A stroll through history: Historic Neighborhood Home Tour returns after a six-year hiatus

For those with an interest in architecture and a little bit of Duke City lore, the Mother’s Day Historic Home & Garden Tour might be an ideal way to spend a spring afternoon.

After the pandemic forced the event to go on hiatus, the Downtown Neighborhoods Association (DNA) will offer a walking tour of eight homes and three gardens in Albuquerque’s Fourth Ward Historic District on Sunday, May 12. The tour runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is $15 in advance or $20 on the day of the event.

According to a release, the tour features “houses that reflect the diverse materials and architecture employed as Albuquerque expanded from Old Town to New Town with the railroad and all of its influences. The historic structures also demonstrate their evolution as they’ve been remodeled to reflect modern lifestyles, and in some cases, artists’ residences and business uses.”

A stroll through history: Historic Neighborhood Home Tour returns after a six-year hiatus

The tour, which began 50 years ago, has attracted between 800 to 1,000 attendees in past years, according to Glen Salas, a DNA board member. It’s the primary fundraiser for DNA, which puts the money back into the community through various avenues, including donations to Lew Wallace Elementary School and Harwood Art Center, or through sponsoring neighborhood events and clean-ups.

There’s a rich history that accompanies each tour.

“There’s some great old houses here,” Salas said. “All the houses were built in (1910s) or earlier. We have one that’s built in 1882, and it was actually the first duplex in Albuquerque.

“There’s another icon, it’s called the Mauger House. And it’s been a bed and breakfast for a long time, but it’s one of the older houses. (Another) one of the other ones was actually the Industrial School for Girls back in the ’20s. But they’re built a long time ago. Obviously they were worth something because nobody has torn them down yet. People have updated them through the years, so it’s interesting to see what’s been going on with that.”

The tour is self-guided, as visitors who purchase a ticket will receive a booklet that provides descriptions of the participating homes upon checking in. While previous tours required transportation via bus, all the houses are within a mile of each other this year. With that in mind, one can choose to arrive at any time within the allotted four-hour block. Salas says the tour will take approximately one to two hours at the most.

“Some of the homes, the whole house is open,” Salas said. “Some houses, a couple rooms are blocked off, but usually there’s tape across so you can look in.”

The gardens are a new addition to the proceedings.

“We just thought it would be a good idea,” Salas said. “People are doing a lot of nice landscaping these days, a lot of nice xeriscaping. It’s just a very pleasant walk through our neighborhood.”

The Downtown version of the tour typically is held on a biannual basis, with home tours from one of the adjacent neighborhood associations taking place on odd years. The homes featured change with each offering, and participants volunteer through an email chain. The final list is narrowed down based on the needs of that particular year. Salas’ home was part of the tour eight years ago.

“This year we wanted it to be a walking tour, so we wanted them all to be relatively close,” Salas said. “We wanted to have a certain amount of grand houses and a certain amount of normal houses that the rail yard workers used to live in.”