El Zaguan

El Zaguan represents a house of a prominent merchant on the Santa Fe Trail, James L. Johnson. This style of building was a combination of vernacular architecture of New Mexico and new materials and ideas from the Trail.
El Zaguan represents a house of a prominent merchant on the Santa Fe Trail, James L. Johnson. This style of building was a combination of vernacular architecture of New Mexico and new materials and ideas from the Trail. [source]

James L. Johnson was a prominent merchant tied to the Santa Fe Trail from 1845-1881. He was able to make a place for himself in this trade network and relocated to Santa Fe in 1845. His house there came to be known as “El Zaguan.” The home’s architectural style represented a mixture of Anglo newcomers (like Johnson) and the Hispanic and Native American traditions already established in New Mexico.

House and Garden of El Zaguan

El Zaguan grew from a small farmhouse built of adobe, which Johnson purchased in 1854, into a vast property including a house with multiple rooms, a large flower garden, a vegetable garden, stables, corrals, a smoke shed, and shelters for chickens and hogs.1 The name ‘El Zaguan’ refers to the courtyard right behind the main entrance, but it was not bestowed upon the property until a future owner, Margretta Dietrich, began running a hotel there. The house, about a fifteen-minute walk from the Santa Fe Plaza (the end of the Santa Fe Trail) was isolated at its time; it was surrounded by a smattering of houses and many acres of farmland.

The house was situated near the Santa Fe River, with an [acequia](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/05/acequias/), or irrigation ditch, that provided Johnson’s property with water. In New Mexico’s arid climate access to water and water rights have always been highly contested. This acequia brought him into the local acequia community. Along with the water rights came the responsibility to provide someone to help clean the ditch and do maintenance work once a year. These water rights made it possible to grow the lush garden that is still accessible today. It is nicknamed the ‘Bandelier Garden’ after Adolph Bandelier, a prominent archeologist of the Southwest during this time period; he and his wife lived with the Johnsons at El Zaguan from April 3, 1891 to May 1892.2 The garden has peony bushes imported from China that are over 100 years old, as well as horse chestnut trees that have come to represent their garden.

The 'Bandelier Garden,' named after Adolph Bandelier, a prominent archeologist of the Southwest, who was a guest of the Johnson's for some time during 1891-1892.
The ‘Bandelier Garden,’ named after Adolph Bandelier, a prominent archeologist of the Southwest, who was a guest of the Johnson’s for some time during 1891-1892. [source]

The lushness and fine care of the garden, which was looked after by Johnson’s wife, came to represent the prestige and wealth he had within the community. In the words of one researcher, the garden “looked like an oasis in the desert on the hot summer days.”3 It meant a lot that he was able to put aside this land for a flower garden rather than keeping it as productive land. It symbolized the security that Johnson’s successful trading afforded his family.

His corrals served as a stopping point for the oxen and horses that had worked the entire trail.4 It marked the end of the road for some merchants working for him and just a midpoint for others. His corrals became a place for the stock animals to rest and be fed before they started again on their journey back to Missouri or on to Mexico. El Zaguan represented a stopping place for the Trail. It was a place to swap ideas and news, and unload goods for a profit, but also a permanent home for Johnson.

James L. Johnson first traveled the Santa Fe Trail in 1845. He quickly became a prominent merchant on the Trail based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico. He acquired a lot of fortune during his time working on the trail but lost it during the Long Depression (which began in 1881) and the arrival of the railroad to New Mexico (which changed trade forever).
James L. Johnson first traveled the Santa Fe Trail in 1845. He quickly became a prominent merchant on the Trail based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico. He acquired a lot of fortune during his time working on the trail but lost it during the Long Depression (which began in 1881) and the arrival of the railroad to New Mexico (which changed trade forever). [source]

James L. Johnsons’s Beginning in New Mexico

James L. Johnson grew up in Maryland. In 1845, at the age of 20, he made his first trip along the Santa Fe Trail, stopping in Santa Fe and continuing south on the Camino Real into Mexico. After coming back into New Mexico, he worked as a clerk for a while, before he became a junior partner with Preston Beck, Jr.5 Together they ran one of the oldest established wholesale and retail businesses in Santa Fe.6 In 1858 Preston died from a knife wound he sustained a week before during a fight to the death with a clerk in another store, who was killed during the fight.7 After this dramatic event Johnson inherited the business and business block located on the northeast end of the Plaza of Santa Fe.

By the 1870s, newspapers described Johnson as one of the most successful businessmen in the area. He worked in wholesale and retail trade still but had also ventured into real estate, banking, and mining.8 Johnson did well for himself financially, and his home reflected this.

