Modern Albuquerque

A Different Kind of Modern

Albuquerque belongs in the same conversation as Palm Springs, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, a Southwestern city whose postwar boom left it with one of the region’s richest and most overlooked collections of mid-century modern architecture.

Regional Resources and Archives for Research

Dr Dodge Report (pdf)

2013 Survey of Mid-Century Modernist Architecture

Albuquerque Progress

Vintage magazine recorded Albuquerque's growth

ABQ Genealogy Dept

A free perk of the library,
only accessible in person

Modernism at UNM Article

Regional Modernism in Educational Design at UNM

Article: Acosta

Engineering a Legacy:
Sergio Acosta Remembered

A detailed black and white map of a college campus with labeled streets, buildings, parking areas, a central sports field, and surrounding roadways.

UNM Central Campus

From the Guide to New Mexico Architecture

A row of modern, adobe-style houses with flat roofs and stucco exteriors, set against a deep blue sky. The scene includes gravel pathways, a small shrub, and a patch of grass.

La Luz

1967 residential complex by
Antoine Predock, FAIA

Main library building with modern architecture, beige brick walls, large glass windows, and surrounding desert plants under a clear blue sky.

The Main Library

Albuquerque Public Library
by George Pearl, FAIA

An aerial view of a school complex with multiple buildings, parking lots, and a large circular structure, surrounded by a desert landscape.

1 University of New Mexico

UNM College of Education highlighted by SAH

An illustration of a shopping center with parking lot, retail stores, and a clear sky.

Nob Hill District Spotlight

Researched and written by
Edith Cherry & James See

A man and woman talking in front of a colorful stained glass wall.

Albuquerque Modernism:

UNM Student Case Studies

Albuquerque Modernism is a public history project created by students in the fall of 2015 at the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning.

Learn more about the project

Photo of a modern residential house with a brick and metal exterior, a large driveway, and trees in the background.

A.W. Dekker House

Architect Arthur W. Dekker’s house, built in 1965, located at 2621 Cutler Ave

A modern architectural sketch of a building complex with multiple rectangular structures, trees, and a tall cylindrical building on the right, under a partly cloudy sky.

Opened in 1975, the Albuquerque Public Library’s downtown location is the main branch for the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County library system.

ABQ Public Library

Black and white map of a downtown area showing streets, buildings, parks, and landmarks labeled with street names such as Copper, Central, Gold, Lead, and Coal.

Downtown Urban Redevelopment

A Changing Vision: Albuquerque’s Urban Renewal

1960s-1970s City of Albuquerque Planning Department, with Various Architects and Planners

A brick building with blue accents and large glass windows, surrounded by grass and trees, with mountains visible in the background.

Flatow, Moore, Bryan, and Fairburn designed Acoma Elementary in 1958 to support new housing at the Princess Jeanne Subdivision

Acoma Elementary

Park with people walking and sitting on grass, colorful autumn trees, a small pond with a wooden bridge, and decorative grasses.

1962-76 Eckbo, Dean, Austin, and Williams (EDAW). Eckbo explores principles of the modernist landscape in his 1950 book, Landscape for Living.

Duck Pond UNM

A multi-story beige condominium building with several setbacks, surrounded by trees and a paved parking area in the foreground, under a clear blue sky.
A multi-story beige condominium building with several setbacks, surrounded by trees and a paved parking area in the foreground, under a clear blue sky.

Humanities Building at UNM (since deconstructed)

Building opened in 1974 as part of a broader campus expansion project. Designed by W.C Kruger and Associates

Comparison of architectural site plan drawings for a curved building layout, showing differences in design details and layout on two separate diagrams.

Encino Crescent Building

1965 Harvey Hoshour. Neo-expressionism on a Challenging Site

A tall modern office building with numerous windows reflecting the sky and clouds, under a clear blue sky.

First National Bank Building

The First National Bank Building East, also called the Bank of the West Tower, is located at 5301 Central Avenue, NE

Black and white photo of a modern building with large glass windows and stepped entrance, with a leafless tree casting a shadow in the foreground.

First Unitarian Church

1964. The Hoshour Addition.

A city street scene with a modern, glass-fronted building in the foreground and a tall, white, grid-patterned office building in the background. There are trees and parked cars along the street.

