Santa Fe Style

Since the opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821, the town of Santa Fe, New Mexico, has been a rich source of original American design. Santa Fe Style explores the beginnings and current form of this exciting design tradition, from the ancient inspiration of the Canyon de chelly to the innovations of Frank Lloyd Wright and contemporary passive-solar architects. The elements of style for which the area is known--warm adobe brick, simple hand-carved furnishings, rough-hewn beams, Indian potter, Navajo rugs, and colorful folk sculpture--are all beautifully photographed in over 450 illustrations.

A community of fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, Santa Fe has had an impact on American culture far greater than its size. The Spanish colonists who founded the town in 1608 adapted their European tradition to the Pueblo Indian building materials and methods, creating an architecture that is unique in the world. The trade routes and the opening of the railroad brought ranchers and farmers from the East; and spectacular surroundings of mountains and high desert drew twentieth-century writers and artists from D.H.Lawrence to Georgia O'Keeffe. Each new wave of settlers added to the Santa Fe legend and the Santa Fe style.

Here is not only the romance of Santa Fe, but the irresistible appeal of its lifestyle--a casual elegance enlivened by a dynamic, ever-changing mixture of the old and the new, the West and the East, the plain and the sophisitcated. In addition to the wide range of design ideas offered by the illustrations is a list of sources directing readers to Santa Fe merchants and services.

Christine Mather is a former curator of Spanish Colonial Art at the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe and the author of Baroque to Folk: de lo Barroco a lo Popular and Colonial Frontiers: Art and Life in Spanish New Mexico, as well as articles in numerous periodicals, including Antiques. She lives in Santa Fe.

Sharon Woods is a designer and partner in Robert A. Woods Construction, which has built and renovated many Santa Fe homes. She is active in Santa Fe design circle, and is a member of the Historical Design Review Board. Her 1983 restoration of the Professor J.A.Wood home won the Historical Society of New Mexico Award. She lives in Santa Fe.

Paul Hardy was formerly art director of Attenzione magazine and has been a leading editorial and book designer for many years. his book designs include Pierre Duex's French Country.

Jack Parsons, a Santa Fe resident, is a film maker and photographer, whose work has been included in Cowboy and New Mexico USA.

Robert Reck is a leading architectural photographer in New Mexico who has been publisher in many magazines.