Snowshoes and santos, lutefisk and chile, Dad and Mom—the Larson brothers grew up with a double cultural heritage from their Scandinavian father and Hispanic mother. The Larsons’ ancestral blend shows up in the natural materials and clean, serene surfaces of a new house they built in San Pedro Creek Estates, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. But parts of the house aren’t new at all. It is embellished with beams and posts, brick and stone, art and crafts from a hundred years of New Mexico history.

Brothers John and Karl Larson grew up in Tomé, a small town 25 miles south of Albuquerque. Their mother, Amy, who came from the Socorro area, taught in the public schools and also at the University of New Mexico. Their father, Wayne, moved to New Mexico from northern Minnesota. During his career as a police officer, Wayne became increasingly interested in local history. As Karl remembers it, “Dad was always dragging us along to look at old ghost towns.”

Later, Wayne Larson began salvaging beams and posts, roofing, flooring, barn siding, brick—anything he could save from old buildings being demolished. The boys grew up sanding and waxing the timbers their father retrieved. Wayne also began collecting antique furniture, specifically increasingly rare New Mexico pine furniture.

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