The farmhouse that Johnson bought in 1854 eventually transfor,ed into a 24-room house described as 'one of the finest villas on the edge of the city, with neat and attractive surroundings built without regard to expense.'
The farmhouse that Johnson bought in 1854 eventually transfor,ed into a 24-room house described as ‘one of the finest villas on the edge of the city, with neat and attractive surroundings built without regard to expense.’ [source]

The Property He Built for Himself

In 1854 Johnson bought a farmhouse and property on Canyon Road, about a fifteen-minute walk East of the Plaza, for $250.9 The house was in a Hispanic neighborhood and across the Santa Fe River from the Plaza. This was very different from the other prominent merchants at this time, who were creating a new Anglo neighborhood on East Palace Avenue, directly east of the Plaza.10 Johnson’s business block was located at the west end of East Palace Avenue. Johnson instead chose to live in an already established Hispanic neighborhood because he related more to the culture of New Mexico than the Anglo culture of the newcomers. This was in part because Johnson was married to a Mexican woman named Maria Jesus (Jesusita) Montoya, with whom he had seven surviving children.11 As his family grew so did his house, and he purchased additional parcels of land in 1857, 1864, and 1875.12 El Zaguan grew into a 24-room mansion on the outskirts of town. The house’s opulence was reflected by its “chocolate room” where chocolate was served every afternoon, a room dedicated to the family’s valuables, a private chapel, and a library–said to be the largest in the territory– that overlooked the garden.13

His Successes and Failures

A bird's eye view of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1882. Johnson Street can be seen at the bottom of the map. El Zaguan would be in the north central area of the map, at the foothills of the mountains, perhaps the house next to the grove of trees. The location of the house is barely visible in this map, and at the time it was an isolated part on the outskirts of town.
A bird’s eye view of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1882. Johnson Street can be seen at the bottom of the map. El Zaguan would be in the north central area of the map, at the foothills of the mountains, perhaps the house next to the grove of trees. The location of the house is barely visible in this map, and at the time it was an isolated part on the outskirts of town. [source]

James L. Johnson worked as a wholesale and retail trader on the Santa Fe Trail. He started his business in 1849 and conducted it for 30 years with various partners. Johnson traded “everything essential to the support, comfort or elegance of persons and their dwellings.”14 One partner would travel east to buy goods that would be brought back to Santa Fe along the trail. As the railroad moved west, the distance the wagons had to go became shorter and shipments would arrive more frequently, and by 1869 they arrived monthly. Johnson was very prosperous during his time as a merchant and on the 1860 United States Census he had a personal fortune of $30,000–equivalent to over $800,000 in 2018 dollars.15

During this time Johnson bought other properties on Canyon Road, including servants’ quarters across the street and property closer to the river that served as an orchard and corn field.16 He also owned a 33-lot subdivision on the other side of town south of the Presbyterian Church, and behind the modern day Eldorado Hotel and the Santa Fe County Clerk’s Office. The property was so big that, when he opened it up in 1880 as a street, he was able to name it. This street was originally named Garfield Street after the president inaugurated in 1881. By 1886 the street was renamed Johnson Street, which it is still called today.17

Johnson acquired a lot of wealth from his business connected to the Santa Fe Trail, which he invested in all of his properties around town. Unfortunately, with the arrival of the railroad in New Mexico, the prosperity of the trail disappeared. This was also during the time of the Long Depression which led to further losses of profits. This forced Johnson to mortgage most of his property to Thomas B. Catron, a successful lawyer and politician who had served as a district attorney and territorial attorney general of New Mexico. His most prominent positions were as mayor of Santa Fe from 1906 to 1908 and as one of the first Senators for the State of New Mexico from 1912 to 1916. In 1881 Johnson had failed to pay back his debt and owed Catron a majority of his property, including El Zaguan. Johnson’s business block is called the Catron Block to this day.18

Territorial Style in New Mexico used the vernacular buildings of New Mexico, which were of adobe consturction, as the base. The style built off these original sturctures with newly imported windows with pediments over them, milled wooden pediment lintel, and brick copings replicating dentil moldings.
Territorial Style in New Mexico used the vernacular buildings of New Mexico, which were of adobe consturction, as the base. The style built off these original sturctures with newly imported windows with pediments over them, milled wooden pediment lintel, and brick copings replicating dentil moldings. [source]

Architectural Style of the Building

Throughout his time of owning El Zaguan, Johnson constructed the building in Territorial Style. He utilized earlier Spanish colonial styles and combined them with new materials available in New Mexico thanks to the Santa Fe Trail and design influence from the East. The style that was influential in the East at the time was Greek Revival, as exemplified by buildings recreating Greek Temples like the White House or the Lincoln Memorial. From this style New Mexico adopted copings replicating dentil molding, pediments, and columns. Large panes of glass came along the Trail allowing for large vertical windows. These windows used milled wood for pediment lintel trims. Glass was very rare in New Mexico before this trade route opened, because of the size of the manufacturing operation it would require. This was also true of bricks, which were used as coping to look like dentil patterns that were taken from Greek classical buildings. The last new material that came on the Trail was thin square milled columns with small capitols.19

