Imagine a pastoral and pristine landscape on the Chama River.
Imagine living along the historic Old Spanish Trail, a pathway for travelers and commercial traders since 1829.
Imagine the flowing curves of a Spanish Colonial adobe hacienda steeped in the lore and cultural history of Georgia O'Keeffe country.
Yet, no imagination is necessary for El Sueño del Corazon because it’s real and has offered gracious living since the early 1800s outside the former territorial outpost of Abiquiu.
Meaning “The Dream of the Heart,” this nearly 15,000-square-foot homage to Spanish colonial architecture has evolved through generations in this light-infused land, a place resonating with the spirit of the ancient ones, early Spanish settlers and all kinds of adventurers, and immortalized by the legendary and iconic masterworks of O’Keeffe.
Carved out of the centuries-old Plaza Colorado land grant, settlement in this area began 800 years ago. Artifacts indicate human visitation from 5,000 BCE. Irrigation ditches dug a thousand years ago led to the acequia (ditch) system used in the Chama Valley since the 1700s by the Spanish colonists and their modern-day descendants.
According to the historian and author Lesley Poling, the original Spanish land grant created in 1739 did not go to a man and his extended family, but to a single Spanish mother – Rosalia Baldes (later Valdes) – and her two brothers.
The original dwellings were three small adobe and wood houses built close together for protection. The first well was dug in 1740. Through the 1800s, the site of the current hacienda passed through several families and architectural iterations until it was sold to a descendent of Rosalia Valdes in 1892. By 1940, the hacienda had fallen into disrepair and was abandoned. Anglos from Dallas, captivated by the landscape, bought the property in 1940. The first of several restorations and improvements began in 1944.
In 1993, after multiple inhabitants over nearly three centuries, the current owners dreamed of restoring and caring for the land and hacienda in a way that honored and celebrated family’s past, present and future.
Working with a Santa Fe design/build firm, they began a meticulous renovation to restore the hacienda to its original Spanish Colonial grandeur and into the 21st century.
Today, the “grand hacienda” pays homage to its architectural legacy in design and function.
It blends elements of the Territorial and Pueblo Revival styles with Spanish colonial detailing.
Beamed ceilings accented with peeled wood latillas, tumbled brick, wood plank and Saltillo-tiled floors meet lustrous hard plaster walls. Bancos, recessed cupboards and a shepherd’s bench reflect the hacienda’s history and its culturally rich pedigree. There’s even a grand library hall, three strategically separated private offices and a four-car garage.
