Albuquerque's Environmental Story
Albuquerque's Environmental Story |
There is much interest and activity in historic preservation in Albuquerque. A building-by-building survey identified important structures east of Washington Street; old commercial buildings downtown have been rehabilitated and re-used; and many houses in the older neighborhoods are being carefully renovated. More than one hundred local buildings and nine districts have been accepted on the National Register of Historic Places and four districts and seventeen buildings are locally designated, protecting them from ruinous alterations and demolitions.
Before the early 1970s preservation activity in Albuquerque was limited to Old Town, which was designated a historic zone in 1957, and to the occasional restoration of old adobes in the valley. The loss of landmark buildings like the Alvarado and Franciscan Hotels and the Ilfeld Warehouse on First Street--plus the Urban Renewal demolition of several blocks of old downtown buildings--created a new urgency to preserve the remaining old buildings. The energy crunch of the mid-1970s also spurred the revitalization of some of the old neighborhoods near downtown from which people could walk to work.
In 1973 the Historic Landmarks Survey of Albuquerque was formed as a subcommittee of the City Arts Board. With financial help from the state Historic Preservation Office, the Survey began a house-by-house inventory of all pre-1945 buildings within the city's planning boundaries (five miles beyond the city limits). This inventory was finished by 1983 with the exception of the area just of Girard north and south of Central, which was completed by 1995. The Survey staff prepared National Register nominations for significant buildings and districts. In 1978 they published Historic Albuquerque Today: An Overview of Historic Buildings and Districts. The book was very popular and sold out within two years.
Also in 1978 the city council approved the creation of the Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission (LUCC), which took over design review in Old Town and had several other powers given to it. The commission can designate Historic Overlay Zones, areas in which uses stay the same, but new buildings and alterations must be approved by the commission. The LUCC can also name buildings City Landmarks, meaning that renovations or alterations to these buildings must be approved by the commission and alternatives to any proposed demolitions must be considered during a mandatory one-year waiting period.
Federal and state actions have encouraged local preservation. At present there is a 20 percent federal income tax credit for approved rehabilitation of income-producing Nationally Registered buildings. At the state level, the state Historic Preservation Division offers a state income tax credit and a low-interest revolving loan fund. This credit is available for private homes as well as for commercial and rental residential buildings.
During the early 1980s a higher federal income tax credit (25%) and fewer restrictions on the availability of the credit resulted in many renovations here in Albuquerque and across the country. Since that time the pace has slowed and preservation is no longer the success story it was during that decade. However, many planners and architects have come to recognize the value of renovated buildings in revitalization, and plans and projects of the 1990s usually include recognition--and occasionally funding--for historic buildings. Renewed interest in Route 66 has also encouraged renovation of areas along Central Avenue. Buildings in downtown Albuquerque, along Central in Nob Hill, and west of downtown have been renovated and bring new energy as well as a sense of history to their neighborhoods. In the historic neighborhoods many homeowners have used the tax credits, particularly in Huning Highlands and the Spruce Park neighborhoods.
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The city has played an important role in local preservation. It bought and renovated the KiMo Theater and has spent well over a million dollars on a whole new streetscape in downtown and new lights and sidewalks in the Huning Highlands Historic District. Plans are under way to renovate the old Airport Building, the only adobe pueblo style air terminal in the country. The city housing department renovated the early 20th-century Santa Barbara School on north Edith, and Bernalillo County bought and restored the old Armijo School on south Isleta Boulevard. As more people realize that historic buildings give individuality and a sense of belonging to their neighborhoods, more and more communities look for ways to preserve these buildings.
The major problem today is there is very little money to help people renovate their buildings. Often renovations drag on for years or are not even begun because building owners have few extra dollars to spend on repairing original red tile roofs, replacing a modern porch with a replica of the original porch, or removing the aluminum windows that had replaced the original wood windows. Another problem is lack of staff to enforce the regulation in the city's four historic zones, so that inappropriate remodeling is not stopped before the owner has already spent hundreds, even thousands, of dollars on work that does not follow the design guidelines in the historic zones. The LUCC has no specified budget to publicize its work or the benefits of preservation. The LUCC also has no authority in the county; as a result cannot protect important historic buildings outside the city limits.
Albuquerque is a very special city in New Mexico. Although its origins reach back to the early 18th century, it began to grow at the end of the 19th century and soon became the largest city in the state. Within Albuquerque is almost every type of building found elsewhere in New Mexico and some buildings and groups of buildings found nowhere else. The future of Albuquerque's wonderful architectural heritage-- ranging from traditional Spanish adobes to an innovative, streamlined World War II shopping center --is a challenge and a concern. Much depends on the continued existence of economic incentives as well as greater public appreciation of the benefits of preserving the city's important older structures and areas. These benefits include a sense of continuity, information about old building techniques and architectural styles, knowledge and understanding of the growth of the city, the lively diversity gained from a variety of building types and styles, stabilization and revitalization of older neighborhoods, and most important, a strengthening of the city's sense of itself as a unique and attractive place.
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