Mimbres House

Mimbres House 365 Big Horn Ridge Rd. Sandia Heights

Mimbres House

Mimbres House

365 Big Horn Ridge Road Sandia Heights, New Mexico Background of Mimbres House In 1983, Dr. William and Madge Johns collaborated with adobe master builder Nick Garcia to create a home based on the Pueblo style with Santa Fe influence.

The innovative architecture placed two Kiva shaped rooms, the entryway and a great room as the main focus of the innovative design. In between is a dining room, in the tradition of the Pueblo style. Dr. Johns had an OBGYN practice and delivered many babies in this area including Al Unser, Jr. Mrs. Madge Johns had an interest in New Mexico Indian culture. On a trip to Mogollon Indian country in Southwest New Mexico, Mrs. Johns found and sketched a number of petroglyphs of Mimbres / Mogollon origin.

Later, Mrs. Johns commissioned an artist who translated them into petroglyph images on ceramic tile. The first tile seen is on your left as you walk up the steps to the front door. It is a petroglyph of a mud swallow showing the swallow petroglyph with three decreasing length lines over its head. The lines represent the mud gathered and used to make a swallow nest.

Mrs. Johns utilized the swallow petroglyph in the large country kitchen and had a cabinet maker carve this theme in many of the kitchen cabinet doors.

Most of the rooms in Mimbres House have been at least ‘touched’ by a remodel that we commissioned in 2005 from Jade Enterprises. One of the only 2 rooms that were left intact during the 2005 remodel is the guest bathroom on the NW quadrant of the house. This bathroom has many petroglyph tiles that capture Mrs. Johns sketches from her exploration of Mimbres culture.

One item of note in the dining room is the custom designed stained glass and wood chandelier. It was commissioned by the Dr. and Mrs. Johns from North Valley Artist Arthur Tatkoski. The Late Mr. Tatkoski is renown in Albuquerque for the stained glass creations found in many Albuquerque churches.

The sun room in Mimbres House started as a large Spa room. The hot tub was removed in 2005, the sunken space expanded, and an ‘Endless Pool’ was installed for purposes of water exercise and swimming. An innovative concept, the heated, compact pool features a smooth current ( adjustable strength) that one swims or exercises against.

Mimbres Culture The Mimbres people ( A.D. 1000-1130 ) lived in the Mimbres Valley of So. central New Mexico, the upper Gila river, upper San Francisco river, and the Rio Grande Valley and it western tributaries. Mimbres pottery is particularly famous and classic Mimbres pottery designs were used on Santa Fe Railroad dinnerware during the early 20th century.

Villages within the Mimbres culture were distinctive. Houses were consistently quadrilateral and usually had sharply angled corners. Large Circular, ceremonial Kiva structures are featured in the designs.

A classic Mimbres Pueblo can be quite large, with some composed of clusters of compounds or room blocks, each containing up to 150 rooms, and grouped around an open plaza.

At the headwaters of the Gila River, Mimbres populations adjoined a more northern branch of the Mogollon culture. The largest classic Mimbres sites are located near wide areas of well-watered flood plain suitable for maize agriculture, although smaller villages exist in upland areas.

The area originally settled by the Mimbres culture was eventually filled by the unrelated Apache people, who moved in from the north. The modern Pueblo people in the Southwest claim partial descent from the Mimbres. Archaeologists currently believe that the Western Pueblo villages of the Hopi and Zuni are very likely related to Mimbres peoples.

Mimbres House Chandelier Dr. William Johns commissioned stained glass artist Arthur Tatkoski in 1983 to make a chandelier for Mimbres House.

Mrs. Madge Johns selected the glass color for the ‘crowns’ around each light element . If you closely examine these ‘crowns’ or glass, you will see that they are silver soldered.

Mr. Tatkoski, a native of Pennsylvania, studied Industrial Design and Fine Arts at the Carnegie Mellon Institute.

Arthur Tatkoski ( 1934 - 2009 ) above, arranging a composition in glass for a church window.

Arthur Tatkoski mastered the media of stained glass, sculpture, wood carving, and tile mosaic. Perhaps best known for his stained glass compositions, he has work in over 100 churches in the USA. His chandelier work can be seen at the First Congregational Church in Albuquerque where he created and installed 16 chandeliers. ____________ ___ _______________ Below, the Tatkoski Studio invoice prepared for Dr. Johns..

Above, Mr. Tatkoski installs the chandelier in the Big Horn Ridge house dining room.

Endless Pool Overview ( http://www.myendlesspool.com)

Water treatment • Operate water filtration 3 h/ day ( 1.5 hrs every 12 hours). Automated.

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Water purification - use: - Nature 2 Copper/Silver Purification cartridges - Add small amount of chlorine (sodium hypochlorite ( Clorox ) ) . The use of “Nature 2” Cartidges enables lower chlorine level of ~1ppm

Maintenance • Daily - After swimming add 4 oz sodium hypochlorite ( common Clorox ) • Weekly - once a week adjust PH ( lower) to keep in proper range.

• Monthly - top up with water for evaporative, splash, and cover removals losses • Every Six months - replace the water and rebalance chemical content of water ( alkalinity, hardness, PH, Nature cartridges, chlorine ). Sandia Heights water is well balanced for pool out of the outside hose bib. Alkalinity and hardness just require tweaking. ( 3000 gallon capacity ) • Special maintenance situations: • Five year maintenance: ( every five years of operation continuous ) - Replace hydraulic fluid ( vegetable oil) - Hydro drive impeller propeller parts ( those exposed to water ) 365 -BHR pool had its five year maintenance in April 2010.

• Maintenance during absence ( normal water filtration on automatic ) - 1 - 4 wks. Liquid additive ( Chlorox - 3oz/day gone ) - 1 - 3 months. Chlorine tablets in Float dispense - Greater than 3 months. Drain pool. Drain lines.

Operating Costs - Utility & chemical Cost estimates : ~ A dollar a day on average for the year Winter Operation - pool has a sensor that maintains water temperature well above freezing danger point via turning on heating element & filtration pump as needed.

Solar Energy Features of Mimbres House • Passive Solar Gains - Adobe and woodframe wall construction - South facing sun room heating solar mass - Heat transfer fans (3) from sun room to central house • Active Solar Gains - Solar panels on roof heat water that is stored in a reservoir in the garage/storage room area ( 120-160 deg F in summer , spring, fall *; 100-130 deg F in winter *when sun present ) - Heat exchanger coils allow heating of input side water to the natural gas hot water heater in the garage resulting in a savings in natural gas usage year around.

- Radiant heating ‘return’ side water is circulated through the heat exchanger coils in the solar reservoir before entering the radiant natural gas Weil McLain Boiler in the garage, resulting in a savings in natural gas usage during periods when the radiant system is demanding heat. ( late fall, winter, early spring )