2025-11703-HDRB. 424 San Antonio St.

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City of Santa Fe
Historic Districts Review Board
Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law
Case # 2025-11703-HDRB
Address – 424 San Antonio St.
Agent’s Name – A. Christopher Purvis, Architect
Owner/Applicant’s Name – Laura Bird, Fanta Real Estate Investments, LLC
THIS MATTER came before the Historic Districts Review Board (“Board”) for hearing
on January 13, 2026.
BACKGROUND
Sitting near the center of the lot at 424 San Antonio St. is a small Pueblo Revival-style
residence, which is one of four houses constructed by the Fenyes-Curtin family along San
Antonio Street. It was built around 1931, primarily of adobe, and features an inset portal
centered on the front, east-facing façade. The single-story residence is flat roofed with parapets
and stuccoed in a pale brown color. The windows are older, wood-casement windows inset by
about 14 inches, with top-mounted projecting steel hinges with large, exposed knuckles. The
front portal has an exposed viga ceiling. The configuration of the windows on the north
elevation indicates that the interior has had alterations that resulted in a different use of space.
A detached 362-square-foot, single-vehicle garage was constructed in the northwest
corner of the lot around the same time as the residence. The garage is built of adobe and finished
in stucco that matches the residence. A low 21-inch-high adobe wall topped with a white picket
fence, with four-sided conical tops that raise the height by another 21 inches, sits on the east
property line. The picket fence turns to run along the driveway. While the yard wall holds
layers of stucco, the fencing has a single layer of paint, suggesting it is a newer addition to the
yard wall.
The HDRB approved a frame addition on the southwest corner in Case # H-95-071. The
applicant at that time proposed a portal to the front of the residence, but the HDRB denied that.
The addition is distinguishable from the rest of the house due to the window inset of only four
inches, its smoother wall plane and more contemporary doors and windows. The roof was
replaced in 2019 as approved under Case # 2019-0947-ADMIN.
San Antonio Street is a rural-feeling, dead-end lane which remains unpaved and without
sidewalks. It was developed in the 1920s over former farmland. The first several hundred feet
of the west side, which includes this house, contain a sequence of Territorial and Pueblo Revival
houses, set back from the road and visually unified by a nearly continuous line of yard walls and
fencing. The houses tend to be light to medium brown stucco with white or turquoise trim color.
The yards all have landscaping, including trees that shade the area. Typical driveway access is to
the side of the residence with a garage set back behind the residence. This house is consistent in
size and architectural presentation with the other, nearby houses on this streetscape, although
many of them have brick coping atop their walls.

Finding of Fact and Conclusions of Law – Status or Primary Façade Designation
Case # 2025-11703-HDRB
p. 2
The property is a part of the 1926 Fenyes subdivision, which was created by Eva Scott
Fenyes, her daughter Leonora Scott Curtin and granddaughter Leonora Francis Curtin on strips
of previous farmland in a 1922 five-acre purchase from the Acequia Madre tract. The residence
at 424 San Antonio was previously known as the Fenyes residence, and the House of the Three
Wise Women. It is listed as non-statused on the GIS map, as contributing in a 1991 Historic
Cultural Properties Inventory, and as significant in the Staff Report from Case # H-95-071. The
garage unit, yard wall, and picket fence are not statused in any of the documents. According to
the 1991 HCPI, the residence is listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and on the
State Register of Cultural Properties, but as of 2025 this property is not listed on either register.
A status review is required to reconcile the inconsistencies in the record and to determine the
status of the garage, yard wall and picket fence. The Applicant requests:
1) Status review with primary façade designation, if applicable, of the main residence.
2) Status review with primary façade designation, if applicable, for the accessory/garage
structure.
3) Status review of the east front yard wall with picket fence.
The historic associations and the architecture of the house are notable; however, some
alterations to both the interior and exterior have been made. Therefore, the Staff recommended
that the residence be designated a contributing structure. The highest integrity is in the east
elevation, so the Staff recommended that the unaltered east façade, the north facade for the
window openings, and the south façade, excluding the 1995 addition, be designated as the
primary façades. Further, the Staff recommended that the garage be designated contributing with
the east façade as primary. The stucco yard wall is historic, but the picket fence is not;
therefore, the Staff recommended that the yard wall, excluding the picket fence, be designated as
contributing.
FINDINGS OF FACT
After conducting a public hearing and having heard from the Applicant and all interested
persons, the Board hereby FINDS, as follows:
1. Historic Preservation Division City staff reviewed the application and related materials
and information submitted by the Applicant for conformity with applicable Santa Fe City
Code (“SFCC”) requirements and provided the Board with a written report of its findings
(“Staff Report”), which evaluates the factors relevant to the application.
2. Historic Preservation Division Staff Recommendation: Staff recommended the historic
status of the residential structure be designated as contributing with the east elevation (R-
1) including the interior of the portal, north elevation, (R-6) and south elevation (R-2),
excluding the 1995 addition, as the primary façades; and designate the detached
accessory structure as contributing with the east (G-1) as the primary façade, and
designate the yard wall excluding the picket fence as contributing, per SFCC Section 14-
5.2(C), Designation of Significant, Contributing or Non-Contributing Status Within
Historic Districts.

Finding of Fact and Conclusions of Law – Status or Primary Façade Designation
Case # 2025-11703-HDRB
p. 3
3. The project is subject to SFCC Section 14-5.2(C), Regulation of Significant and
Contributing Structures.
4. The project is subject to the requirements and general design standards set forth in SFCC
Section 14-5.2(D), General Design Standards.
5. The property is located in the Downtown and Eastside Historic District and is subject to
the district design standards set forth in SFCC Section 14-5.2(E).
6. SFCC Section 14-5.2(C)(2)(a-c) gives the Board authority to review and approve
“significant,” “contributing,” or “non-contributing” status designations and to designate
primary façades of contributing structures.
7. Under SFCC Section 14-12.1, the definition of a “significant structure” is a “structure
located in a Historic District that is approximately 50 years old or older, and that
embodies distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction. For a
structure to be designated as significant, it must retain a high level of historic integrity. A
structure may be designated as significant: (A) for its association with events or persons
that are important on a local, regional, national or global level; or (B) if it is listed on or
is eligible to be listed on the State Register of Cultural Properties or the National Register
of Historic Places.”
8. Under SFCC Section 14-12.1, the definition of a “contributing structure” is “a structure,
located in a Historic District, approximately 50 years old or older that helps to establish
and maintain the character of that Historic District. Although a contributing structure is
not unique in itself, it adds to the historic associations or historic architectural design
qualities that are significant for a district. The contributing structure may have had minor
alterations, but its integrity remains.”
9. Under SFCC Section 14-12.1, the definition of a “primary façade” is one or more
principal faces or elevations of a building with features that define the character of the
building’s architecture.
10. Under SFCC Section 14-12.1, the definition of a “non-contributing structure” is a
“structure, located in a Historic District, that is less than 50 years old or that does not
exhibit sufficient historic integrity to establish and maintain the character of the Historic
District.”
11. Based on the information set forth in the Staff Report and exhibits and the testimony and
evidence presented at the hearing, the Board finds that the residential structure meets the
definition of a “contributing structure,” as recommended by the Staff. The Board finds
that the structure, due to its alterations, does not have a high level of historic integrity, but
that it exhibits sufficient historic integrity to maintain the character of the Historic
District, and it commendably reflects the development of the historic Fenyes subdivision.
12. The Board finds that the east façade including the portal, south façade and north façade
(R-1, R-2 and R-6) are the primary elevations of the structure, exhibiting features that
define the character of the structure’s architecture, including the inset of the windows, the
centralized portal with its viga ceiling.
13. Based on the information set forth in the Staff Report and exhibits and the testimony and
evidence presented at the hearing, the Board finds that the accessory garage structure
meets the definition of a “contributing structure,” as recommended by the Staff, for the
same reasons a contributing status is justified for the main residence.
14. The Board finds that the east façade (G-1) is the primary elevation of the garage

Finding of Fact and Conclusions of Law – Status or Primary Façade Designation
Case # 2025-11703-HDRB
p. 4
structure with the features that define the character of the structure’s architecture.
15. Based on the information set forth in the Staff Report and exhibits and the testimony and
evidence presented at the hearing, the Board finds that the yard wall, excluding the picket
fence, meets the definition of a “contributing structure,” as recommended by the Staff, for
the same reasons a contributing status is justified for the main residence.
16. The information contained in the application and provided in testimony and evidence
establishes that all applicable requirements for Board review have been met.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Under the circumstances and given the evidence and testimony submitted during the
hearing, the Board acted upon the application as follows:
1. The Board has the authority to review and approve the application.
2. The Board grants the Applicant’s request to review historic status.
3. The Board designates the residential structure as a contributing structure.
4. The Board designates the following elevations of the residence as the primary
façades: east, north and south (R-1 including the portal, R-2 and R-6).
5. The Board designates the accessory structure (garage) as a contributing structure.
6. The Board designates the following elevations of the accessory structure as the
primary façade: east (G-1).
7. The Board designates the yard wall as a contributing structure, excluding the picket
fence extension.
IT IS SO ORDERED ON THIS 22nd DAY of SEPTEMBER, 2026, BY THE
HISTORIC DISTRICTS REVIEW BOARD OF THE CITY OF SANTA FE.
_______________________ _____________
Cecilia Rios Date
Chair
FILED:
______________________ ______________
Geralyn Cardenas Date
Interim City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_________________________ ______________
Frank Ruybalid Date
Assistant City Attorney