in the east portal. The building with its furnishings has been accessioned into the Society’s permanent collections with catalog number 1999.011.
The Director’s Residence was constructed by the Museum of New Mexico on the Camino Lejo campus to house the director of the Laboratory of Anthropology.
Photographs taken in the 1940s show how the house was used. A breakfast area was located at the north end of the east portal and the living room was large enough to accommodate dancing with music played on the grand piano.
Later the historic residence was owned by the School of American Research, now known as the School for Advanced Research, where their director lived until the late 1990s.
The 1998 gift of the property to the Society was intended for the establishment of a museum with facilities for display and storage of its collections. Fulfilling one of the goals in the 1929 articles of incorporation, the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art (now Nuevo Mexicano Heritage Arts Museum) opened to the public in 2002 with the inaugural exhibition and catalog Conexiones.
Most of the historic residential building was repurposed for display galleries with staff offices in the former maid’s quarters and public restrooms in the former garage. Very little of the structure was altered, maintaining the intimate character of room sizes and retaining beautifully crafted woodwork.
History
The Spanish Colonial Arts Society will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025. Here’s a brief history of the Society, from its beginning in 1925 to the public opening of the Museum in 2002.
1925
The Spanish Colonial Arts Society was initiated as the Society for the Revival of Spanish Colonial Arts by writer Mary Austin (1868-1934) with assistance from artist/writer Frank Applegate (1881-1931) and with the Committee for the Preservation and Restoration of New Mexico Mission Churches spearheaded by architect John Gaw Meem (1894-1983).
1926
Spanish Market was initiated during the Santa Fe Fiestas.
1928
The Society began purchasing Spanish Colonial art, with the acquisiton of reredos (altar screen) from the Nuestra Señora del Carmen church in Llano Quemado which had been replaced by a new altar screen. This carved and painted artwork, which was six-and-a-half feet tall, was made by the workshop of José Rafael Aragόn, the 19th century santero. This significant altar screen was installed in the Palace of the Governors on the Santa Fe Plaza in 1929, and it has been on display as a long-term loan ever since.
1929
The Society was incorporated on October 15 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
1929
The Society purchased a private chapel, restored, and later deeded it to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe that same year. This Santuario de Chimayό is world-famous today as the destination of devotional pilgrims each year on Easter Sunday.
1938 –
The Society purchased fifty watercolors of colcha embroidery designs by Nellie Dunton. Most of the images in this significant portfolio were reproduced in Spanish Colonial Ornament, the 1935 publication that has inspired artists for many decades.
1938-1951
The Society was dormant after Mary Austin and Frank Applegate died. The Society’s permanent collections were housed at the Palace of the Governors and the Museum of Fine Arts.
1951
E. Boyd (1903-1974) was hired as the first Curator of Spanish Colonial Art for the Museum of New Mexico. At the same time, she revived the Society and was appointed as our Curator.
1953
The Museum of New Mexico agreed to house the Society’s existing and future collections accessions in long-term storage at the newly constructed Museum of International Folk Art.
1965
Alan Vedder (1912-1989) was hired as Curator to replace E. Boyd and served as the first manager of Spanish Market.
1996
Spanish New Mexico: The Spanish Colonial Arts Society Collection was published as our “museum on paper.”
1998
The historic house and property at 750 Camino Lejo were donated to the Society for use as a museum.
2000
The Stockman Collections Center was built as an addition to the historic house to hold the Society’s permanent collections and reference library.
2002
The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art opened to the public in July.
Who We Are
Staff
Jennifer Berkley
Executive Director
Lydia Davis
Visitor Service Coordinator
Jana Gottshalk
E. Boyd Curator
Jessica Thirloway
Development Director
Additional Support:
Robin Gavin, Curator Emerita
Angelica Gallegos, Education
Barbara Mellers, Visitor Services
Josie Caruso, Textiles
Melissa Eason, Archives
Tannis Eberts, Collections
Kathy Nelson, Archives
Laura Sena, Library, Visitor Services
Cindy Sperry, Visitor Services
Edward Villa-Fernandez, Library
Patti Whitney, Visitor Services
Gloria Zamora, Library
Board of Directors
David Cartwright, Chair
Donna Pierce, PhD, Vice Chair/Secretary
Cathy Fernandez, Treasurer
Jennifer Berkley, Executive Director
Audra Bellmore, PhD
Rosa Carlson
Jan Duggan
Robin Gavin
Victor Goler
Kristin Graham
Antonio Lopez
Barrett Markland
Jean Anaya Moya
David Valdo
Honorary Board
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
Nancy Meem Wirth
Ambassador Edward Romero
Spanish Colonial Arts Society Founders
The Spanish Colonial Arts Society was initiated as the Society for the Revival of Spanish Colonial Arts by writer Mary Austin with assistance from artist/writer Frank Applegate and with the Committee for the Preservation and Restoration of New Mexico Mission Churches spearheaded by architect John Gaw Meem. It was formally incorporated as The Spanish Colonial Arts Society on October 15, 1929, with the following signators:
Mrs. A. S. Alvord
Frank E. Applegate
Mary Austin
Geo. M. Bloom
John D. DeHuff
Margretta A. Dietrich
John G. Meem
Frank E. Mera
Francis I. Proctor
Museum Founders
Seventy-three years after the Spanish Colonial Arts Society was incorporated in October 1929, its long-held goal to “acquire real estate or personal property for the housing of collections of Spanish Colonial art” came to fruition when the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art first opened to great fanfare locally, nationally, and internationally in July 2002.
The Spanish Colonial Arts Society is deeply grateful to its museum founders, whose vision and passion enabled us to first open our doors to the public 20 years ago and whose dedication since has enabled us to support our mission of collecting, preserving, exhibiting, researching, and promoting the Hispanic art of New Mexico, from settlement to the present, and comparative pieces from around the Spanish world.