National Register Listing

Monte Vista and College View Historic District

Roughly bounded by Girard and Lomas Blvds, Morningside Dr., Copper Ave., Campus and Monte Vista Blvds., Albuquerque, NM

The district consists of the Monte Vista and College View Additions both platted in 1926, the year following a major annexation to Albuquerque's east side in which the size of the city more than tripled. The first subdivisions on the East Mesa to be platted and then quickly developed, the Monte Vista and College View Additions, represented a significant step in determining the city's future growth eastward based upon the development of automobile-oriented suburbs. With its restrictions regarding minimum housing costs, its dedication to a parcel of land for the construction of a school, and efforts to limit potential flooding damage through an innovative street plan, the Monte Vista Addition anticipated developers' efforts to develop land use plans in subsequent generations of subdivisions. With developer Charles McDuffie's precedent-setting efforts to make widespread use of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans in the mid-1930s, the College View Addition anticipated the means by which expanding suburban housing would lead to greater numbers of homeowners. Although both additional developers, particularly McDuffie, played significant roles in constructing individual houses, independent builders continued to construct many of the district's houses. Their use of standard plans and materials and the range of regionally inspired stylistic elements applied to the houses imbued the district with the appearance of a distinctly southwestern suburb. The district's period of significance extends between 1926 and 1957, the period during which the two additions began to the point where they fulfilled their role as developed subdivisions. The properties less than fifty years of age are integral to the district and contribute to its history and setting.

Local significance of the district:
Architecture; Community Planning And Development

Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

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.