The Oliver P. Hovey House is a Territorial period home built by Pinckney R. and Maria Tully in 1851 on land bequeathed to Maria from her father James Conklin, a French-Canadian trader on the Santa Fe Trail. In 1857, Conklin conveyed the property to son-in-law, Oliver P. Hovey, a journalist and owner of New Mexico’s first English newspaper, the Santa Fe Republican, and a member of the Territorial legislature. Other prominent Santa Fe citizens who owned the property include New Mexico attorney general William Breeden; Rufus J. Palen, president of the First National Bank; and Henry L. Waldo, chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court. The home’s most distinctive exterior feature is its refurbished stenciled faux brickwork, with white lines painted on red plaster to resemble the red-brick exteriors fashionable in the eastern United States during the Territorial period. During the 1970s, HSFF purchased the property to protect it from demolition, and today it is used for professional offices.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MELANIE MCWHORTER