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(Photo of the Day: Roland Penttila)

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UNM’s Hodgin Hall Offers a Window to the Past

The historic building features architecture, furnishings and art from other eras

By Maggie Grimason

Exterior of Hodgin Hall. (Photo: Maggie Grimason)

When completed in 1892, UNM’s Hodgin Hall (neé University Hall) stood alone on the mesa near the intersection of present-day Central Avenue and University Boulevard. It was the sole building of the newly established school, surrounded by nothing but saltbush and chamisa.

It wasn’t just the cityscape that looked very different at the turn of the 19th century; Hodgin Hall did too. Now home to the UNM Alumni Relations Office and Alumni Association, the building was originally constructed in Richardson Romanesque style, a rarity in New Mexico due to its reliance on stone and brick. “There might be just half a dozen examples of Richardson Romanesque in New Mexico total,” said Steven Moffson, the State and National Register Coordinator for the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division. “It uses massive, rusticated stone. In New Mexico, we don’t have stone that is useful for that. The sandstone we have is poor quality, and granite you would have to bring in by rail, which is, of course, expensive.”

Undated photo of Hodgin Hall before the remodel. (Courtesy of Center for Southwest Research, University Libraries, University of New Mexico)