Las Acequias is a hundred-acre farm located 16 miles north of Santa Fe on the banks of the Río Nambé. Multiple historic buildings and landscapes make up the complex site, including acequias, internal dirt roads, ponds, and orchards. Originally designed as a rural summer retreat for the prominent Cyrus McCormick III family of Chicago in 1931, the site incorporated historic vernacular buildings with new structures designed by architect John Gaw Meem and artist/ photographer Carlos Vierra, both enthusiastic promoters of the Spanish Pueblo Revival.
Originally, the governor and captain general of the Kingdom of New Mexico, Don Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza, granted the land to soldier and settler Vicente Durán de Armijo in 1739. Because of the high degree of integrity of the property, the National Park Service designated Las Acequias as a multiple property historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MELANIE MCWHORTER