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33-547: The Estufa is modeled after a kiva , a ceremonial meeting place used by the Pueblo people . It has thick adobe walls and contains a single windowless room with seating around the edges. Construction of the building was guided by university president William G. Tight , who promoted the use of Pueblo Revival architecture on campus. The Estufa was one of the first buildings in New Mexico to employ this style. An estufa [Sp.,

66-603: A more conventional door. The interior of the Estufa contains a single windowless room, approximately 500 square feet (46 m) in area, which has been described as a pit with seating around the edge. Despite the prevalence of Pueblo style architecture at UNM, the Estufa is one of only two buildings on campus actually made out of adobe. The other is the Naval Science Building designed by John Gaw Meem . Kiva Too Many Requests If you report this error to

99-571: A number of styles evoking Hispanic precedents. He was a planner of note, stewarding the development of the University of New Mexico for several decades and working to ensure the preservation of the historic plaza and adobes in Old Santa Fe. Indeed, his name became synonymous with Santa Fe as a historic and artistic nexus during its 20th century reawakening. Meem was known for his attention to detail, and his seemingly simple forms were actually

132-405: A personal stamp on all of his best buildings that mark him as one of the most original designers of his time. In a new age of sustainability his work offers profound lessons about how to build in harmony with the land. A number of Meem's works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places . The library at St. John's College, Santa Fe is named after Meem. Meem's office completed

165-603: A stove, a warm room. Cf. Stove] is an assembly room in a dwelling of the Pueblo Indians (i.e. a kiva), per Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1998. The Estufa was built in 1907–08 by the local social fraternity Alpha Alpha Alpha, previously known as the Yum Yum Society. The project received support from university president William G. Tight , who was interested in strengthening the Greek system on campus. At

198-499: A total of 25 buildings between 1933 and 1959. He also served as a consultant on two later projects by Holien and Buckley. Two of the university buildings, Scholes Hall and Zimmerman Library, are regarded as some of Meem's most important works, and the library in particular is considered to be a masterpiece of southwestern architecture. Most significantly, John Gaw Meem was an early advocate for an architecture of place instead of an architecture of machine-like standardization. He saw both

231-402: Is a large exterior staircase, which ascends to the roof, from which, through a trap-door, steps lead down into the interior. Inside is a large fire place, of true Indian design, while the rafters and timbers above add to the effect. The whole is coated with cement, and makes an admirable imitation of the real estufa. The Tri-Alphas held their first meeting in the Estufa on February 20, 1908, while

264-416: Is generally regarded as his masterpiece. It was while working on this project that he met his wife Faith, whom he married in 1933. The war kept Meem's firm occupied with a large number of military and government commissions, and his staff at one point reached 35 employees. Hugo Zehner, who had been with Meem since 1930, was promoted to partner in 1940. Another partner, Edward O. Holien, joined in 1944, making

297-630: The National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The Estufa is an elliptical, one-story building loosely modeled after a kiva at Santo Domingo Pueblo . As such, it was one of the earliest expressions of the Pueblo Revival style in New Mexico, and is the oldest surviving example at UNM. The walls are adobe and are approximately 14 inches (36 cm) thick. The building was originally accessed via an external staircase and roof trapdoor, but this arrangement has since been replaced by

330-746: The Regionalism that would increasingly influence American painting, literature and architecture during the 1920s and 1930s. He gained an extensive knowledge of Pueblo and Spanish Colonial building techniques through his volunteer work with the Committee for the Preservation and Restoration of New Mexico Mission Churches (CPRNMMC) during the 1920s and 1930s. Unlike many previous eclectic architects, however, Meem used architectural forms such as battered walls, vigas , and stepped parapets in combination with modern building techniques and materials to evoke

363-719: The United States to attend Virginia Military Institute , where he obtained a degree in civil engineering . After graduating, he worked briefly for his uncle's engineering firm in New York before being called up for military service. Having spent the duration of World War I at a training camp in Iowa , Meem was hired by the National City Bank of New York and sent to Rio de Janeiro . Soon after arriving in Brazil he

