National Register Listing

Immanuel Presbyterian Church

114 Carlisle Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, NM

Immanuel Presbyterian Church is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places under the Multiple Property Documentation Form Buildings of John Gaw Meem." It is also significant under Criteria A and C. It is an architectural expression of the postwar boom in Albuquerque during which the city's population expanded beyond the valley and downtown, and edged up past the sand hills and onto the East Mesa closer to the mountains and the high-tech institutions that were to become its economic mainstay. It continues a long tradition of the Presbyterian Church in New Mexico, which began with American occupation in 1848, put down roots soon after the Civil War and extended its reach with mission schools throughout the state during the territorial period and beyond. It is the third Presbyterian church built in Albuquerque. Immanuel is also a distinguished institutional example of the later works of preeminent Southwest architect John Gaw Meem, a preservationist and regionalist who revived and refined vernacular traditions and wrote persuasively about their richness and adaptability. During Meem's long career in New Mexico, he brought Santa Fe style to maturity and created his own brand of regional classicism, Territorial Revival style, of which Immanuel Presbyterian Church is an outstanding example. Meem's early years in New Mexico included work in church restoration at San Esteban Church at Acoma Pueblo, and the details gleaned from that and later works are incorporated into the design of Immanuel. The church features clerestory windows and massing characteristic of Spanish Pueblo missions and the brick coping and classical details seen in Territorial style buildings.

Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2011.