The historic Horn Motor Lodge (pictured here in present-day and an old postcard), on Route 66 in Albuquerque, is being threatened by development. The Sandia Theatre is also threatened.
There’s a proposal, called Country Club Plaza (scroll down to the lone Southwest listing to read it), to raze the properties for a mixed-use development of single-family residences, condos, commercial and apartments. The motel portion of the Horn Motor Lodge would be demolished, but the front portion that housed a service station and restaurant would be preserved. Infill Solutions is the firm proposing it.
I generally favor infill development in urban areas, but I think this one needs to be amended to preserve the historic properties.
Steve Morrow alerted me to this and provided the information. His not a Route 66 aficionado, but he’s an Albuquerque resident who started checking into it and decided to see whether he could do something.
Built shortly after World War II, the Horn Motor Lodge at 1720 Central Ave. SW is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Kaisa Barthuli of the National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Program and John Murphy of the New Mexico State Historic Preservation office say the Horn Motor Lodge may be even more historically significant than El Vado Motel, which was recently given a reprieve by the city from the wrecking ball. Horn Motor Lodge is a rare “one-stop” place on Route 66 that offered lodging, gas and food; it’s architecturally unique, it’s mostly unchanged, and it features rare carports for lodgers.
Barthuli said the property has potential to be adapted into a mixed-use development, as it’s surrounded by unused land.
The City of Albuquerque’s Environmental Planning Commission is set to vote on this mixed-use development on Thursday, March 16. Comments can be e-mailed to city planner Carmen Marrone at cmarrone@cabq.gov and are welcome. You can also call Marrone at (505) 924-3814. Politely express your views, urge a rejection of the present proposal, and encourage a proposal that preserves all of the property.
The commission’s hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on the 16th in the Planning Hearing Room, Plaza del Sol building, 600 Second St. NW, Albuquerque, if you wish to attend.
Let’s hope nothing happens to it before I can swing by this September. I love the architecture. This is a motel before motels turned their carports into rooms. I’ll e-mail the city planner.
By the way, what happened to your former format?
I’m not sure I follow you, RoadDog. What former format?
I’m not sure exactly how to describe it, but it had a green top and different layout.
Hmmm … maybe the WordPress folks were messing with something. No harm, no foul.