The Fox Building, designed in 1959 by New Mexico-based architectural firm Flatow, Moore, Bryan and Fairburn

Fox Building

A building with large windows, a sidewalk in front, and landscaping with bushes and rocks along the edge, under a clear blue sky.

Galles Motor Company

The Galles Motor Company dealership, located at 131 Pine Street SE built in the early 1950s

A modern house with a flat roof, large windows, and a stucco exterior in earthy tones, set against a partly cloudy blue sky with a leafless tree nearby.

A townhouse development on the western side of the city of Albuquerque. 1967-74 Antoine Predock

La Luz

Exterior view of a modern building with large windows, surrounded by trees and a gravel landscape, under a metal roof structure.
Exterior view of a modern building with large windows, surrounded by trees and a gravel landscape, under a metal roof structure.

801 Encino Place NE to build Medical Arts Square. Designed by local modernists Flatow and Moore 1953

Medical Arts Square

Black and white photograph of a modern, mid-century style house situated in a barren landscape with distant hills, a few trees, utility poles, and a curved road in the foreground.
Black and white photograph of a modern, mid-century style house situated in a barren landscape with distant hills, a few trees, utility poles, and a curved road in the foreground.

A local hardware store owner commissions Burk to design a “demonstration house” for Kelvin Appliances. 1938

Kelvinator House

A vintage illustration of Nob Hill Business Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, showing a shopping center with stores, parking lot, and a sign with the address.

1946-47 Louis G. Hesselden. Conceived in 1945, the Nob Hill Business Center was Albuquerque’s first shopping center and is one of the best-preserved examples of its type nationally from the early postwar period.

Nob Hill Business Center

Exterior view of a modern building with a red door, large windows with closed blinds, and an entryway with a small sidewalk. There are trees, plants, and a warning sign on the ground near the sidewalk that reads "Warning: Armed Response".

Office Building

2001 Carlisle Boulevard NE. Designed by Joe Boehning. 2001 Carlisle Boulevard NE conceptualized the contrast of the visitor approaching by car and the visitor approaching by foot.

A watercolor-style drawing of a modern house with trees in the yard, under a clear sky. Includes details such as the living area, garage, and price listing at the bottom.

1940s-1980s Mossman-Gladden, Inc., a construction company founded by Fred A. Mossman in the late 1940s, built over 7,500 tract houses in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights

Mossman-Gladden Homes

Architectural sketch of a proposed apartment building with multiple balconies, trees, cars, and a driveway in front, along with some palm trees and clouds in the sky.

Park Plaza Apartments

Completed in 1964, Park Plaza is the tallest high-rise “luxury apartment” building in New Mexico. Designed by architect William E. Burk, Jr., the building was unlike anything else in Albuquerque at the time.

Sketch of a proposed modern commercial building labeled 'Southern Union Gas Company' in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with large glass storefront, multiple entry points, and a second-floor balcony with plants.

Albuquerque’s Southern Union Gas Company Building was the largest of several projects that Brazilian-American architect John Gaw Meem designed for the utility company in the late 1940s through the early 1950s

Southern Union Gas Co.

Illustration of a smiling man in work overalls holding a building model, with the text 'Here's Yours' next to him. The background shows a stylized cityscape or neighborhood layout.

In 1954 Albuquerque builder Dale Bellamah began construction on Princess Jeanne Park in the Northeast Heights of Albuquerque. By the time the development reached completion, it included 1600 homes

Princess Jeanne Park

Blueprint or site plan for Rio Grande Park in Albuquerque showing layout including a swimming pool, playground, and various park features.
Blueprint or site plan for Rio Grande Park in Albuquerque showing layout including a swimming pool, playground, and various park features.

Rio Grande Pool

1957-59 Flatow, Moore, Bryan and Fairburn

A modern building with a sloped brick wall and white framing, an entrance door, and sidewalk in front.

When the Solar Building, located at 213 Truman Street SE in Albuquerque, finished construction in August 1956, it became the first active solar-heated commercial building in the world.

Solar Building

Modern building entrance with glass doors, white spherical light fixtures on the left, and a corridor with stairs in the background.

Travelstead Hall

1963 Flatow, Moore, Bryan and Fairburn

Aerial view of a large sports arena surrounded by a parking lot, with sections of parked cars and open fields nearby.

Winrock Center

1961 Victor Gruen