Oliver P. Hovey House as seen from Griffin Street

Oliver P. Hovey House
formerly known as The Pinckney R. Tully House
136 Griffin Street

In 2002, the Historic Santa Fe Foundation renamed the Tully House for Oliver P. Hovey, a man whose contemporaries sometimes referred to as Lord Hovey or even the Great Lord Hovey, for his pretentious and extravagant ways. He was not a lord, just as the house he built was not really red brick, but as research often reveals, nothing is quite what it seems.

The seven-room adobe residence known for some thirty years as the Pinckney R. Tully House is among Santa Fe’s most highly regarded landmarks, distinguished by a painted-brick exterior, prominent downtown location and recent history of near destruction and subsequent rescue by the Historic Santa Fe Foundation.

 Early on there was uncertainty about an appropriate historic name for the building. An undated research report in the HSFF files is entitled, “The Avery House? The Tully House? The Conklin House? Take Your Pick!” 

Several years ago, the HSFF began to update the documentation on the “Tully House”, which appeared to have a straightforward history based on previous research. Analysis revealed that the original title did not lead back to Tully’s nine-room house, but rather to a seven-room dwelling directly north of it on land purchased by Oliver P. Hovey from James Conklin in 1857. A recently published 1859 Santa Fe diary mentions “Mr. Hovey’s brick”. These quantities of fired genuine bricks were unobtainable at this early date in Santa Fe so this is undoubtedly a reference to the painted variety. An inventory, made after Hovey’s death in 1862, lists a “brick front house”. 

Oliver Hovey, like Tully, was James Conklin’s son-in-law. Both owned or leased portions of Conklin’s property. At various times, Hovey owned or claimed this house as well as tracts both north and south of it. Herein lies the confusion. Although documentation of the Foundation’s property is not as straightforward as that for the actual Tully House, evidence suggests that the subject building was constructed during Hovey’s ownership between 1857 and 1859 and lost by him soon thereafter.

When the Foundation purchased the property in 1976, the false brick was long forgotten having been covered with stucco. An early photograph revealed two walls painted in false brick. When existing stucco was removed, fragments of the painted brick were uncovered over the side entrance. After considerable discussion, it was decided that the false finish would be restored. This work was completed in 1978.