Razing likely to continue at SFIS

Three more old buildings scheduled for demolition, bringing total to 18

Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican

9/9/2008 - 9/7/08

Despite questions raised by state officials, the Santa Fe Indian School appears ready to raze three more of its old buildings.

On July 26, a contractor began tearing down 15 of the oldest buildings — some of them dating to the late 1800s.

Not until four days later, after a public outcry and media reports, did the school issue a one-sentence statement that claimed the school had "exercised its sovereign authority."

State, county and city governments have no jurisdiction over the 115-acre campus, run by the All Indian Pueblo Council on behalf of New Mexico's 19 pueblos since 2000, when the U.S. Congress turned over the property.

But some argue that because the campus continues to be held in trust by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, the school remains subject to the federal laws.

State Historic Preservation Director Katherine Slick recently suggested the razing of the century-old buildings broke federal historic-preservation laws.

In an Aug. 27 letter to the BIA's Southwestern region in Albuquerque, Slick asked BIA officials to explain why they believe they had no right to stop demolition of the buildings.

Slick said late last week that she had yet to hear from the BIA and didn't expect to. While most of the buildings already have been razed, she said, the matter might arise again in the future. "It's not moot as far as other engagements and activities that we, the state of New Mexico, might have with the BIA in the future," she said.

In a July 30 letter, state Environment Secretary Ron Curry also questioned the school about the way it would dispose of and transport asbestos removed from some of the old buildings. But his office says the school has yet to respond.

Scott Taylor of Flintco, an Oklahoma-based company doing the demolition as well as building the school's new Wellness Center, said recently that asbestos waste from the first 15 buildings demolished already has been taken to a special landfill near Joseph City, Ariz.

He said the asbestos abatement is continuing, however, on the three buildings that have yet to be demolished. "You'd have to know what you are looking for, because (asbestos abatement) is all done from the inside, and out the window, you'll see a little balloon-looking thing," he said.

"While there are human beings in there, the balloon thing will be erect with air, and that's part of the negative pressure," Taylor said. "The whole concept is to contain any free-falling particles from getting outside."

The Santa Fe Indian School has apparently been looking at demolishing the old buildings since 2002, when Congress appropriated $23.2 million "to expand, replace and add buildings." According to the U.S. Department of Interior, the older buildings "have deteriorated to a point where critical servicing components ... no longer meet today's standards."

Qualifying 24 of the buildings for listing on the National Register of Historic Places "means that major renovation and modernization will be cost prohibitive and economically unfeasible for the BIA to undertake," the Department of Interior reported. "The historic buildings will be transferred to the All Indian Pueblo Council of New Mexico and removed from the BIA's inventory after the new school is built."

Neither All Indian Pueblo Council Chairman Joe Garcia nor Santa Fe Indian School Administrator Joe Abeyta responded to messages seeking comment. The school's newly revamped Web site does not mention the demolition and includes a campus map that shows the razed buildings still in place.

The school's government liaison said last week that there are no plans to hold off on the three demolitions, but insisted he not be identified. "We are not pleased with your reporting," he said, declining to say what reports, by what reporter or even what media. "If you quote me, we won't be so kind in the future."

According to the demolition contractor, the three buildings scheduled for demolition — all in the north end of the campus — include:

u The Administration Building, which was built in 1909 in the military-barracks style of the school's earlier buildings, with a brick facade, a "hipped" roof and a porch with classical columns. Like most of the campus buildings, it was remodeled in a Spanish Pueblo Revival style by architect John Gaw Meem in the 1930s. (2,644 square feet)

u The Arts & Crafts Building, also known as the U-Shaped Building, was built of brick and hollow clay tile in 1932 in a Spanish Pueblo Revival style around a central courtyard by Meem. The building was rented for computer and other classes until about a year ago. (6,852 square feet)

u The Dining Hall was built in 1908 with a symmetrical facade, a projecting center section and a central staircase, and remodeled in a Spanish Pueblo Revival style in the 1930s. (16,855 square feet)

According to a survey of buildings on the Santa Fe Indian School campus for an application to the National Register of Historic Places, murals were painted in the Dining Hall in 1932 by Santa Fe painter Olive Rush and Pueblo artists Romando Vigil, Ricardo Martinez, Abel Sanchez, Miguel Martinez, Tom Weahkee, Riley Quoyavema, Paul Tsosie, Edward Lee, Alexander Lee, Albert Hardy Begay, Jack Hokeah and Julian Martinez.

Kathryn Flynn of the National New Deal Preservation Association is familiar with most of the campus murals, including those in the Dining Hall. She said many of the murals were "overpainted" in the 1960s — so little of the original 1930s-era murals remain. According to the application, a deer-dancer mural was destroyed during a remodeling in the 1960s, when Pueblo painter Charles Jiron "touched up" the remaining murals.

"As a whole," says the application, "this remains one of the most significant collaborative Indian mural complexes in the Southwest."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.