Santa Fe needed Ricardo Legorreta. Confined by decades of brown stucco and corbelled vigas—nearly ubiquitous in New Mexico’s capital since 1915, when “Santa Fe style” was concocted—the ancient villa real had become trapped by its own image and effective marketing campaigns. Isolated geographically for much of its history, Santa Fe had also been bypassed by global architectural trends such as modernism and postmodernism. Perhaps more importantly, the city had largely forgotten its Mexican cultural roots.

Santa Fe architecture of the 20th century was influenced most heavily by the development and expression of Pueblo Revival style after World War I and by the long and influential career of the architect who shaped it, John Gaw Meem. In 1957 a comprehensive historic preservation ordinance canonized and codified historical styles of architecture; the city’s residents have debated its changing façades and urban character ever since.