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396-571: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 572004715 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:04:27 GMT John Gaw Meem John Gaw Meem IV (November 17, 1894 – August 4, 1983) was an American architect based in Santa Fe , New Mexico . He is best known for his instrumental role in

429-544: The adobe buildings of not only the ancient inhabitants of pueblos but also the Spanish missionaries in New Mexico. In particular he gravitated to the painter Carlos Vierra , who was a fellow patient at Sunmount. Both men found inspiration in the landscape and buildings of the old southwest. Meem also developed an interest in the preservation of historic buildings, a pursuit that would occupy him throughout his career. In 1922, having recovered sufficiently to spend time away from

462-428: The advantages and perils of Modernism, and strove always to ground his buildings in the rich tradition of southwest art and culture that were developed by Native Americans and extended by the Spanish. He saw his work not as historical replication but as a fresh, new interpretation of age-old methods of building in a hot, arid climate. Never one to trumpet his own importance over that of his beloved city, he nonetheless put

495-553: The area. McCormick returned to his home state of Indiana in 1928, dissolving the partnership. Meem's most significant work during this period was his remodeling of the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, which called upon him to respect the vernacular forms of the original while updating the building for contemporary uses. He proved adept at this balancing of preservation with new design, leading to other work with old buildings in

528-551: The area. Meem was head of the Historic American Buildings Survey in New Mexico from 1934 until 1955. Between 1928 and the beginning of World War II , Meem's office remained small, employing only a handful of drafters, though his reputation was growing. In 1930, he entered and won a national competition to select a design for the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe. Among his competitors was

561-480: The building was set on fire four times. It was also damaged by an accidental gas explosion in 1958 that left five people injured. In the 1960s, the building seemed doomed by a University Boulevard widening project, but city planners ultimately chose a road alignment further to the west that kept the Estufa out of harm's way. It was added to the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and

594-479: The building was still unfinished. In 1915, Alpha Alpha Alpha became the Beta Delta chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha , the university's first national fraternity, and the Estufa has continued to serve as the chapter's primary meeting location for nearly 100 years. During its long history as a fraternity council room, the Estufa has been involved in numerous pranks and has been broken into or vandalized many times, often by

627-423: The city of Santa Fe was manifold. Not only did he design a large number of the city's most memorable buildings, he also headed the committee which authored the 1957 Historical Zoning Ordinance. This influential law ensured that all future buildings in central Santa Fe would adhere to the vernacular idioms and materials of the old quarter. Allowable design specifications were spelled out in considerable detail, guiding

660-597: The development and popularization of the Pueblo Revival Style and as a proponent of architectural Regionalism in the face of international modernism. Meem is regarded as one of the most important and influential architects to have worked in New Mexico. Meem was born in 1894 in Pelotas , Brazil , the eldest child of parents who were missionaries of the Episcopal Church . In 1910 he traveled to

693-415: The development of the downtown for decades. With this, the city led the way toward sensitive preservation of historic districts throughout the United States. Though such strict adherence to one building tradition drew criticism, Meem's design sensibilities continue to influence new construction in Santa Fe today. Meem also left a significant mark on the University of New Mexico campus, where his firm designed

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726-463: The firm Meem, Zehner, Holien and Associates. During this period Holien became the firm's primary designer, with Meem mainly handling public relations work. The post-war years were the firm's most productive period, with a number of buildings designed for the University of New Mexico, Santa Fe Public Schools, Southern Union Gas Company, and many other clients. Following a gradual transfer of power to Holien, Meem retired in 1956. He remained associated with

759-572: The firm of Fisher & Fisher, where he had been apprenticed just a few years earlier. Then in 1933, he was selected as the official architect of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque , a position he would hold until his retirement. His best-known work at the University was the iconic Zimmerman Library , completed in 1938. Later that year, Meem achieved international recognition for the monumental Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center , which

