December 2, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
Century-Old House in Cruces Gets Wrecking Ball
By Rene Romo, Journal Southern BureauLAS CRUCES — A developer over the weekend began demolishing a 100-year-old building abutting the New Mexico State University campus that local preservationists wanted saved.
The pink adobe house with wide eaves and two concrete urns on its broad porch was believed to have been designed by noted Southwestern architect Henry Charles Trost. The house showed elements of the Prairie School of architecture made famous by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Trost, who died in 1933, master-planned the campuses of NMSU and the University of Texas at El Paso, and designed several historic buildings in Albuquerque, such as the Sunshine Building on Central Avenue and the Occidental Life Building on 3rd Avenue.
The house on a nearly one-acre property on University Avenue is owned by two El Paso women and leased to developer Philip Philippou, who obtained a permit to demolish the house on Nov. 9. The property is a few hundred feet from a part of the NMSU campus slated for construction of a major arts center and a hotel and convention center.
Kirk Clifton, a project manager for Philippou, said Monday that the building, known as the John O. Miller House after one of the university's first football coaches, was in such poor condition it was a "safety hazard for anyone to go into" and could not be rehabilitated. A Las Cruces-based preservationist disputed that claim to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission in late October.
Philippou has applied to the city to rezone the property and amend the city's code to permit a broader range of commercial uses there. Clifton said Monday that Philippou is considering pursuing plans for a mixed-use development or a "boutique" hotel on the site.
Clifton said there is no solid proof the house was designed by Trost and that the owners do not believe it was. But demolition opponents said the house is the twin of a verified Trost house in El Paso, differing only in that it is made of adobe rather than brick, and that other evidence supports the claim that it was designed by Trost.
City Councilor Sharon Thomas, who called for a Dec. 10 council meeting to discuss historic preservation after learning of the threat to the Miller House, said she hoped the demolition would be a catalyst for new city policy. "It's too late for this house, but maybe we can have some kind of opportunity for a waiting period and public discussion before buildings get knocked down," Thomas said.