Many of the terms used in Southwest Architecture may be unfamiliar to those from other areas, so here are some terms to get you started with Southwest Style!
Hacienda: A building style made of many connected rooms that create a central minature plaza or plazuela.
Placita: This refers to a small patio-like area formed by two or more walls of the home; actuallytranslates as little place.
Pueblo: Spanish for town is borrowed in NM Architecture to mean an energy efficient system that maximizes building shape, materials and orientation.
Pueblo Spanish Revival: In the early 1900's builders revived the flat roofed, stucco cubic forms of the Anasazi Indians and Spanish Colonial traditions. Often called Pueblo Revival, this style draws terraced, multi story forms from the Pueblo villages. Portales, corbes, corner fireplaes and mission towers from the Spanish Colonial Architecture of the state so it is termed Pueblo Spanish Revival.
Territorial Style: During the 1800's a combination of flat roofed adobe construction with provincial Greek Revival details such as white porch posts with capitals, moldings, triangular pedimeted lintels over doors and windows and fired brick cornices capping walls. Along with this style it was common to see milled lumber, fired brick, central hallway, and pitched roofs.
Territorial Revival Style: In the early 1930's Architects revived the territorial era vocabulary of flat roofed, stuccoed forms with white, classical details and red brick cornices atoop walls. Used primarily in house design and seen in the NM state capital complex, this revival omits thje pitched roofs that were part of te 1800's territorial style.
