An Assessment of Significance
Chris Wilson
Industrial Monuments
The one conservative feature in the
shops’ design is their reinforced concrete facades which could have easily
(and more inexpensively) been treated as glass curtain walls like the north
and south sides. (However, even the revolutionary Ford Glass Plant of the
same period continues to use brick cladding on its base where the less
expensive corrugated metal used above would have done just as well,) The
steel frame of the Albuquerque shops stands behind and integrated into the
concrete facades. Since the concrete is structurally redundant, these
facades facing the town and the tracks can only be understood as examples of
corporate pride. The interiors are single story spaces from thirty to
fifty-seven feet tall; in contrast, the facade piers and spandrels (recessed
horizontal panels) form a grid which harkens back to the the multi-story,
reinforced concrete factories commonly built between 1905 and 1920. These
spandrels were omitted from the otherwise similar facades of the San
Bernardino shops, built 1924, which gave them a more vertical, Art Deco
appearance.
Nevertheless, the predominant style of the facades, both at Albuquerque and San Bernardino, is an abstracted Neo-classicism: plain concrete piers extend up to a simple bracketed cornice topped by a pediment frieze with a recessed Santa Fe company emblem. The clear order and rationality implied by Neo-classicism was the natural compliment to the standardization and rigorous efficiency of steel frame buildings and of modern industry. The handful of locomotive shops, with their austere classical styling, rise above the normal, purely functional buildings to become the industrial monuments of the Santa Fe Railway. (18)
Fire Station
The only
other Albuquerque shop building with architectural pretensions is the Fire
Station, built in 1920, Its rough-faced, random ashlar, brown sandstone
walls, its crenellated parapet, asymmetrical tower and tile accents give it
an unusual, rustic Mediterranean appearance, This departure from the Santa
Fe’s normal modes–functional concrete and California Mission style–may
have stemmed from a desire to complement the old Atlantic and Pacific
division offices which then stood next to the fire station site. It is the
oldest remaining fire station in the city and one of the most accomplished
picturesque revival buildings erected in the city during the 1920s. (19)
Decline of Steam Locomotives These would be the last great railroad buildings erected in Albuquerque. Traffic peaked on the Santa Fe in the 1920s, dropped sharply in the 1930s because of the Depression and the rise of the automobile and trucking, and recovered only temporarily during the Second World War. In 1935, the Santa Fe began experimenting with diesel engines which would prove to be more economical to operate, run longer distances and require less frequent maintenance than steam locomotives. Because of the difficulties it had always had supplying steam locomotives with coal and water on its western lines, the Santa Fe became a leader in the conversion to diesel. The Second World War halted the purchase of new engines and the Albuquerque shops experienced a final peak of activity with a record 1,500 workers. The switch to diesel was resumed after the war; 1,261 new engines were purchased by 1952 and the last steam engine was retired from the Santa Fe in 1956. At the end of the war, San Bernardino and Cleburne were chosen for the centralized diesel locomotive shops. In 1953, the Albuquerque shops became the central facility for repairs of equipment for the maintenance of the rail lines. This function substantially underutilizes the shops, requiring only 200 employees, The Roundhouse was used until recently for storage, but now stands empty. (20)