inside su casa
a matter of the heart
A wall in the patio of Kirby Kendrick's home incorporates these milagros into the masonry.
When Su Casa contacted Santa Fe homeowner and artist Kirby Kendrick about her house, she referred to it as the Grande Dame. Her notes and subsequent conversation make it clear that she regards the place not just as a house or a treasured home, but as a dear friend. She has a personal relationship with the beautiful, aging adobe that she has renovated on Garcia Street.
It so happens that Zach and Susan Bryan, working with architect Jon Anderson, have likewise created a uniquely personal home in the high-desert hills of Rio Rancho, New Mexico. An honor award winner in the 2007 Su Casa/AIA Albuquerque Residential Design competition, it encapsulates the couple’s love of the outdoors, Zach’s passion for geology, and their ties to the wide open landscape around them at Mariposa. Further deepening their connection, the gifted Anderson worked closely with them on the design, then they built it themselves, with help from family. Think that’s “just a house”?
Some 120 miles to the northeast, where the Great Plains lap against the southern Rocky Mountains, Leslie Hammel-Turk and Brad Turk have built their modern-day homestead. The house is lovely, with spectacular views, but I suspect “home” for Leslie lies inside her glorious horse barn, whose beams and trusses rise to a cathedral peak. Here is the ranch she always wanted, the layout of every stall, turnout pen, and pasture expressing her personal vision.
Now, during the Homes of Enchantment Parade, thousands of us will tour nearly 120 houses, wondering which might engage us in a personal relationship. Among them is Featured Builder Tiffany Homes Southwest’s entry in Rio Rancho. The company’s founders, Arlan and Mary Alice Collatz, have a personal stake in creating not just subdivisions of feature-packed homes, but neighborhoods where residents become friends. Equally personal but in a different way, Tres Amigos Builders brings three leading contractors together in a unique mission as Featured Builder. Betty Blea of Homes by Marie, Bill Reynolds of New Haven Homes, and Norm Schreifels of Sun Mountain Construction have set aside any competitive tendencies to collaborate as Tres Amigos on a great house with one overarching goal: to donate the sale proceeds to handpicked charities. It’s a matter of the heart.
If you happen to be on the tour some afternoon, standing outside at the Signature Community of La Cuentista with all of Albuquerque laid out at your feet and the grassy West Mesa stretching to the extinct volcanoes, you might find your heart saying, “here.” Whether it’s on a lot in this all-green-homes community or someplace else in the huge field of view, your personal stake awaits.