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(Photograph by Regina N. