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LAS CRUCES – Unoccupied for decades and left to crumble, an old house sitting on the corner of Hadley Avenue and Tornillo Street shows its age.
Gaping holes in the decomposing stucco bear adobe bricks, laid there, according to an official estimate, in 1925. A fire 85 years later damaged what was left of the roof and gutted the back of the home.
The home’s disrepair conceals its rich history.
A group of Las Cruces residents are hoping to save the deteriorating home in the Historic Mesquite Street neighborhood – one woman even set up a heralded, worldwide public art project in front of the house, trying to bring attention to the stressed structure. And even though the home’s owner has filed with the city of Las Cruces an application to demolish it, he said he wants to see it restored.
Clarence Fielder’s grandparents lived at the house, so, growing up, he ate many Sunday dinners inside its walls. Daniel Hibler, Fielder’s grandfather, co-founded the city’s first African-American church, the Phillips Chapel CME Church. That building, which was used as a school during segregation according to Sun-News archives, has stood for more than a century. It’s about two blocks north of the home.
Harry Sanchez grew up near the home, playing football in what was an empty lot across Tornillo Street. A police officer, Sanchez’s family owns several properties in the old Las Cruces neighborhood.
That’s part of the reason Sanchez, born and raised in the neighborhood, bought the home from Fielder family in 2008. He wanted to revitalize it, but when an arsonist set fire to it 2010, “it doused the energy I had.”
Sanchez is planning to build single-family housing on the site, but “I’m open to working with, selling, doing whatever I can if anybody else is interested,” he said.
Despite its run-down condition, “the building can be saved,” said David Chavez, president of the Mesquite Historic Preservation Society.
Meanwhile, the house has been drawing attention because it serves as the site of “Before I Die,” an interactive art exhibit that invites “people to share their hopes and dreams in public space,” according to the website of its creator, Candy Chang.
Such chalkboards are set up all over the globe. Lauded as “one of the most creative community projects ever” by The Atlantic, “Before I Die” boards prompt an array of responses.
One of the first messages written on one of the chalkboards was directed at the old home.
Read one of the signs: “Save this house.”
— This article appeared on page C02 of the Albuquerque Journal
