de la Peña House

Dating from at least 1845, the de la Peña House is an early nineteenth century Spanish Pueblo adobe farmhouse. Members of the de la Peña family lived in the home for 80 years. In 1925, artist, writer, and historic preservationist Frank Applegate purchased the home. An unusual historic feature is a “shepherd’s bed,” which provided a resting place for wandering shepherds who slept outside, keeping watch over sheep in the meadow below the house. The National Park Service recorded the house for the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1937, an honor reserved for the most important historic structures in the United States.

From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore. Photographs by Vincent Foster, circa 1991, from the Historic Santa Fe Foundation Collection.