While many architectural styles in the United States have drawn inspiration from abroad, some are primarily domestic. The Pueblo Revival style, also known as the Santa Fe or Adobe style, is one of these. With roots in the traditional building methods of the Pueblo people native to the Southwest, this style is best known for its simple, geometric massing and adobe or stucco exterior colors that reflect the colors of the surrounding desert.
Ancient technologies given a modern twist
For thousands of years, indigenous peoples of the arid southwestern United States built their homes using natural materials and techniques that kept the interiors cool throughout the day and warm at night. The Taos-speaking Pueblo people are particularly famous for this style. When Spanish missionaries and territorial officials arrived in New Mexico in the 17th century, they adopted this style for their buildings. Santa Fe’s Palace of the Governors is an early example.
From here, interest quickly spread to New Mexico and the Pueblo Revival style was born. The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, founded in 1889, was one of the first buildings to prominently incorporate Pueblo-style features. Its oldest buildings are still considered exemplars of the Pueblo Revival style, although later buildings have taken a more creative approach to the style.
After 1912, the Pueblo revival became widespread in New Mexico and began to spread to Ancestral Pueblo areas of Arizona and Colorado, as well as other western states without historic Pueblo populations.
Santa Fe, New Mexico became a hotbed for the Pueblo Revival style in the 1920s, thanks to the efforts of city planners and architects like John Gaw Meem , who aimed to give the city a distinctive look rooted in its regional history. In particular, they wanted an aesthetic that would set them apart from the rapidly spreading Mission-style architecture of Southern California. Their desire for a new identity was helped by the fact that New Mexico had gained statehood in 1912.
The Pueblo Revival style became so strongly associated with Santa Fe that a law was passed to protect the city’s unique look. In 1957, the Santa Fe “H” Historic District Regulation Ordinance, better known as the Historic Zoning Ordinance, established a historic district in central Santa Fe. The ordinance is still in effect. Within the historic district, all new buildings must be built in the “Old Santa Fe Style,” which includes Pueblo-inspired styles.
Although Pueblo Revival was at the peak of its popularity in the 1920s and 1930s, it is still commonly used throughout the Southwest. Today’s Pueblo Revival buildings often take a loose interpretation of Pueblo architecture and incorporate elements from other architectural movements, but the Pueblo influence can still be easily seen.
Simple forms and connection to nature
Pueblo Revival buildings have a unique set of characteristics that make them instantly recognizable. Like traditional Pueblo buildings, they are based on rectangular forms. Although Pueblo people often built huge community living spaces reaching five or six stories, most Pueblo Revival buildings are limited to one or two stories. When they are larger, they use the same stepped massing style of the originals, with the stepped levels becoming progressively narrower toward the top.
The Pueblo people built their homes using a mixture of mud, organic material such as straw, and water. Their traditional method, known as puddle adobe, is a technique in which piles of adobe are built up by hand. This creates thick walls that trap heat during the day and provide insulation at night.
Spanish settlers helped speed up the process by supplying wooden brick molds. In fact, the word adobe is Spanish for mudbrick. Still, the structures retained their traditional slightly rounded corners rather than the 90-degree corners of typical brick buildings.
More recently built Pueblo Revival buildings are usually made from commercially available materials, but the rounded corners remain. These buildings may be finished in adobe plaster for a truly traditional look or, for something more modern, in stucco or concrete that is then painted in earth colors.
Like their predecessors, Pueblo Revival buildings have large wooden doors and small, ornate rectangular windows set deep in the walls. The rounded corners of the doors and windows mirror the corners of the exterior walls.
Roofs are typically flat, with no overhangs and have parapets or low walls at varying heights along the edges of the roof. Rainwater drains through “canals” or extended roof slopes. In less traditional Pueblo Revival buildings, low-pitched tiled roofs are sometimes used.
Pueblo Revival buildings often have “vigas” or thick, exposed wooden ceiling beams that extend beyond the roof line. In traditional Pueblo buildings, these beams support “latillas” or laths, and the two together support the adobe roof. In Pueblo Revival buildings, vigas are often merely decorative. Vigas may be further decorated and supported by corbels underneath. First used on medieval cathedrals, corbels are a Spanish missionary addition to Pueblo-style architecture. However, unlike elaborate medieval corbels, Mission style corbels take on a simple, square form.
Porches and patios, whether open, covered or completely enclosed, are a common component of Pueblo Revival buildings. They are often supported by Spanish-style wooden pillars made of the same wood as the roof vigas.
Not all post-19th-century buildings that have Pueblo-style elements are true Pueblo Revival. The Pueblo Revival movement also gave rise to Pueblo Deco, which combines Pueblo features with the eclectic ornamentation of Art Deco.
Unique to the desert Southwest, the Pueblo Revival architectural style creates a sense of continuity between ancient and modern architecture and provides a connection to the local natural environment. Taking a closer look at the characteristics of this style will give you a better understanding of how the culture of this region has evolved over time.