Chavez, Juan de Dios, House
205 Griegos Rd., NW, Albuquerque, NMThe Juan de Dios Chavez House is a fine local example of the traditional L-shaped Territorial style of which only five still stand in the city. Although the windows have been recently replaced with modern reproductions of Territorial style windows, the overall house plan has remained intact and is in excellent condition.
Since at least the turn of the century the house has been the home of the Juan de Dios Chavez family, a branch of a north valley family which has lived in the area since the late x 1700's. Juan de Dios was one of the ten children of Jose de la Luz Chavez, a farmer who served as a legislator from Bernalillo County in 1892. Many descendants of Jose de la Luz still live in the north valley.
The house stands on part of a large property purchased by Juan Cristobal Armijo sometime before 1880 on which Armijo built his "New Homestead" (NR-9/30/82). Since there is no record of Armijo's purchase, we have no written confirmation that the Chavez House was standing at the time Armijo bought the property. Given its linear form and few openings, which are characteristic of mid-19th-century New Mexican houses, it probably pre-dates the Armijo home. After Armijo's death and the death of his wife the property was divided among his children, and then gradually bought up by his son-in-law Tomas Gutierrez. Tomas 1 wife, Leonor Zamora, inherited the entire property in x !909. Leonor's sister, Juanita Zamora, was the wife of Jose de la Luz Chavez and it is undoubtedly through this connection that Chavez's son Juan de Dios came to live in the small old house located near the New Homestead. Leonor left the house and its adjoining property to Juan de Dios with the stipulation that he care for her in her old "age. After his death the house was left to his several children; it still belongs to his youngest daughter.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
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.