Plaza to Plaza: MetroABQ’s Downtown Civic Plaza to Old Town Walking Tour, Part I
Civic Plaza to Mary Fox Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Walking the MetroABQ…Downtown & with a few hours to explore, the guidebook Walking Albuquerque: 30 tours of the Duke City’s historic neighborhoods, ditch trails, urban nature & public art has exactly what I’m looking for. One of the tours in the 2015 book starts in Civic Plaza Downtown, & zigs & zags — mostly through the historic Fourth Ward neighborhood — over to Old Town Plaza.
I followed the Walking Albuquerque path for a bit, but wandered into other areas of interest along the way. The 1.75 mile distance is about the same for the Walking Albuquerque book tour & for my own, slightly different walking tour, described further below…
Above image: As Stephen Ausherman describes in his Walking Albuquerque guidebook, on the west side of Civic Plaza, “the mismatched trio of buildings is the City/County Complex…The old city hall building fronting Marquette Ave appears to be the dullest on the block, but take a closer look at the polished limestone slabs facing the walkway & you’ll find a variety of fossils, including clams & snails; sea lilies are the easiest to spot.”
In the image above, the old city hall building is the smaller building on the right, with the vertical rectangles façade. That’s where ytou’ll find the limestone fossils.
It took some time to locate these examples, below, on the polished limestone façade of the old city hall building; they appear to show a circular sea lily & another early crustacean. The limestone was quarried 40 miles west of the MetroABQ…
The Civic Plaza to Old Town Plaza tour begins appropriately enough on Civic Plaza, across from the ABQ Convention Center. Famed NM Senator Dennis chavez greets the throngs on the south side of the Plaza, his “Open Door” scene is here.
Another sculpture on the south side of the plaza that quickly catches the eye is the Holocaust Memorial, by artist Jake Lovato. It’s an interesting & dark piece showing 78 figures ascending a smokestack, above.
The Plaza to Plaza Tour has been around for a while, with many metal sidewalk plaques to guide one along the way, many are still remaining; some are not…Below are two of the sidewalk route markers, pointing toward Old Town with the cart, & toward Downtown with the locomotive.
You are here:
From Civic Plaza in the lower right, head west away from the tall urban buildings & you’ll quickly find yourself in a transitional area along Roma Ave — mostly offices, but becoming more residential the more you walk west. Quickly you come across an interesting circular Modernist office building sitting discreetly north of Roma between 5th & 6th Sts, below.
Further west on Roma, is the nicely architecturally detailed Lew Wallace Elementary School, built in 1934. It was designed by architect Louis Hesselden, also known for designing the Nob Hill Business Center.
Just on the west side of the school is the 125+ year old Mauger Estate, below, a stunning Queen Ann Victorian, originally a residence, focusing now on shorter-term accomodations. At last visit, the inside was just as fabulous as the exterior.
Leaving the main tour for a minute:
Cutting north one block at 8th St brings me into the historic Fourth Ward, to the Fruit Ave Sidewalk Gallery — an example is above — created by local sculpturalist Joe Forrest Sackett. His sidewalk pieces are for sale & I love seeing a new one appear in the neighborhood, as more of Sackett’s sculptures find their way into front yards…More about the Fruit Ave Sidewalk Gallery here…
Further along Fruit Ave, below, at the corner of Luna, sits a fantastic SW Pueblo Vernacular-style home, with Mission Revival features like the porthole/Mission bell space in front & the wavy parapets. Taking a left/south onto Luna Blvd brings you to a great area of numerous historic bungalows on Marquette Ave.
Once on Marquette Ave, head west…
Walking Albuquerque describes the Berthold Spitz home above, on the corner of 10th St & Marquette Ave, as the “best example of Prairie School-style architecture in the city.” Below is the same home, showing the horizontal lines of the prominent & expansive Prairie School eaves & the grouped Prairie windows.
From the Berthold Spitz house, head north on 11th St to Roma Ave, then west to the house seen above. It’s another Prairie-style home, but incorporating some mixed/vernacular elements like the split-face stone siding, & the French-style windows.
Below is a unique home just east from Mary Fox Park. Built in 1882 from stone, it was used as perhaps Albuquerque’s 1st duplex. Notice the polychromal gable & bracket details by the roofline.
Traffic is ferociously busy Downtown during the weekdays, especially for walkers. It settles down nicely to a trickle on weekends. It’s easier to walk the only two blocks along busy Lomas Blvd on a Saturday or Sunday.
Heat is a factor. Mary Fox Park, above, in winter, is a great little place to stop & rest during the tour. There’s the living pergola in the middle of the park that provides great shade.
Heading from Mary Fox north up 14th St to Lomas Blvd, you pass another fabulous SW Vernacular residence on the west side of the street, below. The door arch, arched parapet, clay tile overhangs, & front door sidelights are all great mixes of local styles used at the time.
Thx for reading & for making it this far.
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About me
Extraordinary architects live & create in Albuquerque; beautiful & profound art installations abound; Greenspaces & Parklands define whole areas of the city; extras like Growers’ Markets & cultural events add to our quality of life. I’m a Realtor & write about it all in the MetroABQ Newsletter.
Below is a link to the full MetroABQ Newsletter Archive…
<<Check me out at my site: ChrisLucasABQ.com.>> Thx again!