Territorial architecture

Territorial architecture was a style of building developed and used in the New Mexico Territory from the time of the American occupation in 1846 until 1912, at which time New Mexico stopped being a territory and became a state.

A vernacular subgroup, from 1860-1935, of the Territorial Style is known as the Folk Territorial, Folk Carpenter, and Spanish Folk Territorial. The style was found "particularly in Northern New Mexico", and consisted of applied wood Greek Revival and Gothic details, added to the building styles of the Pueblos and the Spanish missions in New Mexico, the Northern New Mexico adobe building construction style. Following the increase of its popularity in the 1930s and 1940s, it became referred to as the Territorial Revival style, which became another popular building style alongside New Mexico's Pueblo Revival style.

When the Americans, under General Stephen Kearney, arrived in New Mexico in August, 1846 they did not find the fabled and fabulous cities that they had expected. Rather they found a built environment that was totally alien to what they were accustomed. James Bennett, a U.S. dragoon, describes Las Vegas, New Mexico as "a great pile of unbaked brick" adding, "Upon closer inspection everything about the town was dirty and filthy... [with] miserable dirty streets [that] all look alike" while Mora was described by another US soldier, Frank S. Edwards as consisting "of a few mud huts", continuing, "nothing could be more discouraging to me fated to remain a whole year in Mexican territory than the first view of this town." The city of Santa Fe did not inspire any more admiration, "one traveler likened it to 'a dilapidated brick kiln or a prairie dog town."

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