Santa Fe Architecture

No other city in the country has so many low-slung, earth-colored buildings made of adobe bricks, which consist of a mixture of sun-dried earth and straw. Santa Fe has a distinctive architectural style all its own. Walking confidently across the landscape you can hear the light crunch of your boots against the dirt under your feet, the orange and brown earth below and the brilliant blue sky above. It is a sharp contrast that creates part of the awe-inspiring nature of the open desert. The fiery ground and azure atmosphere create a distinct line between earth and sky.

And though it seems as though adobe dominates the city, there's a surprising diversity of building materials and architectural styles on display, including examples of Victorian, Italianate and California Mission Revival styles. In recent years, modern architects have begun to blend elements of historic architectural styles with contemporary designs, creating a sleek new look for Santa Fe in the 21st century. Looking up you can see big, puffy, white clouds drifting lazily across the sky. Occasionally one will obscure the bright sun sending a momentary respite of shadow over the landscape. Soon it passes on, and the warm rays of the sun come back to tickle and sizzle your skin. Looking back at the land before you the auburn sand is interrupted by speckles of green that are the cactuses and brush that thrive in the intensity of the desert. Each in their own way of reaching up towards the sky

Santa Fe's unique architecture is one of the reasons for the immense popularity of this capital city, which is surrounded by majestic mountains with gentle slopes that resemble the soft curves of adobe walls. Explore the meandering streets of downtown and nearby residential neighborhoods to discover hundreds of historic adobe homes, built primarily in the Spanish Pueblo and Territorial styles. These architectural styles are rooted in ancient history and protected by city laws ensuring that new construction situated in core historic districts fits with the old.

Pueblo Style
Santa Fe's historic adobe architecture evolved from early Native American dwellings that impressed the Spanish when they first arrived in the region in the 16th century. They found Pueblo Indians in the Rio Grande Valley living in communal houses with hundreds of rooms, often four or five stories high, accommodating thousands of people.

The Spanish, who called these communities "pueblos" (the Spanish term for villages), saw how the Pueblo people built their shelters as a series of rooms surrounding a central plaza, with earth floors and flat roofs held up by pine logs, or vigas. These beams were covered diagonally or at right angles with small poles, or latillas. The Pueblo Indians built their homes using wood, stone and puddled adobe, a laborious method of molding adobe walls by hand then laying them in low bands to dry before adding the next layer. As the Spanish settlers established communities in the region, they sought to improve the Pueblo construction methods using adobe. After all, the essential materials—mud, earth and straw—were plentiful and readily available. But to streamline the construction process, they designed wood molds to shape uniform adobe bricks.

Turquoise Trail and Madrid

From Santa Fe, drive south on NM 14, known as the Turquoise Trail. A National Scenic Byway, this trail takes its name from the gemstone that Indians, then Spaniards, Mexicans and Americans mined in this region for centuries Along the Turquoise Trail, you can explore unique towns, offering restaurants, shops, lodging, artists' studios, galleries and museums. Prehistoric peoples made their homes here. Spanish missionaries explored the area and battles were fought over this land. Outlaws and Confederate soldiers camped in the area. And Kit Carson marched Navajo people along the Trail in their "Long Walk"? to incarceration at Fort Sumner. Mines were dug in the mining districts for native copper, lead, iron, gold and turquoise.

Scenic views, diverse cultures, extensive history and great outdoor opportunities continue to entice visitors to journey down the beautiful Turquoise Trail today.The different succulents have exceptional patterns across their skin. Curving engraved lines that stretch across their arms and body, or a series of polka dots created by the protruding spikes, beautiful yet dangerous. Stop first at Cerrillos, once a central part of the Old Spanish Mineral Developments in the Southwest. Turquoise plucked from mines here ended up in Spain's crown jewels. By the 1880s, Cerrillos was a major mining town, producing gold, silver, lead and zinc and enough money to keep 21 saloons and four hotels in business. Today, the small town's dirt streets are lined with historic adobe and western buildings that have served as settings for numerous Western movies. Down the road lies Madrid, once a booming coal-mining town famous for its Christmas light displays and minor league baseball games held in the first lighted stadium in the West. After coal use declined, Madrid became a ghost town until the 1970s, when artists revived it with galleries, studios, restaurants, music concerts and even the annual holiday light display.

Continue south on NM 14 to the tiny town of Golden, established in 1825 during the first gold rush west of the Mississippi. Start your ascent into the Sandia Mountains at San Antonito, where NM 536 takes you up Sandia Crest. At an elevation of 10,678 feet, you'll get some jaw-dropping views of Albuquerque and the Rio Grande Valley. Drive back down and visit Tinkertown Museum, filled with hand-carved miniature figures and wacky Western memorabilia. Then follow NM 14 south to I-40 and drive east to NM 41. Head north on NM 41 to Galisteo, an historic adobe town populated largely by artists. Follow NM 41 to 285 near Lamy. Take 285 north to I-25 south to return to Santa Fe.


Popping out from the tops of these plants are little flowers of pink and purple and yellow, bright against their green backdrops. These flowers reflect the colors that burst in the sky as the sun sets at night, the orange of the earth mixing until the entire desert becomes a blooming painted sunset, the land turning a soft shade of pink. The slowly moving sun causes the plants to casts shadows into the dirt that elongate and dramatize their unique shapes creating strange monsters in the sand.