Johnson Compared to Merchants of the Time

The overlap between the local vernacular buildings and the inclusion of new styles from the East encapsulates Johnson’s role as a merchant on the Santa Fe Trail. Typical Anglo traders on the Santa Fe Trail–like the Spiegelber brothers, the Staabs, and the Seligmans–shared many traits: they came from Europe, worked with their family, lived in the Anglo merchant neighborhood on East Palace Avenue, and did not make local connections and left after the Trail phased out.

Johnson was different. He grew up in the United States, and he moved away from his family and all relations to work on the Trail (whereas many other traders partnered with their own brothers or cousins). He started working as a merchant on the Santa Fe Trail at the young age of 20 and traveled between the States, Territories, and Mexico. He met his wife during one of his trips to Mexico. Maria Jesus (Jesusita) Montoya was born in 1832 in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. They started a family and they had seven surviving children that they raised in New Mexico.20 As he settled in his new home in Santa Fe he adopted more of the local culture. He came to New Mexico along the Trail to make money, but ended up finding a new home.

This adoption of local culture and style can be seen in his house. It was built in New Mexico Territorial Style. He kept the integrity of the vernacular Spanish farmhouse he bought. The same adobe walls that were there when he purchased the first piece of El Zaguan still stand today. His additions to the original style were minimal and supplied by the Trail in the fashion of every other vernacular building of the time. His house was also different because of its location in an established Hispanic neighborhood. This again shows his acquired interest in this new territory. The last big difference between him and the other prominent merchants of the time was that after the Trail fell and he lost his fortune he still stayed in Santa Fe.

El Zaguan was sold to Margretta Dietrich who helped preserve the building. Dietrich worked for women's suffrage and Native American rights. Years after the death of Dietrich the property went to the Historic Santa Fe Foundation.
El Zaguan was sold to Margretta Dietrich who helped preserve the building. Dietrich worked for women’s suffrage and Native American rights. Years after the death of Dietrich the property went to the Historic Santa Fe Foundation. [source]

The Legacy of El Zaguan

Even after Johnson lost the ownership of El Zaguan he continued to live in the building until his death in 1897. Catron kept the building in the family until it was sold in 1918 to Johnson’s grandson James Baca. The Building ended up in the ownership of Margretta Stewart Dietrich who saved it from being demolished and turned it into an apartment complex. Dietrich had moved to New Mexico with her sister after being widowed. Her husband was a former governor of Nebraska and a US senator. Dietrich fought for women’s suffrage. She was also an activist for Native American rights and served as the chairwoman of the New Mexico Association of Indian Affairs for over twenty years. The name ‘El Zaguan’ originated during the time Dietrich ran the complex as a hotel. She valued the Territorial style of the house and restored it in that style, rather than the Spanish Pueblo Revival Style that was popular at the time. After her death the property was owned by El Zaguan, Inc., a corporation led by famous New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem,21 until 1979 when it passed fully to the Historic Santa Fe Foundation22. It is now the home of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation, where its history and preservation live on while also serving as the house to multiple artists and writers and creating a gallery space for local artists to display their work.

Johnson was a fairly small figure in New Mexico history, but his house represents larger ideas–namely, the connections between New Mexico and the United States fostered by the Santa Fe Trail.

Visit

El Zaguan is located at 545 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is open Monday through Friday 9 AM to 5 PM. For more information about visits or what is on display in the gallery contact info@historicsantafe.org ***

Bibliography

  1. National Park Service, 10. ↩

  2. Sze 1996, 38. ↩

  3. Sze 1996, 38. ↩

  4. Historic Santa Fe Foundation 1991, 122-123. ↩

  5. Sze 1996, 17. ↩

  6. Sze 1998, 1. ↩

  7. Keleher, 128. ↩

  8. Sze 1998, 2. ↩

  9. Sze 1996, 11. ↩

  10. Sze 1996, 6. ↩

  11. Sze 1996, 5. ↩

  12. Sze 1996, 13-14. ↩

  13. Historic Santa Fe Foundation 1991, 122-123. ↩

  14. The New Mexican, 9 April 1864. ↩

  15. Sze 1996, 19. ↩

  16. Sze 1996, 21. ↩

  17. Sze 1996, 23-24. ↩

  18. Sze 1996, 23-24. ↩

  19. National Park Service, 20-21. ↩

  20. Sze 1996, 24. ↩

  21. Cline. ↩

  22. Sze 1996, 9-10. ↩

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