September 4, 2012
If Walls Could Speak - An occasional event begun in 1926 by the Spanish Colonial Art Society, Spanish Market was created to help preserve a folk art form that seemed endangered by modernity. The writers and collectors from the East who founded the SCAS feared that New Mexico’s unique religious art — European forms reinterpreted by Native and Hispano craftsmen — might disappear unless supported by outside collectors. The SCAS tried to encourage villagers in folk art production, but the Depression and World War II sent many of them to the cities in search of other work. For decades Spanish Market was an arm of the more popular Indian Market, until a new generation of Hispano artisans sparked a resurgence of interest in the mid-1960s. By 1972, Spanish Market had grown large enough to command its own audience — featuring more than 350 artists today.

If Walls Could Speak - An occasional event begun in 1926 by the Spanish Colonial Art Society, Spanish Market was created to help preserve a folk art form that seemed endangered by modernity. The writers and collectors from the East who founded the SCAS feared that New Mexico’s unique religious art — European forms reinterpreted by Native and Hispano craftsmen — might disappear unless supported by outside collectors.

The SCAS tried to encourage villagers in folk art production, but the Depression and World War II sent many of them to the cities in search of other work. For decades Spanish Market was an arm of the more popular Indian Market, until a new generation of Hispano artisans sparked a resurgence of interest in the mid-1960s. By 1972, Spanish Market had grown large enough to command its own audience — featuring more than 350 artists today.

11:55am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZFZ8dwSmVAiW
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Spanish Market Santa Fe history 
August 31, 2012
If Walls Could Speak - According to Stephen Fried’s biography Appetite for America, Fred Harvey’s grandson, Freddy, was dispatched to Santa Fe in search of a suitable hotel to further expand the Harvey brand. The hotel would serve as a base to initiate adventurous cultural tours throughout the Southwest. Freddy discovered a strategic property located just off the main plaza, and his father, Ford Harvey, arranged for the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to buy the hotel. They set to work renovating the newly acquired hotel, ordering also a lavish fleet of cars and buses. They bought out a leading tour operator and turned her female guide staff into “Couriers.” These educated young women were highly trained and memorized reams of material, but they rebelled against the uniform of the riding breeches. Instead, the women chose for themselves blouses in jewel colors, big squash-blossom necklaces, dark skirts accented with a silver concha belt, and walking shoes or boots. The look was emulated by tourists, and continues to be a much-copied Southwest look.

If Walls Could Speak - According to Stephen Fried’s biography Appetite for America, Fred Harvey’s grandson, Freddy, was dispatched to Santa Fe in search of a suitable hotel to further expand the Harvey brand. The hotel would serve as a base to initiate adventurous cultural tours throughout the Southwest. Freddy discovered a strategic property located just off the main plaza, and his father, Ford Harvey, arranged for the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to buy the hotel.

They set to work renovating the newly acquired hotel, ordering also a lavish fleet of cars and buses. They bought out a leading tour operator and turned her female guide staff into “Couriers.” These educated young women were highly trained and memorized reams of material, but they rebelled against the uniform of the riding breeches. Instead, the women chose for themselves blouses in jewel colors, big squash-blossom necklaces, dark skirts accented with a silver concha belt, and walking shoes or boots. The look was emulated by tourists, and continues to be a much-copied Southwest look.

