An update on tradition

By: Paul Weideman
Published online: Sunday, February 05, 2012
Appeared in: Home, Santa Fe Real Estate Guide
Edition: February 2012 Vol. 14 No. 11

This sweet two-bedroom adobe, in a great location — a block away from Canyon Road and a 10-minute walk to the Santa Fe Plaza — is available for less than $670,000 following a $30,000 reduction.

The pitched-roof house, which probably dates to the 1920s as part of a family compound, was updated several years ago. Most of the floors in the 2,035-square-foot house are wood, and the walls sport new, diamond-finish plaster. The living room and dining room are warmed by subfloor radiant heating; there are contemporary, efficient radiators in the two bedrooms.

Distinctive Santa Fe-style qualities in the living room include rich wood overhead and underfoot in the planks-on-vigas ceiling and newly finished hardwood floor, contrasting with the off-white plastered walls; and deep, splayed-side sills resulting from windows set near the outside plane of the thick, adobe walls.

The modernized kitchen is outfitted with poured-concrete countertops, a large double sink, and new appliances: Wolf cooktop/oven and Bosch refrigerator, built-in microwave oven, and dishwasher. A gallery leads to the bedrooms and terminates in a sunroom space with a corner perfect for a bright office and access to outdoor living areas. Patios, some flagstone-paved, nearly surround the house. The master bedroom has pocket doors on the hallway that the residents can close for enhanced privacy. The room, with a ceiling of coved plaster and vigas, is in two parts: the bed half with plastered walls and a cozy sitting- room section with the house’s only fireplace and mud-plastered walls.

Travertine fills the master bathroom: in the shower, on the floor, and on the countertop with colorful glass-tile accents. The second bedroom varies the decor with a stained- concrete floor and ceiling of white planks on vigas. The bathroom is graced with a clawfoot tub, and French doors open onto a private patio.

A full basement, unusual in Santa Fe, holds the washer and dryer (although a closet on the main level is plumbed to accommodate stackables), plenty of cabinet storage, and views of the stone foundation.

The house on 0.13 acres is located on a small lane off of the dirt portion of East Alameda Street, a short distance east of Camino Escondido. There are two off-street parking spots. The house is served by city water and sewer.

It is listed by Melissa Pippin-Carson and Roger Carson, Keller Williams Realty Santa Fe, for $669,000. The Realtors are featuring the house in an open house today (Sunday, Feb. 5) from noon to 3 p.m.