Sometimes it takes a fresh eye to make something work. This is true of Santa Fe architecture where, in some neighborhoods at least, the famed City Different is in danger of becoming the City Homogenous. Houses here may boast enough faux adobe, corbels, and nichos to fill the Rio Grande Gorge, but what’s missing is the quirkiness, the originality, that the city’s historic residents—a free-spirited lot—brought to their homes.

So what does it take to revive the moribund? Just a pair of skilled, well-intentioned, retired Albuquerque cops.

“I needed a job,” says Roch (pronounced “rock”) Hart of his inspiration to build a small subdivision in the neighborhood where he grew up, Santa Fe’s historic South Capitol district. Artistic and philosophical, he is half of a bantering, odd-couple team. His business partner, the peripatetic and pragmatic Paul Martinez, is principal of Galisteo Builders.

Although they had never developed anything but cases against criminals before, these two succeeded where more seasoned builders have failed. Their planned development in an established, traditional neighborhood is uniquely charming—but what’s more, it is accepted and even liked by both nearby residents and the formidable city bureaucracy.

Roch and Paul look way too young to be retired. In their early 40s, they are both 20-year veterans of the Albuquerque Police Department. As he was retiring, Roch and his family made the decision to do something with the prime, near-downtown land they had owned for three generations. “I was looking for a builder I could trust, and I knew Paul and his reputation,” he recalls. Paul already had a general contractor’s license and had built several homes. It wasn’t hard to persuade him to retire as well.

 

 

 

 

“Infill” is often a bad word in Santa Fe. As a policy, the city encourages building within its boundaries to combat urban sprawl and conserve costly infrastructure—especially water in this drought-dry town. But as a practicality, infill is almost never popular. Residents cherish their quiet streets, vacant spaces, and prairie dog colonies, and frequently oppose such projects. “Paul and I agreed that we wanted to do a quality home that would fit the neighborhood,” Roch says. The two put their cop skills to work.

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