by Kate Jonuska
as the name says, there’s a sense of place on every page
STUNNINGLY PHOTOGRAPHED and lusciously printed, Jane Smith’s art book, “Santa Fe Sense of Place,” is both a museum of and an ode to the architecture and design of Santa Fe. It highlights this unique design style that draws inspiration from Spanish, Native American, Mexican and other cultures that have called the area home.
“Sitting at the nexus of culture and commerce, Santa Fe has always been a more international city than a Southwestern American city. Those drawn to a place like Santa Fe are natural explorers, pioneers, and waymakers,” writes Pamela W. Kelly with the Museum of New Mexico Foundation in the introduction to the book, which features 18 Santa Fe homes. “As the photographs in this book attest, the owners of these homes are not shy about their passion for exploring and collecting.”
Their collections are a feast for the eyes and a cultural exploration. For instance, the book looks inside a 150-year-old homestead near Galisteo remodeled into a plush, adobe abode furnished with dark Spanish antiques and boasting three portals, ideally suited for Santa Fe’s weather and lifestyle.
Smith also steps inside an apartment at El Zaguan with a traditional corner fireplace and viga ceilings. The building, built in 1849 as a large house for a prosperous merchant and family, is now divided and run by the Santa Fe Foundation as a residency program for artists who have personalized some fantastic spaces.
Covering historic properties and new ones, “Santa Fe Sense of Place” captures the Santa Fe region, its style and history upon the page with reverence and awe—awe the homes’ owners share and that conveys to the reader from the page.
“For me, an adobe building is a living thing, and tending to it is what keeps me going,” says the owner of a home designed by noted Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem. “I feel I am the custodian of this ever-changing landscape.”