11:56am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZFZ8dwSVh06C
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: history Santa Fe La Fonda Stephen Fried 
June 18, 2012
La Plazuela restaurant at La Fonda on the Plaza has been named a winner of the 40th annual Heritage Preservation Awards by the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division. The award honors the 2009 renovation that restored La Plazuela to the original design conceived by Harvey House architect Mary Jane Colter and John Gaw Meem, father of “Santa Fe style,” in the 1920s. The renovation was overseen by Santa Fe architect Barbara Felix, who researched original specifications for the interior courtyard that had been turned into an enclosed restaurant in the 1970s. A Spanish-style fountain designed by Colter was replicated, along with a new flagstone floor that matches the original stones quarried in Lamy. Woodwork was lightened to match the original design, and the restaurant’s signature hand-painted windows were retained in French doors that open as intended. Architect Peter Wurzburger nominated La Plazuela for its six-month, multimillion-dollar renovation. The hotel worked with the state’s Historic Preservation Division and its tax credit program on parts of the project. La Fonda on the Plaza, built in 1922, was expanded and redesigned by Meem and Colter in 1926-29. Colter oversaw the interior design, including unique artisan details throughout the hotel, as for many Harvey House properties. The 2009 renovation of La Plazuela mimicked Colter’s practice of commissioning local craftsmen, who created a hand-forged iron railing overlooking the restaurant, a wrought-iron chandelier, and wall sconces using glass hand-blown in Guadalajara, Mexico. Many of the dining tables and chairs were likewise hand-carved and covered in fabrics that replicate historic textiles. The renovation also replaced the atrium ceiling with a more energy-efficient design that bathes the restaurant in natural light, one of the most widely praised improvements. Felix spent months researching drawings and correspondence by Meem and Colter to weave La Fonda’s storied past into a tapestry of materials used in the renovation, most of them hand-crafted in traditional style. The tiles used for the fountain, for example, were hand-painted from originals unearthed beneath the floor. Other winners of Heritage Preservation Awards in 2012 include the restoration of the Oscar Huber Memorial Ballfield in Madrid, and the 1883 Lobato Trestle Bridge for the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

La Plazuela restaurant at La Fonda on the Plaza has been named a winner of the 40th annual Heritage Preservation Awards by the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division.

The award honors the 2009 renovation that restored La Plazuela to the original design conceived by Harvey House architect Mary Jane Colter and John Gaw Meem, father of “Santa Fe style,” in the 1920s.

The renovation was overseen by Santa Fe architect Barbara Felix, who researched original specifications for the interior courtyard that had been turned into an enclosed restaurant in the 1970s. A Spanish-style fountain designed by Colter was replicated, along with a new flagstone floor that matches the original stones quarried in Lamy. Woodwork was lightened to match the original design, and the restaurant’s signature hand-painted windows were retained in French doors that open as intended.

Architect Peter Wurzburger nominated La Plazuela for its six-month, multimillion-dollar renovation. The hotel worked with the state’s Historic Preservation Division and its tax credit program on parts of the project.

La Fonda on the Plaza, built in 1922, was expanded and redesigned by Meem and Colter in 1926-29. Colter oversaw the interior design, including unique artisan details throughout the hotel, as for many Harvey House properties. The 2009 renovation of La Plazuela mimicked Colter’s practice of commissioning local craftsmen, who created a hand-forged iron railing overlooking the restaurant, a wrought-iron chandelier, and wall sconces using glass hand-blown in Guadalajara, Mexico. Many of the dining tables and chairs were likewise hand-carved and covered in fabrics that replicate historic textiles.

The renovation also replaced the atrium ceiling with a more energy-efficient design that bathes the restaurant in natural light, one of the most widely praised improvements.

Felix spent months researching drawings and correspondence by Meem and Colter to weave La Fonda’s storied past into a tapestry of materials used in the renovation, most of them hand-crafted in traditional style. The tiles used for the fountain, for example, were hand-painted from originals unearthed beneath the floor.

Other winners of Heritage Preservation Awards in 2012 include the restoration of the Oscar Huber Memorial Ballfield in Madrid, and the 1883 Lobato Trestle Bridge for the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

10:02am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZFZ8dwNe0P64
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: history preservation heritage architecture Santa Fe New Mexico 
June 15, 2012
If walls could speak… Legend tells that the fountain’s location originally housed the central well for all of Santa Fe. When Mary Jane Colter designed the interior of La Fonda in the early 1920s, she diligently pursued the installation of a central fountain on the patio, surrounded by a low masonry bench clad in Spanish-Moorish tiles. This was in keeping with her vision that La Fonda express “a true New Mexican and Spanish atmosphere, and at the same time embody all of the comforts which tourists from the east demand.” In time, a courtyard open to the elements ceased to embody the idea of comfort, and the patio was covered in the 1970s under the ownership of Sam Ballen. The fountain was capped and a floor added. When new flagstone flooring was installed some years later, all evidence of the fountain vanished until architect Barbara Felix was charged with renovating La Plazuela in 2009. To her surprise, workmen unearthed pieces of the original tile underneath the chiseled stones!  The fountain was recreated, allowing the music of falling water to again sound and revive the unique atmosphere of La Plazuela.

