MetroABQ Blog

Manzano Court NW is a small one-block cul-de-sac Downtown, tucked away off 11th St near Lomas Blvd. If you blink you miss the entry to the neighborhood. Of the 13 homes on the street, eight of them are historically significant, listed on the National Register of Historic Places & contributing nicely to the historic fabric of the MetroABQ.

According to the NM Historic Preservation Division, Architect Anna Gotshall deserves credit for platting a small, self-contained neighborhood unique in ABQ during the era, and helped define a suburban area, distinguished from the commonly used grid pattern. In other words, she created a cool pocket neighborhood with unique & interesting houses.

Architect Anna Gotshall took the Pueblo Revival and example of the Pueblo Revival style, found on played with the style: she added undulating parapetsthe wavy line distinguishing the roofline, aboveand added other contemporary styles like arches and tile rooflinesboth of which are Mediterranean styles also popular at the time. A great example is the home she designed on the bottom of page one, with its perfectly stepped parapets and classic tile and arched Mediterranean featuresits a great example of SW Vernacular.

According to the NM Historic Preservation Division, Architect Anna Gotshall deserves credit for platting a small, self-contained neighborhood unique in ABQ during the era, and helped define a suburban area, distinguished from the commonly used grid pattern. In other words, she created a cool pocket neighborhood with unique & interesting houses.

I am honored to be helping a good friend purchase one of the historic homes in Manzano Court. A Gotshall home, below, has the typical Vernacular undulating parapet, but is more discreetly designed the parapets casually climb up to the corners. Whats as interesting to me is the front covered patios protective bulwarks on each side: they also undulate down the outside of the patio, a wavy vertical line. That creates a semi-private, shaded area that faces the street, toward the other historic SW Vernacular homes. Its a pretty unique and dramatic coved & covered patio.

Below is a very interesting broken parapet SW Vernacular style home on 12th St in the Wells Park area in North Downtown. The parapets extrude horizontally from the roofline, almost like a buttressed roof on a small English castle.