Exhibition opens at El Zaguán, 545 Canyon Road, Suite 2, Santa Fe, New Mexico on Friday, July 1, 2016, 3-5pm with a talk on the history of both properties at 4pm. Exhibition continues through July 29th, 2016.

The Historic Santa Fe Foundation added two new properties to its Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation in July 2015 and January 2016: San José Hall in Galisteo and The Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe. Both institutions are significant for their importance to the communities in which they were designed and built. The exhibition opens on Friday, July 1st from 3-5pm on San José Hall and The Church of the Holy Faith with talks on each property beginning promptly at 4pm and lasting about 15 minutes each. The exhibition will include photographs, architectural drawings, maps and ephemera from the San José Hall and The Church of the Holy Faith. The exhibition is free and open to the public and will continue through July 29th, 2016.

Constructed around 1905, San José Hall, also known as La Sala de Galisteo, is a prominent local landmark within the village of Galisteo. It has functioned not only as a meeting space for the lay religious organization but later as a site for community dances, performances and family celebrations. In the fall of 2008, La Sala de Galisteo, a nonprofit organization, was formed to restore, preserve and maintain the building. The board of the nonprofit raised over $90,000 in grants and donations from 2009-2015 and completed the majority of the significant repairs during this period. The San José Hall is an important example of vernacular architecture in Santa Fe area from over100 years ago and represents a tradition of vernacular architecture that is rapidly disappearing from New Mexico’s historic districts. While still under restoration, La Sala is now open weekends as a community arts gallery.

The Church of the Holy Faith is the oldest Episcopal Church in New Mexico and has been central to the artistic and political history of Santa Fe and New Mexico. It was established as a “house church” in 1863 with lay readers frequently conducting services because there was no priest. Early worshipers were often young Anglo soldiers and officers garrisoned in Santa Fe during the American Civil War. The Church of the Holy Faith is located at 311 East Palace Avenue on land purchased in 1879 for $250. The cornerstone of The Church of Holy Faith was laid in 1881 and the structure completed in 1882. The cornerstone for the John Gaw Meem-designed parish house was laid in 1925 and the hall was completed in 1926. The existing church became the nave and the Meem-designed chancel and sanctuary were added to the north of the existing building. The Church, built in the folk gothic style of an English parish church, is one of the first dressed-stone buildings in Santa Fe. The stone was quarried outside the village of Galisteo.