MetroABQ Blog

Architect Anna Gotshall

To a small home designed in the early 1920's by architect Anna Gotshall.

Anna Gotshall is best known for designing & developing one of Downtown's premier pocket neighborhoods, the one-block Manzano Court NW. Almost all the homes on the street were designed by her, & eight of them are on the National Register of Historic Places. From the Manzano Court pages in the Historic Homes in the DNA guide: "Although little specific information about Gotshall remains, the few glimpses that historical records offer concerning her & her work suggest that as one of the cities first female designers, she contributed to the changing tastes in domestic architectural style occurring in the citys early suburbs."

More than that, Gotshall helped create the unique SW Vernacular house style. Instead of adhering to one formal way a house should look, she used a mix of regional styles & local materials. Walk up & down Manzano Court & that's apparent--with great result, she comfortably mixed Mediterranean & Pueblo Revival styles.

An excellent friend, who lives on Gotshall's famous Manzano Court cul-de-sac, on the map above, located another house of hers to see. The home, in the historic Eighth Street Forrester district, is below. The design was a simple mix of SW Vernacular: adobe-built with a tile roof over an original (perhaps enclosed) porch, alongside & surrounded by stepped parapets. A few different styles that work well together--typically Gotshall...

The deep charcoal-grey of the historic Gotshall home seemed to shimmer in the late afternoon sun. That light is just another reason to find yourself Downtown in winter...