Barelas-South Fourth Street Historic District

After New Mexico Route 1 was relocated onto South Fourth Street in 1924, and re-designated U.S. Routes 66 and 85 in 1926, this formerly residential street in the predominately-Hispanic Barelas neighborhood redeveloped into one of the city's three most significant automobile-oriented commercial strips. The remodeling of seven residences for commercial purposes, and the construction of two dozen new stores, four supermarkets, four service stations and a combination car dealership-filling station gave the street a strong commercial character. The preponderance of Spanish-surnamed and Spanish-speaking merchants in the district, combined with the variety and size of the businesses to make the district the preeminent Hispanic shopping district in Albuquerque and for the immediate region. As the most intact of Albuquerque's first generation of automobile commercial strips, the Barelas-South Fourth Street Historic District is eligible for the National Register under Criterion A. The characteristics of this first generation auto strip resulted from the exigencies of developing a highway through an already-developed neighborhood. The older, underlying residential component reflects both the development of a Hispanic farming village in the second half of the 19th century, most apparent where Barelas Road crosses Fourth, and the later growth of a Railroad Era subdivision, best seen at the north end of the district. The majority of the commercial buildings continue the old tradition of positioning utilitarian store front at the sidewalk's edge, although they omit the mixed use upper floor typical of older downtown main streets. Attempts during this era to adapt commercial building types to the rise of the automobile are most apparent in the drive-thru lanes and canopies of the service stations, and the side parking lots of the first-generation of supermarkets. The Barelas-South Fourth Street Historic District with its mixture of residences, store-residence buildings and new commercial buildings, its one-story density, and attempts to accommodate the automobile with small parking lots, drive-thru lanes, and eye-catching signs and icon towers embodies the characteristics of a first-generation, automobile-oriented commercial strip. As the best preserved example of
this major historic development in Albuquerque, the district is also eligible for the National Register under Criterion C.

Buildings from three phases of development along South Fourth Street tell three interrelated stories. The first is the growth of a Hispanic farming village in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This was partially overwritten by railroad era residential development after 1880. Then, after Fourth Street became New Mexico Route 1 in 1924, and was re-designated as U.S. Routes 66 and 85 two years later, the first two chapters were partially erased as automobile-oriented commercial was written boldly in their place.