Modern Home Tour New Mexico Reveals Edgy Design in Santa Fe

As Santa Fe marks the newest addition to a 27-city Modern Home Tour, organized by Architectural Record contributing editor Ingrid Spencer, architectural perambulators on Saturday could visit 11 houses including a sprawling prairie design by Bart Prince in Glorieta; several works of new architecture by Jonah Stanford of MoSA design; two by Alexander Dzurec of Autotroph Design; as well as Jeff Harnar’s residence; a historic house design by Frank Lloyd Wright; and additional contributions by J. Matt Thomas and Ernie Sulpizio. Spencer said she had received “an opinionated email from an architectural traditionalist” in Santa Fe, after a Friday article appeared as the lead story in the Santa Fe New Mexican, giving details of the April 21st event. To visit the Modern Tour of Santa Fe link, click here.

Among the newest houses on the tour was a 2,400-square-foot “Volkshouse,” by MoSA (Mojarrab Stanford architects), sited adjacent to Frenchies Field along Agua Fria Street. Further south on Agua Fria the Autotroph design incorporated rammed earth and steel construction. Probably the most creative house on the tour was Jeff Harnar’s own residence; the architect died in 2007 but has an award named for him that offers an annual $10000 prize to a New Mexico architect. The slideshow below gives an idea of some of the designs on view, if not of the intransigence of the attitudes against modern design in Santa Fe, which, IMHO, looks just fantastic just about everywhere.