Strolling, strolling, strolling ...: Jane's Walks explore history, architecture of older Albuquerque neighborhoods

Apr. 28—In today's fuel-injected world, it's not uncommon for people to motor along city streets fixated on their windshields, slowing down only for stop signs, traffic lights and gas stations.

Fact is, most city neighborhoods are designed today to accommodate just that.

But there was a time before automobiles accelerated our lives when neighborhoods were made for walking, when sidewalks were more valued than paved and striped streets, and corner stores more prized than multi-level malls.

Elements of that era are evident in Albuquerque's Fourth Ward Historic District, which was developed primarily between the 1880s and the 1930s.

Bordered roughly by Lomas on the north, Central on the south, Keleher and Eighth on the east and an alley between 14th and 15th streets on the west, the district is mostly residential and boasts houses of varied styles and sizes.

"The neighborhood is somewhat of a grid," Danny Korman said. "On 11th Street, all the houses have setbacks (from sidewalks) and mature trees. It was called Judges Row because some lawyers and judges lived there in the early 20th century. John Simms lived there."

John F. Simms Sr., who was briefly chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, lived in a Classical Revival brick home at 415 11th NW, as did his sons, John F. Simms Jr., who would become a lawyer and 16th governor of New Mexico, and Albert G. Simms II, who went on to a distinguished career as an Albuquerque surgeon.

Korman, 56, a fairly new Albuquerque resident, lives in the Fourth Ward now.

He is one of the organizers of Albuquerque's 2024 edition of Jane's Walks — free, volunteer-led neighborhood walks held in cities throughout this country and around the world the first weekend in May. The purpose is to introduce participants to the architecture, culture, social history and current developments in a certain section of a city.

"The real value in Jane's Walks is getting people together and having conversations about neighborhoods they are curious about but don't know much about," Korman said.

Stretching out

Initiated in 2007, Jane's Walks are named for urban activist Jane Jacobs (1916-2006), author of the 1961 book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities."

This is the fourth year Albuquerque has participated in the program, and organizers are marking the occasion by expanding into different parts of the city.

"We are trying to get more neighborhoods involved," said David Ryan, who is responsible for launching Jane's Walks in Albuquerque.

In previous years there have been two guided tours — the Mountain Road Arts Corridor and Troche Moche walks, both of which explored areas near 12th Street and Mountain Road NW.

The Mountain Road Arts Corridor walk went east from 12th and Mountain, and the Troche Moche (which means helter-skelter or all over the place) went north and east from that intersection to survey the Wells Park neighborhood.

This year, portions of both those walks are being rolled into one tour under the Mountain Road Arts Corridor tag, and walks are being added in the Fourth Ward, the Huning Highlands neighborhood and the Raynolds Addition.

Stops on the Mountain Road Arts Corridor walk include the Harwood Art Center on Seventh Street, which was built as a Methodist girls boarding school in the 1920s, and the home of Albuquerque author Erna Fergusson (1888-1964) on Orchard Place, east of 11th Street.

Huning Highlands is bounded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Coal Avenue, Broadway Boulevard and Elm Street. That walk will include stops at the Special Collections Public Library and the old Albuquerque High School building.

Raynolds Addition spans Eighth to 17th streets south of Central and includes bungalows, Southwestern-style houses and some of Albuquerque's first apartment buildings. Conservationist Aldo Leopold, author of "A Sand County Almanac," lived in this neighborhood, as did John Milne, superintendent of Albuquerque public schools from 1911-1956.

The Mountain Road Arts Corridor and Fourth Ward walks each have two sessions, 8:30 and 10:30 a.m., on Saturday, and the Huning Highlands and Raynolds Addition walks also have two sessions each, 8:30 and 10:30 a.m., on Sunday.

Each of the walks is about two miles long and take an hour to 90 minutes to complete.

Ryan, leader of the Mountain Road Arts Corridor walks, said it is conceivable that a person could make all four walks over the two days.

Ryan, 76, lives along Mountain Road. A proponent of hiking and exploring, books he has written include "The Gentle Art of Wandering" and the recently published "Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico."

He said a lot of people who take part in Albuquerque's Jane's Walks live well outside of the city's older Downtown neighborhoods.

"They come from places in the Northeast Heights, which were built for cars," he said. "Down here, the blocks are shorter, houses are built closer together and they are all decorated differently."

Sense of place

Ryan has lived in New Mexico for 25 years. Korman, who will be leading the Fourth Ward walk, moved to Albuquerque three years ago.

But like Ryan, Korman is an advocate for walking and a devotee of urban neighborhoods. The Cincinnati native earned a bachelor's degree in urban planning from the University of Cincinnati and is co-author of "Walking Cincinnati," published in 2014. From 2007 to 2017, he owned Park + Vine, a green general store and café ("like a small Whole Foods," he says) in Cincinnati.

He worked with Main Street programs, which attempt to reenergize and build up older historic neighborhoods, in Kentucky and Illinois. Prior to moving to Albuquerque, he was employed with a mental health nonprofit organization in Boulder, Colorado, for several years.

"I have friends living here in Albuquerque, and it's an easy place to slip into," he said. "I ended up in a really nice neighborhood."

He lives on Fruit Street, near 12th, in the Fourth Ward.

Twelfth Street, a good walking street, is thought of as the spine of the Fourth Ward. It was used as a stand-in for Omaha, Nebraska, in the "Better Call Saul" TV series.

The Bond-Lovelace House at 201 12th NW is considered among the city's best examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture. Dr. William Randolph Lovelace II, founder of Lovelace Clinic, once lived there.

Prominent Albuquerque architect Antoine Predock, who died last month at age 87, once had his studio at 300 12th NW.

The Milton Hellmich House, 1215 Fruit Ave. NW, is an example of Spanish Pueblo Revival architecture. It was built in 1920 at a cost of $9,000, a high price in a neighborhood where most residences were being constructed for $3,500 to $6,000 at the time. Pop culture aficionados will be intrigued to know that cartoonist Fred Harman, who drew "Red Ryder," the popular Western comic strip, and his wife, Lola, lived in the house in the late 1960s and early '70s.

What might be the first and is definitely one of the earliest houses in the Fourth Ward is the Keleher House, 803 Tijeras NW, which was built between 1880 and 1882 for merchant Thomas Keleher Sr. The house is a mix of Territorial and Queen Anne styles.

Korman is captivated by the history, the architecture and the spirit of the Fourth Ward.

"You would have judges and merchants living alongside office workers, mansion-like houses alongside bungalows," he said. "The neighborhood is recognized for its architecture at the local, state and national level, and it's well-preserved. And there's a continuity to it. Once you are in the neighborhood, you get this strong sense of place."