The Getty has awarded a $120,000 Campus Heritage Grant to the University of New Mexico Foundation to prepare a conservation plan for the university. “We are delighted that the Getty has recognized our distinctive campus, and honored to be part of their well-known efforts to preserve places of outstanding architectural, historical and cultural significance,” said UNM President Louis Caldera. “We hope this can be the first step toward achieving our ultimate aim of balancing sensitive historic preservation with innovative urban design and development strategies.”
The Getty Campus Heritage initiative will expand previous master planning efforts beyond buildings and campus boundaries to survey a more comprehensive historic context, including resources such as cultural landscapes, interiors, public art, and historic furniture.
The UNM Historic Preservation Committee, which will oversee the project, has hired Elmo Baca, a consultant in historic preservation and former State Historic Preservation Officer to direct the archival research process and field survey of the campus.
The historic architecture of the UNM campus includes some of the earliest examples of Spanish Pueblo Revival style. Inspiration for the Spanish Pueblo Revival plan for the campus was the Estufa, a fraternal meeting building built in 1906 in the style of an Indian kiva. The university then adopted the style for the remodeling of Hodgin Hall when it moved from the original red brick Romanesque style to the Spanish Pueblo Revival style, and the tone for the campus architecture was in place by 1909.
In subsequent decades the style was modified and altered as new buildings replaced older structures. The grant offers an opportunity to review buildings and think about the future look of the university.
The Historic Preservation Committee envisions the Campus Heritage Initiative as the first and foremost component of a longer-term comprehensive preservation and revitalization plan that will include the main campus and a stronger partnership with the City of Albuquerque.
Since 2002, the Getty, one of the largest philanthropic supporters of visual arts in the country, has awarded over seven million dollars to more than fifty colleges and universities in a nationwide effort to preserve historic buildings, sites and landscapes. The Campus Heritage Grants has enabled educational institutions in 24 states to research and develop conservation plans to protect campuses in all regions of the country. Grantees include such colleges and universities as University of Chicago, Bryn Mawr College, Barnard College, Scripps College, Brown University and Columbia University in New York.
“Since a large portion of this nation’s distinguished architectural heritage is found on college and university campuses, it is extremely important to incorporate historic preservation into the campus master planning process,” added Deborah Morrow, director of The Getty Grant Program. “We are delighted that the response to this year’s Campus Heritage initiative was so strong, and impressed by the excellent project submitted by UNM.”
The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that features the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Grant Program. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs are based at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
The Getty Grant Program is part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. The Getty Grant Program provides crucial support to institutions and individuals throughout the world in fields that are aligned most closely with the Getty’s strategic priorities. It therefore funds a diverse range of projects that promote learning and scholarship about the history of the visual arts and the conservation of cultural heritage, and it consistently searches for collaborative efforts that set high standards and make significant contributions.
Additional information is available on the Getty Web site at www.getty.edu/grants
Contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627
Posted by kwentworth at August 5, 2004 10:29 AM