Downtown Skyline Views From Huning Highlands Parq Central
Where do you go when you need a MetroABQ Scenery fix, but no time for the Tram or a drive up to Sandia Peak? By chance, I found myself on the 4th floor rooftop balcony at Hotel Parq Central, watching folks taking in the amazing panoramic views of the city, from the Sandia Crest scene, to the Downtown & West Mesa Volcano skylines when you turn 180 degrees.
The Memorial Hospital complex--now the boutique hotel--began life in the 1920's as a railroad hospital, one of the largest in the state. It's an architecturally beautiful building, inside & out, starting with the ornate Italianate-style design on the front building, faade above. The Mediterranean-style building in back, formerly the nurses & physicians quarters, is also important. In the '70's the complex became a psychiatric hospital; then health-related offices for 25 years, until it was transformed into the four-story hotel starting in 2007; three of the historic buildings in the complex are now MetroABQ city landmarks.
The area is bounded by the interstate on the east, & Huning Highlands & EDo on all other sides. Prominently overlooking Central Avenue & adjacent to an I-25 on-ramp, Parq Central's back courtyard spaces are surprisingly quiet & private. The lush gardens & greenspaces fan out into shaded sitting areas & gathering spaces, surrounded by grass, flowering plants & trees. Ensconced there for any length of time, you might forget that you are in the center of a city with ~800,000 folks around you.
