In 1930, Architect John Gaw Meem won a competition to design the Director’s Residence and Laboratory of Anthropology in the Spanish Pueblo Revival Style—a project initially funded by John D. Rockefeller Jr. Rockefeller wanted to establish an anthropological research institution in the Southwest that would enable scholars to study the region’s valuable historic relics and resources locally. The building, designed in the Spanish Pueblo Revival Style, served as the on-site home for the Lab’s director and was large enough to entertain visiting scholars. Since 1998, the Director’s Residence has served as the headquarters, exhibition space, and collections storage of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art. Today, the Laboratory of Anthropology is overseen by the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture on the Museum Hill complex.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MELANIE MCWHORTER