Preserving Casa San Ysidro

Preserving an Historic Property

Casa San Ysidro requires thoughtful preservation and upkeep.

CASA SAN YSIDRO: THE GUTIÉRREZ MINGE HOUSE’S HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION IS DELIGHTFULLY COMPLICATED. Casa is a Territorial period Greek Revival rancho (ranch house), built around 1875 by Jesús María Gutiérrez. The Gutiérrez family made multiple additions to their home over time. In 1952, Dr. Ward Alan Minge and his wife Shirley Jolly Minge purchased the house, and made many renovations and additions. They carefully designed and hand-built additional adobe rooms around a traditional eighteenth- to early nineteenth-centurystyle plazuela using structural parts from significant, at-risk historical buildings. They also re-created a mid- to late nineteenth-century corral surrounding a historic barn and cabins moved to the

property by the Minges. By 1998, the Albuquerque Museum had acquired Casa San Ysidro and its contents both through the generosity of the Minges and the support of the City.

Maintaining Casa San Ysidro and ensuring its preservation for future generations requires a long-term plan and constant care. The Albuquerque Museum’s curators and site manager must consider what is sustainable for the historic house to retain its character in communicating culture and history to the public, and also how to sustain the building's functionality. The plan also notes the importance of preserving objects and the judicious use of reproduction artifacts where possible.

Casa’s front doors—considered part of the collection— presented an unusual conundrum. These historic doors had suffered through time and use. To preserve the doors and enhance security—an important representation of Manzano carpentry—a new front security door had to be built and installed.

Replacing the doors was more complicated than a trip to the home improvement store. Regionally specific in both design and character, plus able to securely maintain the historic integrity of Casa, the door project required the services of special artisans. Chris Sandoval, a furniture maker and artist who specializes in traditional woodcraft, was tapped to build the doors. Albuquerque Museum Exhibit Fabricators Anthony Vargas and Jose Meija finished them with hardware and windows. Built in the style of the original, the reproduction provides a permanent—and secure—entrance that allows for the original doors’ preservation, and solves wear and tear caused by daily use on front entrance.

The original doors were showing their age, and were no longer secure.

Opposite: New doors, in the style of the originals, were built to last, but with traditional styling.

Casa San Ysidro Online

July 10, 1:00 p.m. BIOREGIONAL PERSPECTIVES WITH JACK LOEFFLER

In the ever expending civic and suburban sprawl of the southwest, an understanding for creating sustainable relationships between people and the lands that they inhabit is needed now more than ever. Join us to hear Jack Loeffler, bioregionalist, aural historian, environmentalist, and author/ editor of numerous books, describe the developing notion of indigenous-minded environmentalism and bioregionalism occurring in New Mexico and the Southwest.

Loeffler’s work has focused on the importance of indigenous mindedness, citing Native American, Hispano, Anglo, and countercultural excerpts, 3000 Native American and Hispano folksongs for projects involving folklore, folk music, and local history from recorded interviews.

August 14, 1:00 p.m. HERREROS - THE SPANISH HISTORY OF BLACKSMITHS

Herreros, or Spanish blacksmiths, were highly valued members of Spanish expeditions to New Mexico. Their most common function was to shoe horses and repair armor, horse gear, firearms, and small tools. Dave Sabo, a local blacksmith skilled in the traditional methods of herreros, describes some of the early iron manufacturing and blacksmithing practices that were used in New Mexico.

September 25 & 26 HARVEST FESTIVAL

Watch the website for news about the Annual Corrales Harvest Festival.