Casa San Ysidro

Casa San Ysidro is a historic, restored and preserved

rancho now owned by the Albuquerque Museum.

It is also known as the Gutierrez-Minge house.
The original adobe home was built by the Gutierrez family
in the 1870's. 

Alan and Shirley Minge rebuilt the property starting in 1953.
They continued to develop the property and their collection
of museum quality pieces of New Mexico culture and history

through 1996. The pieces and designs represented an authentic

aspect of the people and history here.

In 1996, they donated the property and collection

to the Albuquerque Museum. They moved to Kansas

to begin the restoration of a Victorian. Alan Minge is still alive,

although Shirley died several years ago.

As a  New Mexican rancho for an affluent family,

it has rooms built around a small plaza or courtyard.

ADAD End

I have visited many times and in the different seasons.

The garden in the middle of the plaza was a beautiful

and quiet expression of late fall.

I love the traditional New Mexican adobe architecture

and the many details that are reflected in our historical buildings.

Old lanterns hung from the portal beams.
Josefina has a lantern like this lantern except her lantern is painted!

There is an old bell over one side of the building.

We visited inside rooms with a trained docent as a tour guide,

but photography is not allowed in the inside rooms. 

The inside photos are not mine. 

They are from Google, but I have placed

them near where they would be seen on the property

as an impression of the inside rooms.

We first visited the kitchen, a parlor, and several bedrooms.

There is a hallway in between the two rows of rooms.

Once we came out from the main living area, the sun

had started to shine again on the cloudy day, casting sun across

the walkway. 

I started to have some fun with the lantern shadows!

We walked toward the back end of the building

and looked back on the plaza with another point of view.

As we looked back over the eastern wall of the adobe

rancho, the snow topped mountains were visible.

There is a collection of out buildings beyond

the back opening of the main plaza area.

The covered adobe building is a blacksmith area

that also has a cabinet with Josefina to the side.

It is an area that can be used for education.

A tree in the back was changing into darker colors

and getting ready to lose its leaves.

An adobe room had grinding stones in front of it.

The cover where old wagons are kept has been

recently repaired.

The blacksmith building has a beautiful exposure

of adobe bricks.

We walked through the plaza sidewalks back toward

the gate with some dawdling.

We stopped and looked back.

Casa San Ysidro has regular scheduled tour hours

most months of the year, but they are closed in

December and January.

We paused in the gate as we left. We had just attended the last

scheduled tour of 2015. The tours and events will resume in February.

Have a peaceful time of rest, Casa San Ysidro!

CSPAN YouTube Video: