Enchanted Mesa Trading Post
9612 Central Ave. SE., Albuquerque, NMConstructed in 1948 from a design prepared by Margarete Chase, wife of longtime Indian arts dealer, Fred Chase, the Enchanted Mesa Trading Post was one of the easternmost commercial buildings along East Central Avenue. It is significant as a reminder of how Albuquerque's eastern commercial strip began to stretch even farther east following World War II as the number of tourists increased along Route 66. Because of its association with automobile tourism during the golden years of Route 66, the building is eligible under Criterion A. The building is also eligible under Criterion C as a good example of the Pueblo Revival Style that characterized many roadside businesses. As discussed in the Multiple Property listing, many entrepreneurs favored the style, believing that it signaled the building's function, offering tourists a ready identification with the Southwest and the regional Indian arts they sought. The association of the building with Route 66 as well as the details of the building and the owners' efforts to maintain it while so many other buildings along the commercial strip dating to the period of significance have been razed also make this building of exceptional importance and qualify it under Criterion Consideration G, as discussed in the Multiple Property listing.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
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.