In a compelling chapter in Helen Thompson’s new book, a Santa Fe design couple bring new life to the 1929 Adobe home of legendary architect John Gaw Meem.
Helen Thompson knows what she’s talking about – especially when it comes to interior design and architecture. A nationally known writer, she has been incubating her new book, Santa Fe Modern: Contemporary Design in the High Desert, for 30 years. Between the first idea for the book and its publication in November, came the other two titles in her trilogy: Marfa Modern: Artistic Interiors of the West Texas High Desert and Texas Made/Texas Modern: The House and the Land.
We spoke with Thompson about a new book born of an old idea, Architecture and Design in Santa Fe, and why it’s really Western to make friends with the modern.
Cowboys and Indians: Your name is known to many readers through your contributions to Texas Monthly, Metropolitan Home, Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, Western Interiors, Traditional Home, and Veranda. You are also a prolific book author. Congrats on the cool and smart newbie and on completing a trilogy. What prompted you to cultivate a Texan, Santa Fe like you are interested in modern architecture and design?
Helen Thompson: It goes back 30 years, when my friend Elizabeth Glassman, who was the director of the O’Keeffe Museum, took me to Ghost Ranch. [O’Keeffe’s former home and studio in Abiquiu, New Mexico]. I was very shocked to see all this modern furniture and art nouveau vs rustic environment. That was the seed for this book. It was very difficult to see those things side by side. The question I asked and kept thinking was, why do they look right together?
C&I: And why do they?
Thomson: The more I research modern work, the more I see ancestors in Puebloan ancestral culture and that whole network of ancient cliff dwellings linked by a complex system of roads in the Southwest. Inserted into mountainsides and cliffs, these dwellings became, in hindsight, simplified and elegant. It looks very modern. The building techniques are still in use, and the settings are still here. You can see why this format still works.
I think of the aesthetic that Mabel Dodge Lohan imported by bringing O’Keefe and other artists into her home and “salon” in Taos. Lohan is credited as a driving force behind American modernism. Her guests were very extreme and could see the New Mexico landscape in colour. They can see shapes in the terrain, abstract them and use them in their art.
C&I: It’s the aesthetic as facilitated by Lohan and translated by O’Keefe?
Thomson: O’Keefe bought two houses and decorated them in this way. This is the moment when modern interior design and architecture quietly made it to New Mexico. She cut the vigas and canals on the outside, making the building very streamlined. A lot of O’Keeffe’s beings are the shape of the Earth, the shape of the Earth. She organized her stuff against the dirt stuff in a true resonant juxtaposition. Suddenly these old buildings became very modern. It seems like a natural progression once you think about it that way.
C&I: Santa Fe is unique. …
Thomson: It is the largest Indigenous architectural group in the United States. It’s not like the kind of western architecture you see elsewhere. The style is very special here. It’s earth-friendly, and it’s all about connecting with the environment and the sky. I like to call it the good kind of novelty. It is very organized. To me, the conversation here seems to belong here. It’s made of the same dirt that’s on the ground.
C&I: What is the common visual denominator between Texas and Santa Fe Modern? Is there one?
Thomson: Yes. When I wrote all the books—including a new book I just collaborated on about Lake/Flatto Architects, Respect for the Earth—there was a common thread. I realized that about half the time I was writing about homes and architecture, and the other half I was writing about geology. Everything was site specific. These places are built to belong only to where they are. It’s not a “parade of houses” of steel and glass from anywhere else. They have a freshness profile, but the core material is from where the site is located. This is the common thread. Lake/Flatow has sometimes been seen as regional, but what its architecture really is, is site specific. In Texas and Santa Fe, history and land are part of the design DNA.
To me, the conversation here seems to belong here. It’s made of the same dirt that’s on the ground.
C&I: Let’s talk about Santa Fe and Jon Zhao Mim. Despite O’Keefe’s influence, he’s another giant, especially in Santa Fe.
Thomson: It’s actually a good little joint where all of this turns out to be. Lauren Hunt of Hunt Modern referred to Meem as an early modernist. He is believed to revive the pueblo style. He is very important in the history of Santa Fe because he created the architectural regulations. That’s why you don’t see any malls in [the] Historic area. I saved him. He was instrumental in maintaining the appearance of Santa Fe. People grumble because they think he looked back too much. But he maintained that connection even when his work was very recent. It’s the piece that combines a very traditional look with a more elegant and refined personal look. I don’t think people think of it that way, but I do.
In the living room, Hunts kept the original veneered, wood-panelled, and pine windows. A Mauri Almari glass chandelier hangs above the Gae Aulenti marble Jumbo coffee table; Fronted by two Henning Kjaernulf Razor Blade oak chairs. Near the fireplace is a Nakashima bench sitting on the lawn.