“Lincoln is a town frozen in time and once called “the most dangerous street in America”. Lincoln State Monument, a National Historic Landmark, preserves eleven historic adobe and stone buildings as they were during one of the most violent periods in New Mexico history. Visitors walk in the footsteps of Sheriff Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, and other infamous characters involved in the Lincoln County War, 1878-1881.”

In 2003, our firm was hired to perform historic preservation work on five of the eleven, 100 or more year old, historic adobe and stone buildings at Lincoln State Monument & Museum:

1. Lincoln County Courthouse
2. Watson House
3. Fresquez House
4. Tunstall Store
5. San Juan Church

Our work was closely coordinated with the staff of the New Mexico Cultural Affairs Division, the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office and the Lincoln State Monument. The budget was $500,000.

The scope of work included the following preservation efforts:

1. At the Courthouse, which has also been used over its history as a jail, Masonic Lodge, residence and store, our work was to restore and preserve the wood shingle roof and cupola.

2 and 3. At the Watson House and Fresquez House, our work was for structural stabilization of the roof and to restore and preserve the wood shingle roof.

4. At the Tunstall Store, which has a rich history as a residence, store and post office, our work was in structural underpinning and restoration of the building’s north wall, which had been slowly sinking, due to inadequate foundations. This was achieved with the use of low impact heilical pier foundation underpinning. Major cracks had recently appeared in the wall and it was in danger of collapsing. Several windows and doors were in need of complete restoration. Interior restorations were also performed on the sinking floors. The entire contents of this historic store, had to be carefully removed and catalogued, and then replaced after the interior adobe and lime plaster restoration work. In a carefully considered design recommendation, the toxic lime interior plaster was replaced with a non toxic, white, clay based plaster slip coat.

5. At the San Juan Church, we were faced with the challenge of providing ADA access to the building in a historically sensitive manner. We installed parking and a ramp to the main entrance of the Historic Church, integrated with the existing white picket fence, without altering the stone entrance steps from the street level. The steeple was listing along with the cross. These elements were rebuilt and stabilized in their original configurations.

ARCHITECT: John Barton, AIA

LOCATION: Lincoln, New Mexico

DATE OF COMPLETION: 2005

OWNER: State of New Mexico

BUILDER: ESA Construction