Churches for the Southwest: The Ecclesiastical Architecture of John Gaw Meem

Stanford Lehmberg

Praise for Churches for the Southwest:

"Lehmberg's prose is admirably straightforward, as unpretentious as the buildings he describes... [T]he illustrations provide welcome proof of how well Meem's site-rooted designs have aged."
—Clem Labine's Traditional Building

"[D]ense with images. spectacular contemporary color photographs.an important contribution to the understanding of both architectural production in the early 20th-century Southwest and Colonial Revival church architecture in America...Highly recommended."
—Choice

"The architecture of America's Southwest is spellbinding. So too is Stanford Lehmberg's new book, Churches for the Southwest. . . . [T]he definitive historical read on the world-renowned Santa Fe style."
—Splash!: Northwest Florida's Entertainment Magazine

"[A] beautiful book telling an appealing story."
—Church Building Magazine

Overview

John Gaw Meem, the principal architect of the Santa Fe style, is well known for his houses and public buildings. Churches for the Southwest is the first book to be devoted to his ecclesiastical architecture, which constitutes an important part of his work. During his long career he designed all or part of twenty-two churches-mission churches for Indian pueblos, including Acoma and Laguna; Catholic churches, especially Cristo Rey in Santa Fe and Sacred Heart Cathedral in Gallup; Episcopal churches, including Holy Faith in Santa Fe, St. John’s Cathedral in Albuquerque, and churches in Clovis, Roswell, Carlsbad, and Las Cruces, New Mexico; Presbyterian churches in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Taos; and the chapel for the Good Shepherd Mission to the Navajo in Fort Defiance, Arizona. These exhibit a surprising variety of styles. A number are in the pueblo mission style that is usually associated with Meem’s work, but there are also Episcopal churches in the English Gothic style, a Territorial-style Presbyterian church, a Romanesque Catholic cathedral, and the unique church at Fort Defiance.

Churches for the Southwest is beautifully illustrated with new color photographs of all of Meem’s churches as well as drawings, plans, and early black-and-white photographs from the Meem Archives.

Illustrated with early black-and-white photographs by Tyler Dingee, who worked with Meem and for the University of New Mexico; new color photographs by Derek Lehmberg; and drawings by Meem and members of his office.

About the Author –

A specialist in early modern British history, Stanford Lehmberg taught at the Universities of Texas and Minnesota for forty years. He is a former chairman of the history department at Minnesota and received a Distinguished Teacher award there. His earlier publications include two biographies, two studies of Parliament under Henry VIII, three volumes on the history and architecture of English cathedrals, a textbook on English history, and a history of the University of Minnesota, 1945-2000. Since retiring to Santa Fe, he has published a history of the Church of Holy Faith there. He is also an organist and has served churches in Austin, St. Paul, and Santa Fe.

ISBN: 0-393-73182-0
2005

cloth; 175 pages

72 color, 36 b/w illus