Vigil, Antonio, House

The Antonio Vigil House is one of several historic buildings located near the Albuquerque plaza, the center of the original Hispanic settlement which for the past century has been called "Old Town." When the Santa Fe railroad first came to Albuquerque in 1880, the tracks bypassed the plaza, and a new community, predominantly Anglo in character, sprang up beside the depot 1 1/2 miles east. Known as "New Town," it rapidly increased in importance during the post-railroad years as old Town went into a decline which lasted until after World War II when the plaza area became a tourist attraction. Constructed by Santiago Baca, a late 19th century Albuquerque rancher, politician, and real estate speculator, the Vigil house is not only significant architecturally but has importance because of its long association with the history of Albuquerque.

Santiago Baca and his wife Piedad Armijo de Baca moved to Albuquerque from the village of Pecos, 25 miles east of Santa Fe, just before Christmas in 1874 to facilitate a family business reorganization. After a long and stormy relationship Piedad's parents, Salvador Armijo and María de las Nieves Sarracino had finally agreed to a division of their tangled business interests with Armijo making the stipulation that Baca would be the trustee of Doña Nieves' portion. At the same time, Armijo gave most of his extensive real property including farm lands and town lots to Piedad and to his sister, Plácida Armijo de Montoya. As part of her share, Piedad received a piece of land north of the Albuquerque plaza which her father had purchased in 1869 from Juan Apodaca and Jesús Sanchez and their wives for $400. Situated on a 100' square lot it was the site of an ll room house with a plazuela and a zaguan (covered entrance) at the time of Armijo's purchase and adjoined other property which he held to the north.

Anticipating the arrival of the railroad, old Town enjoyed a surge of business activity soon after Baca moved his family to Albuquerque. Although the optimism thus engendered was premature, there was considerable residential and commercial construction near the old plaza before it was known where the tracks would be located. An aggressive businessman, Baca was active in the short-lived boom, purchasing additional lots adjoining the property his wife had received from her father. The combined property faced Main Street, renamed "Calle Santiago" in Baca's honor, and here he erected three buildings including the one known as the Antonio Vigil House, built in 1879 as the residence of Albert Grunsfeld. Early in that year, Baca agreed to construct a dwelling to be leased by Grunsfeld with the latter providing the necessary capital and receiving, in turn, a mortgage on a new store building two doors south, which also housed the Albuquerque post office and U.S. District Courtroom.

A German-born Jewish merchant, Grunsfeld had recently come to New Mexico as the protege of Spiegelberg Brothers, one of the Territory's most important general merchandising firms based in Santa Fe. After a period of apprenticeship at company headquarters, Grunsfeld moved his large family to Albuquerque to manage the Spiegelberg branch there. He soon became a partner in the enterprise, later joining his brother Ernest in purchasing the remaining Spiegelberg assets in Albuquerque. By 1882 Grunsfeld had realized that New Town would be the area's future commercial center and moved both the Spiegelberg store and his own residence there. At the same time, he sublet his house in Old Town to Daniel Geary, cashier and stockholder in the newly organized First National Bank of Albuquerque. Unfortunately, Geary was a poor tenant and at the conclusion of his residency in April 1885, Grunsfeld was forced to file suit for damages claimed by Baca because of the deteriorated condition of the house.

The early 1880s were profitable years for Santiago Baca, a period in which he reaped substantial profits from a lucrative wholesale beer and liquor business that serviced the many saloons in Albuquerque and surrounding communities. In December 1880 he filed a plat on a real estate subdivision west of the railroad tracks near the new depot which was called the Baca Addition. During the next three years, he sold more than 120 lots for over $16,000 which with other sales of urban real estate provided the Bacas with an income of over $30,000 from land sales. During the same era, he became increasingly involved in local politics. A veteran of two sessions in the Territorial Legislature as a member of the Council (upper house) from San Miguel County during his residence in Pecos, he was re-elected to the same body from Bernalillo County in 1882. Two years later Baca was the Republican candidate for the prestigious office of county sheriff and tax collector, narrowly defeating his wife's cousin, Perfecto Armijo.

Shortly before the election of 1886 Baca, unable to support the Republican candidate for Territorial delegate, bolted the county convention and ran for reelection as a Democrat. This time the tables were turned and, despite a plurality in both Old and New Albuquerque, Baca lost to Republican José Leandro Perea, Jr. Early in 1887 when the time came to turn his records over to Perea it became evident that Baca's tax accounts were short several thousand dollars, the result of embezzlement by one of his deputies who had fled the Territory. Although the amount involved was not great and no serious attempt was made to make Baca criminally liable, the extra strain on his resources, already heavily mortgaged, led to a financial disaster from which he never recovered. To provide a surety for the loss, Baca pledged almost all of his real property, including the Vigil house, to County Commissioner Mariano S. Otero, the first of a series of trustees.

After over six years of litigation, a portion of Baca's holdings were sold at a sheriff's sale held at the front door of the Bernalillo County Court House on September 23, 1893, to repay his debts. The high bidder for all of the various pieces of land offered was Baca's daughter, Francisca Baca de Chaves, who, with her husband Meliton Chaves, raised sufficient cash to keep the property in the family. The price of the Vigil house was $800. Five years later the Chaves', Mrs. Chaves' grandmother, Nieves Sarracino, and Mrs. Chaves' brother and sister-in-law, Bernardino Baca and Jesusita Johnson de Baca became involved in a monumental lawsuit concerning title to the Salvador Armijo House (National Register 10/76) which is located 200 yards north of the Vigil house. In the resulting settlement, title to the latter property was exchanged by the Chaves' to the Bacas in return for the Bacas' claim to a portion of the Armijo house.

In June 1900 the Bacas sold the Vigil property and during the next four years, its title changed hands twice more, being purchased in 1904 by Pilar Vigil whose descendants have retained it ever since. In 1922 ownership passed to Pilar's son, Antonio J. S. Vigil, who resided there for almost 40 years until his death in 1961. In the largest room on the building's east side, he also maintained the San Felipe Family Grocery Store. During the 1920s he constructed a small addition to the west, originally used as a garage and chicken house, which has recently been converted into an apartment. Since Vigil's death, the house has been used for various commercial purposes but has remained in the Vigil family. is now leased by Ray Sandoval, an Albuquerque businessman, who is rehabilitating the structure and seeking an appropriate adaptive use.