Contact: Eleanor Sanchez, 277-1813

UNM joins in City's Tricentennial celebration with Historical Campus Tours and a Lecture

The City of Albuquerque has launched its Tricentennial celebration. The University of New Mexico, a partner in the celebration, gets in on the act Friday, April 22 with Historical Campus Tours.

Terry Gugliotta, university archivist, and Joe McKinney, recently retired university planner, will facilitate the tours leaving from Hodgin Hall at 2:30 p.m. The tours are free and open to the public. Make your reservations at 277-1989.

Following the tours, Chris Wilson, J.B. Jackson Professor of Cultural Landscape Studies, will offer a lecture about “Albuquerque's Architectural Identity Crisis” at 4:30 p.m. in Northrop Hall, rm.122.

The tours will kick off UNM's salute to the Albuquerque Tricentennial. Participants can learn about the evolution of UNM buildings beginning with its oldest - Hodgin Hall. Enjoy UNM's award winning Spanish pueblo revival style architecture and WPA era buildings, and sneak a quick look at the new Welcome Center as you enjoy refreshments.

Gugliotta's tour theme will cover the unlikely birth of UNM on the mesa, far from the existing town. This was not a roadblock to the Father of UNM, Bernard Rodey, nor to the early "settlers" of the campus who faced constant sandstorms, muddy roads and lack of water. They solved their problems in creative ways resulting in today's campus of 153 buildings with 5 million square feet of space and a 187-acre arboretum.

McKinney's tour will cover the founding of UNM in1889 and how it now occupies 600 acres along old Route 66 in the heart of Albuquerque and is considered unique in its architectural style. His tour will concentrate on the evolution of the Spanish Pueblo Revival architectural theme that echoes the buildings of the nearby Pueblo Indian villages.

Highlights of these tours will include the first building on the campus, Hodgin Hall (1892), one of nine buildings on the National Registry of Historic Places; the old Chemistry Building (circa 1916) reputed by some architectural historians to be the first building of "Modern Architecture" in the United States; and some of 30 John Gaw Meem-designed structures that begin in the WPA era and ended in the mid 50's.

The UNM Tricentennial committee plans to offer additional tours each month to highlight more of UNM's treasures including the national arboretum, sculptures, museums, galleries, libraries, arena and athletics' complex.

For more information on UNM's Tricentennial celebrations visit: UNM Salutes the Albuquerque Tricentennial .

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Public Affairs Department
MSC01 1170
Hodgin Hall, 2nd floor
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0011
Telephone: (505) 277-5813
Fax: (505) 277-1981