792-502: The past without imitating it directly. He explained in a 1966 article that he used symbolic forms to "evoke a mood without attempting to produce an archaeological imitation." Meem's finest works all found resonance with the soft, earthbound forms and materials that were part of the vernacular architecture of the Old Southwest. As the architect for the bishop and Archdiocese of Santa Fe from 1934 to 1944, he designed new churches in

825-409: The product of meticulous study and design based upon knowledge of precedents. His plans for Zimmerman Library included no fewer than 41 vertical wall sections and 21 parapet drawings illustrating exactly how he wanted the finished walls to appear. He also personally supervised their construction, ordering their reworking on more than one occasion. As his designs matured, Meem found the means to extend

858-399: The rival Sigma Chi fraternity. The building is accessible only to members of Pi Kappa Alpha, and according to fraternity lore no woman has ever seen its interior. The Estufa has survived both accidental and intentional vehicular collisions as well as "attempts to destroy it with fire, dynamite, water and other weapons" according to an Albuquerque Journal article from 1952. In 1947 alone,

891-568: The same time, Tight had been working to promote Pueblo Revival architecture at the university and had already overseen construction of two new dormitories and a boiler plant in the Pueblo style. Under this influence, the Tri-Alphas built their meeting room in the form of a kiva or "estufa," a traditional feature of Pueblo architecture. Ground was broken on the project in January 1907, though

924-803: The sanatorium's spare buildings as a studio. Meem handled the design work, while McCormick managed the business side of the enterprise. Their first commission was the renovation and expansion of a house belonging to Hubert Galt, yet another fellow patient. Another of his earliest commissions was the home of Tex Austin at the Forked Lightning Ranch. The home is now part of the Pecos National Historic Park . More significant were his houses for Cyrus McCormick, Jr.and Amelia Hollenbeck. Both incorporated traditional adobe construction techniques and domestic typologies, later becoming models for dozens of "Santa Fe style" residences in

957-872: The sanatorium, he spent fifteen months working for the firm of Fisher & Fisher in Denver . In the evenings he attended the Atelier Denver, a studio affiliated with the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York. This constituted Meem's only formal training in architecture. Informally, Meem studied the Spanish churches and missions and was inspired by their simple forms. He would later write about creating an "old new architecture" that combined modern planning with adobe forms. Upon Meem's return to Sunmount in 1924, he and fellow patient Cassius McCormick opened their own architecture practice, using one of

990-428: The successor firm of Holien and Buckley, serving as an architectural consultant. Meem continued to accept scattered commissions through the 1960s, and in later life published occasional articles in architecture journals. He was a benefactor and supporter of Santa Fe Preparatory School , where a campus building is named for him. He died in 1983 at the age of 89. Meem was one of the first architects to be associated with

1023-760: The vocabulary of Southwest regional forms. Comparing the Zimmerman Library (1933–37) with the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (1936–40) shows how a similar aesthetic could be rendered in different materials while maintaining a connection to type forms that are centuries old. In this extraordinary synthesis, Meem showed that modern architecture need not hew to the cold, anonymous vocabulary of the International Style, but might rather pursue direct connections to local building materials and traditions. Meem's influence on

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1056-551: The work evidently proceeded slowly and it was not finished until April 1908. The U.N.M. Weekly student newspaper reported that month that The most unique fraternity house in the world has just been completed on the campus of the University. It is modeled after the Indian fashion, and is in fact, an almost exact counterpart of the San Domingo estufas. The house consists of one large elliptical room, with no windows. The entrance

1089-479: Was diagnosed with tuberculosis . Like many other tuberculosis patients of his time, Meem decided to seek the cure in the dry desert climate of New Mexico. He arrived at the Sunmount Sanatorium in Santa Fe in the spring of 1920. While at Sunmount, Meem gradually developed an interest in architecture. His initial curiosity was fueled by members of the nascent art community that was studying and preserving

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