High desert hacienda

Custom Home, April, 2003

As a tourist and retirement destination, Albuquerque, N.M., plays second fiddle to nearby Santa Fe. And to Albuquerque custom builder George Lewton, that's just fine. Compared with its desert-chic sister city, the peaks in Albuquerque's construction market aren't as high, "But the valleys aren't as big either." The top end of the market in both cities has dropped off significantly since 9/11, but Albuquerque's more diversified economy has fared better. Lewton reports steady custom-building activity, "but in the $160,000 lots, not in the $400,000-to-$500,000 lots. There are move-up buyers in Albuquerque, because some of the businesses are doing well." In the case of this house, the move-up buyer is Lewton himself, who turned for design services to his longtime collaborators, architects Glade Sperry and Cindy Terry. * As in all their houses, Sperry says, "We worked hard to make it look like it grew out of the site," echoing the high desert landscape with building masses that Sperry likens to "geological fragments." The home's plan, which wraps around a courtyard with a fountain pool, derives from the classic hacienda form. "The house kind of envelops and protects that space," says Sperry, who oriented the building toward views of the Sandia foothills to the north and the city below, in the plain to the west. The contemporary reinterpretation of ancient and historic Southwest styles is a theme this architect-builder team has explored for nearly 20 years. But here, Sperry notes, Lewton "decided to elevate it a notch" with metal accents--ground-steel columns, aluminum window frames, stainless counters and appliances--that provide a striking counterpoint to the stone and earth-tone stucco of the house's basic forms.--B.D.S.

Project Credits: Builder: Lewton Construction, Albuquerque, N.M.; Architect: Westwork Architects, Albuquerque; Living space: 3,600 square feet; Site size: .71 acre; Construction cost: $245 a square foot; Photographer: Kirk Gittings. * Resources: Bathroom plumbing fittings/fixtures: Grohe, Circle 431, Toto, Circle 432; Dishwasher: Thermador, Circle 433; Elastomeric stucco: Dryvit, Circle 434; Garage doors: Raynor, Circle 435; Garbage disposer: In-Sink-Erator, Circle 436; Hardware: Valli & Valli, Circle 437; Interior doors: Supa, Circle 438; Kitchen plumbing fixtures: Grohe, Circle 439; Oven: Thermador, Circle 440; Refrigerator: Viking, Circle 441; Windows: Andersen, Circle 442.