Palace of the Governors: then and now

1934 vs Today · Santa Fe, NM

NowThen

Then, 1934A 1934 survey photo of the long adobe front and its porch of striped wooden posts, with a lone car down the street.Photo: M. James Slack, Historic American Buildings Survey · Public domain · Source · resized, cropped

Today, TodayThe long adobe porch along the Plaza.Photo: Dicklyon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source · resized

The story

Pedro de Peralta, the new governor, began building the Palace of the Governors in 1610. Some recent research suggests construction started in 1618. It was the seat of government for the Spanish colony of Nuevo México, and later for Mexico and then the New Mexico Territory.

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 hit Santa Fe, and the Spanish came back in 1693 and 1694. New Mexico stayed governed from the Palace until 1901, and it was the territory's first capitol.

Governor Lew Wallace finished writing his novel Ben-Hur here in the late 1870s. The Palace has been a museum since 1909, and it became a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

Did you know? A governor wrote a famous novel here.

Historians argue about this. The Palace is often called the oldest public building in the US. Wikipedia's Plaza article uses that title, and the Palace article says some research puts the start of construction later than 1610.

Fact or tall tale?

SolidLew Wallace finished Ben-Hur in the Palace of the Governors.
Wikipedia: he wrote the final parts while territorial governor.
Not trueThe Palace was built in the 1900s.
Construction began in 1610, or possibly 1618.

Sources

More: Look for historic photos at the Library of Congress

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Next: Santa Fe Plaza. Written from the cited sources, not yet walked on site unless noted.