Cornerstones is part of a community of practice that is passionate about earth construction. On a sunny Saturday last month, I attended a tour organized by The Earthbuilders’ Guild. The Earthbuilders’ Guild preserves and promotes the age-old building methods of adobe, rammed earth, and compressed earth block construction. This group joins examinations of history with innovative applications of earthen architecture.
The two projects on the tour wonderfully compare and contrast passions common in the earthbuilding community—the restoration of an important part of a community’s heritage and the realization of a nearly life-long dream with a newly built private home.
One of my takeaways from my day on the tour: I should spend more time in the Village of Corrales, a village within the bounds of Northern Albuquerque. This community, like others in New Mexico, is part of a bigger city on the surface. But when you slow down and spend some time there, its unique character and history reveal themselves.
The Earthbuilders’ Guild tours are open to the public. We began at the Corrales Old Schoolhouse, part of a set of buildings that John Perea is transforming into a community center. The structure was used as a schoolhouse from 1870 to 1925. As we toured the site, the group asked wonderful questions about the history of the site and discussed the techniques used in its restoration so far. Over the last three years, John, Rick Catanac (an adobe restoration contractor) and other specialists from New Mexico MainStreet, a program of the New Mexico Economic Development Department, have completed a mountain of projects. They installed a new roof, cleared the site of a dense growth of Tree of Heaven, eliminated old plaster, and removed interior walls, just to name a few. What stood out to me most was the work to raise a large portion of the middle of the building that sagged due to repeated flooding by the Rio Grande.
Above, John Perea shares his vision for the Old Schoolhouse property. The section of the building around him used to sag several inches below the rest of the structure. Click to zoom.
John also owns the building next door. Perea’s Tijuana Bar & Restaurant is housed in one of the oldest buildings in Corrales. This 200-plus-year-old structure is constructed of terrónes. This type of earthen architecture uses slabs of naturally compressed earth instead of formed adobe bricks. The slabs are cut from boggy river bottoms. In the history of these sites in the floodplain, the river was both the source of building materials and a threat to the structures.
As the group moved to the second tour location, I made a quick detour to see the exteriors of two other important adobe buildings: San Isidro Church and The Gutierrez/Minge House. (Thanks for the tip, Anne Galer!) This confirmed my initial impression that there is more to discover in Corrales.
Most of my discussions at Cornerstones center around the preservation of historic adobe buildings. Our next stop, the second project on the tour, gave me the opportunity to learn about the use and potential of adobe in new construction. Barbara and Bud Burns’ home is the culmination of a nearly 40-year dream. A key to achieving this was Bud’s collaboration with Danny Martinez of Casa del Sol Construction. The home has a mix of longstanding construction techniques (14” thick adobe exteriors walls) and new technologies (10Kw of solar photovoltaics on the roof) and room for future upgrades (batteries). As we toured the home, I listened in on many conversations about the application of new technologies in adobe construction – particularly with regards to sustainable construction.
This tour encapsulated much about Cornerstones today. We continue to be deeply connected to the past through projects that preserve New Mexico’s communities and their heritage. We are actively involved in the use of solar power on heritage sites. And we are keeping an eye towards new technologies that will support communities long into the future.
My thanks to everyone at the Earthbuilders’ Guild for sharing their passion and their expertise– extra special gratitude to Pat Martinez Rutherford for organizing the day and being so welcoming!
Learn more about:
The Earthbuilders’ Guild: https://theearthbuildersguild.com/what-is-teg/
New Mexico MainStreet: https://www.nmmainstreet.org/