Barela-Bledsoe House
7017 Edith Blvd., NE, Albuquerque, NMErected c.1870 the Barela-Bledsoe House is a landmark in the community of Los Ranches de Albuquerque, one of the small villages which characterized the Hispanic settlement of New Mexico's Rig Abajo (Down River) region.Prior to 1854 Los Ranchos served briefly as county seat..of Bernalillo County until the offices were returned to Albuquerque/ the largest nearby town.Important architecturally, the house is an excellent example of a 19th century New Mexico building in which residential and commercial elements were combined under one roof. The structure also has historical importance as the home of a well-known native New Mexico family whose origins date from Spanish Colonial times with descendants still living in Albuquerque.
Born in November, 1842, four years prior to the takeover of New Mexico by U.S. troops in the first months of the Mexican War, Juan EsteVan Barela was the only son of Pablo Barela and Paula Garcla. Although the Barelas were primarily farmers and stock men, Juan EsteVan's father was also a freighter who occasionally hauled merchandise from eastern points to New Mexico over the historic Santa Fe Trail. On May 23, 1870 the-elder Barela's train was attacked by a band of Kiowas and Arapahoes which resulted in extensive damage and a claim against the-U.S. government still unsettled twenty years later. In 1867 Juan Estevan Barela married Maria Soledad Jaramillo from the nearby village of Alameda. After only a few years together this union was terminated by Soledad's death but by 1872 Barela had married again. Hissecond wife was Abundia Garcla, a native of Anton Chico in the Pecos Valley,100 miles east of Los Ranchos. The materials and construction methods used in the Barela-Bledsoe House indicate that it was probably built about this time.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.