Local attorney, businessman, and politician Thomas B. Catron developed a commercial building on the east side of the Santa Fe Plaza in 1891. Catron came to Santa Fe from Missouri in 1866 and quickly attained political and business success. He spent $40,000 on the red-brick, Italianate building, designed by architect F. H. Brigham and constructed by the local masonry firm of Palladino and Bernardinelli, brought to Santa Fe to work on the St. Francis Cathedral. In 1966, architect John Gaw Meem designed a Territorial Style portal extending across the first floor of the west façade. Santa Fe’s first ready-to-wear clothing store, the White House, operated on the main level. The Catron Block remains a landmark on the Santa Fe Plaza, housing commercial enterprises on the ground floor and professional offices on the second floor.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MELANIE MCWHORTER