City of Santa Fe to repair historic railroad depot

After more than a decade of tentative plans, the City of Santa Fe, New Mexico, recently agreed to spend $1 million to rehabilitate its long-decaying railroad depot in the Railyard.

According to an article in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper, the city had been discussing a face-lift for the century-old depot since 2009. And it appears the rehab work won’t begin a minute too soon:

Leaks now plague the roof of the building; its support beams, parapets, trusses and roof decking are all but rotting and falling apart; and the pebble-dash stucco is deteriorating. Brick behind the exterior stucco also is degrading, and the drainage systems and wood ceiling are rotting.
The problems are so pronounced the city had to install temporary shoring on the building to prevent any of its exposed wooden framing from collapsing. A city memo said the building now poses a public safety risk.

A representative from Barbara Felix Architecture and Design detailed the work that is coming:

“Generally, we are trying to keep as much of the building as possible,” said Becca Snyder, a project architect at Barbara Felix Architecture. “We are trying to hold onto as much of the existing material as we can. What we have to replace, we will replace in kind, but we are trying to keep as much of the historic building as possible.”
Snyder said the building’s windows will be rehabbed, not replaced, but there are plans to re-create the depot’s historic doors.
The project will restore the exterior color of the building to its original white, albeit with black trimmings, Burnett said.

A city official said another $650,000 also may be spent for interior renovations in the depot.

The New Mexico Rail Runner train that runs from Albuquerque and local tour buses stop there. The city’s tourism department also is a tenant in the depot, which was built in 1909. Trains, however, have been stopping there since 1880.

The depot sits only two blocks west of the Cerrillos Road alignment of old Route 66 in Santa Fe.

(Image of the Santa Fe Depot in Santa Fe, New Mexico, by PerryPlanet via Wikimedia Commons)