If walls could speak… Legend tells that the fountain’s location originally housed the central well for all of Santa Fe. When Mary Jane Colter designed the interior of La Fonda in the early 1920s, she diligently pursued the installation of a central fountain on the patio, surrounded by a low masonry bench clad in Spanish-Moorish tiles. This was in keeping with her vision that La Fonda express “a true New Mexican and Spanish atmosphere, and at the same time embody all of the comforts which tourists from the east demand.”

In time, a courtyard open to the elements ceased to embody the idea of comfort, and the patio was covered in the 1970s under the ownership of Sam Ballen. The fountain was capped and a floor added. When new flagstone flooring was installed some years later, all evidence of the fountain vanished until architect Barbara Felix was charged with renovating La Plazuela in 2009. To her surprise, workmen unearthed pieces of the original tile underneath the chiseled stones!  The fountain was recreated, allowing the music of falling water to again sound and revive the unique atmosphere of La Plazuela.

12:58pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZFZ8dwNSPNlS
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: Santa Fe history La Plazuela La Fonda New Mexico 
May 2, 2012
Willard Clark, late artist and print-maker, moved to Santa Fe in 1928 and operated a downtown print shop. He designed one of La Fonda’s signature images, the rounded burro next to a sleeping figure wearing a sombrero - the symbol of the hotel for a generation. Clark often spoke of his sentimental attachment to La Fonda, where he had proposed to his wife and where they celebrated “just about every anniversary for 51 years”.

Willard Clark, late artist and print-maker, moved to Santa Fe in 1928 and operated a downtown print shop. He designed one of La Fonda’s signature images, the rounded burro next to a sleeping figure wearing a sombrero - the symbol of the hotel for a generation. Clark often spoke of his sentimental attachment to La Fonda, where he had proposed to his wife and where they celebrated “just about every anniversary for 51 years”.

9:59am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZFZ8dwKkkjtP
Filed under: Willard Clark La Fonda history Santa Fe New Mexico 
May 1, 2012
In 1925 the new hotel building was acquired by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway and then leased to Fred Harvey who was renowned for his hospitality. He turned La Fonda into one of the famous Harvey Houses and it remained a Harvey House until 1968.

In 1925 the new hotel building was acquired by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway and then leased to Fred Harvey who was renowned for his hospitality. He turned La Fonda into one of the famous Harvey Houses and it remained a Harvey House until 1968.

9:51am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZFZ8dwKh1IE5
Filed under: La Fonda Atchison Topeka Santa Fe Railway Fred Harvey Harvey House Santa Fe History New Mexico 
April 30, 2012
The current La Fonda, built in 1922, sits on the same site as previous inns, literally at the terminus of the Santa Fe Trail and the Plaza — a haven for travelers for more than 400 years!

The current La Fonda, built in 1922, sits on the same site as previous inns, literally at the terminus of the Santa Fe Trail and the Plaza — a haven for travelers for more than 400 years!

10:02am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZFZ8dwKcs39t
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: La Fonda history Santa Fe Santa Fe Trail New Mexico 
April 29, 2012
Historical records suggest that La Fonda on the Plaza sits on the oldest hotel corner in America. When Santa Fe was founded by the Spaniards in 1607, records show an inn — or fonda — was among the first businesses established at this location. By the time Captain William Becknell’s party forged their maiden commercial route across the plains from Missouri to Santa Fe in 1821, they happily found a comfortable inn on the Plaza awaiting them. Thus, the Santa Fe Trail was born, as well as La Fonda’s reputation for hospitality.

Historical records suggest that La Fonda on the Plaza sits on the oldest hotel corner in America. When Santa Fe was founded by the Spaniards in 1607, records show an inn — or fonda — was among the first businesses established at this location. By the time Captain William Becknell’s party forged their maiden commercial route across the plains from Missouri to Santa Fe in 1821, they happily found a comfortable inn on the Plaza awaiting them. Thus, the Santa Fe Trail was born, as well as La Fonda’s reputation for hospitality.

11:19am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZFZ8dwKYpK5X
Filed under: history Santa Fe La Fonda New Mexico Santa Fe Trail 
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