I found free parking in the De Vargas Shopping Center the first day I was scheduled to work at
Fray Angelico Chavez History Library in the Santa Fe Plaza. I parked on the side with a grocery story, in the farthest corner of the lot, hoping not to be noticed by any parking police. It is only about a fifteen minute walk from there to the Plaza. After a long day reading through school newsletters, I returned to my car. I had no real concept, at the time, where in Santa Fe I was in relationship to St. Catherine's. I looked up. Right across the street from where I was parked, I noticed the cemetery. There it was, my grandmother's school building. Somehow I had managed to park right across the street from it.
Taken from outside the gates,
the bell tower of the three story adobe
that was the original
building constructed in 1897.
Taken by me, 2/11/11
Recently, I passed by the school gates and noticed that someone had cleaned away the brush from near the gates surrounding the property and installed large NO TRESPASSING signs painted in emergency yellow. I determined to come back and take more pictures now that the buildings were more visible and I had a new, fancy camera. Friday, February 11, 2011, I had the opportunity to do just that. I got just one shot of the bell tower before the camera battery died. Ashley, also on her way to work in the archive, agreed to accompany me on the trip to the school. As we were walking back to the car, we noticed the gates were open and we could hear the sound of someone working on the property. It sounded like something hitting the sides of the buildings, or at least that is where my imagination went. Ashley noticed a tractor.
I knew the property owner had been trying to develop the land since at least 2002. Every project has been rejected, first because of the deed requiring that the land must have some educational use, and later because eleven of the structures, including the cemetery, are listed on the state historic registry. I thought that if I could get the owner's phone number, I might be able to get permission to take photos of the buildings before any development could begin on the property. It is only a matter of time before a developer overcomes the hurdles and the buildings are destroyed. The buildings are already covered with graffiti.
Building with wave graffiti,
behind the trees you can
see the tractor. Photos taken
by Ashley, camera phone, 2/11/11
It was cold, but not as cold as it had been in the past few weeks. There was still snow covering the unpaved patch of road that leads up to the gates and into the school property. Ashley agreed to trespass with me, snapping pictures with her phone of the tractor she called a bulldozer. We walked past the six or seven foot high sign stating NO TRESSPASSING towards the man on the tractor was moving dirt and snow, cleaning an area that looked like a parking lot. He was bundled up in a bulky jacket and had his back to us as we approached. When we got close enough, I waved so that I was sure that he had seen up approaching. He saw us and turned off the machine. Ashley continued to snap pictures with her phone. I started to talk to the man on the tractor. He had red hair and the cold made his cheeks pink. He squinted at me as I told him why I was there, and hesitated when he started to answer me. Before he could get to far into it, I asked him, "Hablas espanol?" He relaxed his shoulders and started to speak to me in Spanish. Suddenly I was welcome, and he would help me. He had understood my question, but didn't have the owner's name and contact information. But, Alfredo, in the building surely would have it. I explained that I wanted to take pictures, and that my grandmother had been a student. He got down off the tractor and led Ashley and I into a building labeled "Library." It looked like a modular building, not as I had imagined it from the historic preservation documents I read last fall.
The library.
Photo taken by Ashley,
with her phone, 2/11/11
He brought us into the building and motioned to Alfredo, saying something about me wanting to talk to him. Still speaking in Spanish, I introduced myself and explained that I am working on a project and that my grandmother was a student. Safely delivered, the tractor driver left the building and returned to his machine. The "library" seemed to be the staging area for the project. There were some tables with lots of tools, and two men working on putting together old chairs. There were several chairs in various stages of construction in the middle of room; part of the floor was carpeted. The room smelled of turpentine or some kind of stain or both. It was warmer inside the building, and I hoped that they didn't have a heater on with those chemicals. All of the workers stopped to listen to our conversation. Alfredo took off his gloves to shake hands with both Ashley and me. He got out his cell phone and looked up the owner. He looked at me with just my keys sticking out of my pocket and a camera around my neck. He said something about me not having a way to write down the number. I pointed to Ashley told him that she would put the number for me in her phone. He called out the numbers and Ashley typed them into her phone. I knew the answer, but asked the owner's name anyway. Alfredo answered what I expected to hear: M T. Mr. T bought the property hoping to sell it to a developer and make a lot of money. Instead, he has been sitting on a multi-million dollar property without a real prospect since 2007. Since last October, T has been "cleaning" the property in order to sell it and taking heat for not properly maintaining historic buildings.
I tried to take in everything that was going on in the room. I wondered where all the books had been taken. This room didn't look like a library though there were some empty shelves. I noticed the top of a plastic soda bottle cut in two on the floor underneath a table. It might have been something the workmen used to mix the stain or paint; or it might have been left over from people squatting in this building. I didn't want to seem too much like I was surveying the area, though, I had a bigger plan, to get permission to come back and take pictures inside and outside the buildings. This might be the only chance I had to make a good impression. The excitement passed, the other two workers started in on the chairs again. One kneeling on the floor was wiping down pieces of a chair seat and putting them together as though they were puzzle pieces. That worker looked down at his wooden pieces, and then put a mask up to his face while he worked. What was the purpose of putting old chairs back together? They weren't antique chairs, just old chairs, probably circa 1960 wooden chairs. Was this clean up part of a historic project? Is it staging for the real estate agent?
Building opposite the library
and Alfredo's truck. This building
has paintings that seem to be
part of the original structure along
with graffiti. Taken by
Ashley with phone, 2/11/11.
I asked what they were doing on the property. Alfredo said they were cleaning up the place and working on some of the buildings. I asked about the murals in the main building. Were they still there? In okay shape? Alfredo started for the door, he said if he had the keys with him, he would show us the murals right now. Ashley and I followed Alfredo out towards his truck. Ashley continued to snap pictures of the buildings. I could not believe of all days not to have an extra charged battery for my camera, this was the worst one. Around my neck hung my camera like a very heavy, expensive and not very stylish accessory, useless. After rifling through his things, Alfredo announced that he didn't have the keys. He motioned to the buildings and the grounds, and said that they are there everyday trying to clean up the place and fix up the buildings. He invited me to come back, any day; he'll be there every day.
Building opposite the
Library. It has paintings
along the top and two
figures on the main archway.
Graffiti covers some of the
Art along the top of the building.
Below: Close up of building and
paintings. Photos taken by
Ashley with phone, 2/11/11.
As we walked back towards the car, I could see the edge of the cemetery. I would like to take a look around that cemetery. The artist, Edward O'Brien, who showed up at the school one day and stayed, painted the murals in the main building and is buried there. From the outside, the buildings don't appear to be crumbling even though some are almost one hundred years old. The main building is almost 114 years old. It was a good day to go trespassing.
