The book presents in detail forty architecturally rich and picturesque houses, from the earliest one-story adobe structures, with flat roofs and an emphasis on utility and simplicity, to homes of today's "Santa Fe style," showing deep roots in Pueblo Indian, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo traditions. When New Mexico was claimed for the United States in 1846 newcomers gradually added decorative elements from back east, creating a simplified version of the Greek Revival style, known locally as the "Territorial style." The advent of the railroad brought a variety of ornate Victorian architectural styles, and when New Mexico achieved statehood in 1912, business and political leaders in Santa Fe boosted tourism by promoting its "Spanish-Pueblo Revival style" of architecture, which was based on the remaining Spanish- and Mexican-era buildings and nearby Pueblo villages. All-new color photographs show Santa Fe's most beautiful houses as they have been carefully preserved today.
