St. John’s College, Santa Fe is proud to announce two new historical designations from the National Register of Historic Places and the State Register of Cultural Properties. Recognized for significance in education, architecture, landscape architecture, and art, the campus became the first New Mexico college campus in its entirety to be designated as a historic district. The national designation specifically names the Peterson Student Center, the Evans Science Laboratory, Santa Fe Hall, and the 11 buildings of the Upper Dormitories, all built in 1964; the 10-unit Lower Dormitories, built in 1967; the administration building, Weigle Hall, built in 1971; and the Fine Arts Building, built in 1973. Also included are the central landscape plan by the modernist landscape architect Garrett Eckbo and the Peterson Student Center interior by Alexander Girard. In addition, the Historic Santa Fe Foundation voted to add the campus to its Register of Resources Worthy of Preservation.

The buildings at 1160 Camino de Cruz Blanca have the modified “adobe” look of the Territorial Revival style developed by famed architect John Gaw Meem in the early 1930s: earth-tone walls and flat roofs, but with sharper corners, brick coping along roof lines, and white-painted windows, doors and portals.

Working with Peter Warzel and the staff of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation, and Steven Moffson and Jeff Pappas of the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, Jennifer Sprague, St. John’s College library director, and the library staff were instrumental in attaining these national designations.