Now For Sale:  Contemporary Architecture near Santa Fe, New Mexico

• Published in Architectural Digest October 2006
• Open, flowing floor plan
• Central pavilion containing kitchen, living and dining areas, sunken conversation area, and office
• Two bedrooms (includes guest area)
• Private guest area, separate apartment, studio or master bedroom suite with kitchenette
• Two baths and one partial (powder room)
• Two interior courtyards accessed from bedrooms and living area
• Outside deck off living area, ideal for entertaining 
• Three fireplaces
• Radiant heat
• Large walk-in closets and ample storage
• Granite counters
• Custom bookcases and cupboards
• Grounds xeriscaped with native grasses and plants
• Beautiful views on 11 acres

The design of the Bart Prince Glorieta House is complex but not pretentious.  Functional spaces, separated by interior courtyards, gradually flow down slope with a 20 foot change in elevation stretching 180 feet from the guest area above to the master bedroom below. The central pavilion contains the kitchen, living and dining areas, sunken conversation area, and office.  The roof is supported by a tripod of steel beams and appears to float and soar into space.  Huge windows bring the outside to the inside and frame a panorama of views.  The house is truly a work of art. 

>> Click Here for a YouTube Video: The Bart Prince Glorieta NM House, Through the Eyes of the Owner
 

New Mexico born, Bart Prince is a nationally and internationally renowned architect and one of Architectural Digest’s 100 distinguished Architects.  He completed his formal training at the College of Architecture at Arizona State University.  Although Prince’s architecture elaborates on the traditions of Bruce Golf and Frank Lloyd Wright, he has created his own, unique approach characterized by high levels of craftsmanship, complex designs, a close relationship to natural forms, and originality.  He believes that architecture is for our times and results from collaboration between the architect, site, and client.  Prince never replicates his work and continues to question the status quo by challenging prevailing architectural perspectives.

>> Bart Prince Web Site

>> You Tube:  Bart Prince, Architectural Digest Interview
 
>> You Tube: The Model Architect, Bart Prince, Dwell Interview

The Bart Prince Glorieta, New Mexico House has been widely published.  Follow the links to some of the more informative and interesting publications about this house. 

Architectural Digest, “Like a Reptile in the Sun.”  October 2006.


Santa Fe Trend, “Radically Original: 
The Art of Bart Prince’s Architecture.”  Spring, 2007


The Architecture of Bart Prince

A Contemporary House on an Historic Site

The Bart Prince Glorieta House is so nestled into its site, so blended with the trees and soil that its existence is almost imperceptible until one arrives at the main entrance.  In texture and color, the sand-blasted cement block complements the red dirt and rocky cliffs.  The sage green plaster matches the native vegetation, and the house, rising up the side of the hill, is deeply enmeshed with the landscape.  It was Bart Prince’s intention from the start to respect the integrity of the natural environment and to leave no foot print that would impact the sense of history that prevails at this historic site where a major Civil War battle was fought.

On March 26,1862 the Apache Canyon maneuver at the Strategic Bridge was fought adjacent to the 11 acre plot on which the Glorieta House is now situated.   This Civil War encounter was thought to be crucial to the success of the Union forces in turning back the Confederate army and foiling the larger Confederate plan to overtake the Western United States.  

According to a long cherished Civil War legend, the Confederates, in an effort to prevent the advance of Union forces, destroyed the superstructure of the bridge leaving only the stone embankments.   Ninety-nine brave Union soldiers are said to have galloped their horses in a column of two towards the bridge making a dramatic leap across the span and defeating the Confederates soldiers.  According to the legend, all made the jump except one, who was crippled for life.


Whether or not the dramatic leap is fact or fiction, the existence of the Strategic Bridge, adjacent to the Bart Prince  Glorieta House, is a reality today. 

The Strategic Bridge, which was also the last in-use bridge on the Old Santa Fe Trail, now spans the Glorieta Creek with a rebuilt superstructure. A walk in the area will most likely result in the discovery of some historic feature or artifact and a feeling of excitement that you are right there, where it all happened. 

Painting of the Strategic Bridge in Apache Canyon, painted by Willard Andrews (courtesy New Mexico Archives, neg. #15188) 

John Gaw Meem and Bart Prince
Two Architects Who Love(d) New Mexico

John Gaw Meem, born in Brazil in 1894, came to New Mexico in the early 1920’s “to take the cure” for tuberculosis in the fresh mountain air and bright sunshine of the state.  Bart Prince is a descendant in a distinguished lineage of Princes that settled in New Mexico in the 1800s.  His Great Grandfather, L. Bradford Prince, was the Territorial Governor of New Mexico from 1889 to 1893.  The architecture of these two men is extremely different with their work falling at opposite ends of an architectural spectrum that stretches from the traditional to the futuristic.  

Meem looked to the past for his architectural inspiration, reviving elements from the local Spanish and Pueblo vernaculars:  the use of sun dried adobe bricks, sculptural and undulating walls, vigas and carved roof supports, courtyard house plans with patios, terraces and gardens.  Bart Prince’s architecture, on the other hand, is individualistic, a reflection of his belief that “The sky is the limit.” Like the sky, his imagination knows no bounds other than the needs of his client and the uniqueness of the site.

Santa Feans are familiar with many of Meem’s buildings because they fill public spaces: The Cristo Rey Church, The Laboratory of Anthropology, and The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art are just a few.
 




While Prince’s work is primarily residential, his buildings are also important landmarks in New Mexico.  The Glorieta House is a fine example of his unbounded approach to architecture.






Despite the fact that the styles of these two prominent New Mexican architects are so different, they are, nevertheless, similar in spirit.  John Gaw Meem and Bart Prince both love (d) and appreciate (d) New Mexico and nourish (ed) a sincere desire to enhance its cultural and artistic milieu by creating buildings on the New Mexican landscape that complement the way of life we cherish and admire so much.