A Sense of Mission, Historic Churches of the Southwest
by Thomas A. Drain with photography by David Wakely, forward by N. Scott Momaday, Chronicle Books, 275 Fifth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 USA, 1994. Vivid photos of both interior and exteriors of the Spanish Mission churches, plus informative text make this my favorite book so far on these churches, many of which are built of adobe. Where the churches are still in use, the vibrant colors of the interiors are ascendant. In the ruins, the bold forms of the architecture predominate. The architecture and art combine the Moorish and Catholic Spanish, Mestizo and Pueblo Indian cultural legacies of the American Southwest.
Ageless Adobe, History and Preservation in Southwestern Architecture
by Jerome Iowa, Sunstone Press, PO Box 2321, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA, 1985. Good overview of historical styles and the basic needs of old buildings undergoing renovation and restoration.
American Adobes, Rural Houses of Northern New Mexico
by Beverley Spears
published by Ancient City Press, 1986, ISBN 0-941270-96-3
PO Box 5401, Santa Fe, NM 87502, USA, Tel: 1-505-982-8195
Evolution and history of the adobe (mud brick) houses of rural Northern New Mexico from the early Spanish settlements through today. Black and white photographs, floor plans, good bibliography. If you are taking the back road to Taos, this book will help you appreciate the adobe buildings in the towns and homesteads.
Arizona Ranch Houses, Southern Territorial Styles, 1867-1900
by Janet Ann Stewart, University of Arizona Press and Arizona Historical Society, Tucson, AZ, USA, 1987. Black and white photos and histories of these early houses, including some adobe ones.
Hispanic Arts and Ethnohistory in the Southwest,
A Spanish Colonial Arts Society Book, edited by Marta Weigle, Ancient City Press, Santa Fe, NM, USA, 1983. Papers on arts, preservation and ethnohistory including one on the Plaza del Cerro in Chimayó.
Historic Churches on the High Road to Taos
by Robert N. Batson, AIA, PO Box 1543, Coppell, TX 75019, USA, 1994. $10 USD plus shipping.
Excellent guide to the adobe churches on the original road between Santa Fe and Taos. Black and white line illustrations, maps and floor plans.
If you make the trip, the old towns along the winding, mountain road have many adobe buildings. The Galería Ortega at the highway into Chimayó has an extensive selection of books, tapes and foods of New Mexico along with their weavings.
On the Edge of Empire, The Taos Hacienda of los Martínez
by David J. Weber, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 1996. History and photos of this restored hacienda from the earliest days of Spanish New Mexico.
Adobe! Homes and Interiors of Taos, Santa Fe and the Southwest
by Sandra and Laurel Seth, Illustrations by Valerie Graves, Architectural Book Publishing Company, Stamford, Connecticut, USA, 1988. Well chosen black and white photos of typical and traditional adobe architecture in the Southwest, especially design elements such as corbels, fireplaces, shutters, gates, etc.
American Furniture and Decorative Arts from Spain's Northern Colonial Frontier, 1700-1900, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Al Luckett, Jr.
Sotheby's New York catalog, January, sale 7086, 1998. $37USD in the USA and $47 USD overseas. Excellent color photos of furnished historic New Mexico houses and rancheros and plus a number of illustrated and informative essays including "The Spanish Borderlands in North America, The Art of Making Furniture on the Spanish Frontier of North America" and "Carpinteros and Cabinetmakers, Furniture Making in New Mexico, 1600 - 1900" make this a very useful catalog beyond the photos of pieces offered for sale.
Furniture of Spanish New Mexico
by Alan C. Vedder, Sunstone Press, PO Box 2321, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA, 1961. Black and white photos of traditional furniture from private and museum collections. Good resource book.
New Mexico Style, A Source Book of Traditional Architectural Details
by Nancy Hunter Warren, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, USA, 1990. Concise black and white photos of corbels and portal posts, doors, windows, canales, cover-ups, railings, mailboxes and gates.
Santa Fe Design
by Elmo Baca and Suzanne Deats, Publications International, Ltd. Lincolnwood, Illinois, USA, 1990. Pretty pictures divided by area: entradas, salas and on through the house into the garden, includes a section of Santa Fe arts and crafts.
Southwestern Ornamentation and Design, The Architecture of John Gaw Meen
by Anne Taylor, Ph.D., Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, USA, 1990. Black and white photos and line drawings of the design details of architect John Gaw Meen's Southwestern architecture.
Traditional Arts of Spanish New Mexico
The Hispanic Heritage Wing at the Museum of International Folk Art, by Robin Farwell Gavin, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, NM, USA, 1994. Includes excellent color photographs of the furniture collection, historic black and white photographs of interiors and many artifacts from churches and homes.
Casa Mexican, The Architecture, Design, and Style of Mexico
by Tim Street-Porter, Stewart, Tabori and Chang, New York, USA, 1989. I love this book. The photos, architecture and colors are spectacular. Covers colonial and contemporary buildings with the Mexican talent for including the outside in their living space, rather than excluding it.
Houses of Mexico, Origins and Traditions
by Verna Cook Shipway and Warren Shipway, Architectural Book Publishing co., Inc., New York, USA, 1970. The authors of The Mexican House: Old and New, Mexican Interiors, Mexican Homes of Today, and Decorative Design in Mexican Homes provide numerous black and white photos of these houses from the building details to the furnishings and the gardens.
Spectacular Vernacular, The Adobe Tradition
by Jean-Louis Bourgeois, photographs by Carollee Pelos, Aperture Foundation, Inc., New York, USA, 1989. I love this book, too. The adobe resonates and soars, in houses and shrines and temples. Columns of spheres and donuts in Senegal that the building code enforcers would never let you build, amazing forms, surface decoration and adaptations to arid climates.
Design for a Limited Planet
by Norma Skurka and Jon Naar, Ballantine Books, New York, USA, 1976. Profiles of pioneering alternate energy houses including some adobe ones.
Shelter, Sign and Symbol, An Exploratory Work on Vernacular Architecture
edited by Paul Oliver, The Overlook Press, Woodstock, New York, USA, 1977. Includes cultures that work in mud, philosophical and anthropological papers.
Antoni Gaudí
by Rainer Zerbst, Taschen Verlag GmbH and Co. KG., Cologn, 1990. Gaudí stretches the imagination into ribbon candy.
In the Oriental Style, A Sourcebook of Decoration and Design,
by Michael Freeman, Sian Evans and Mimi Lipton, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1990. The examples in the photos of simple plastered walls, exposed wood and other interior details work well with contemporary mud buildings.
Indian Style
by Suzanne Slesin and Stafford Cliff with photographs by David Brittain, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1990. The dry parts of India have lots of mud buildings. Photos ranging from beautiful wall paintings in simple village homes to elegant aristocratic arches.
Living with Folk Art, Ethnic Styles from around the World
by Nicholas Barnard, Thames Hudson, Ltd, London, 1991. Includes collectors who live in adobe homes, but will also give you ideas about designing your house to include art and artifacts. These people obviously love living with their collections.
Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings
by Edward S. More, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1961. First published in 1886, with pen and ink drawings. Another book to make you look differently at household space and perhaps modify how you use yours.
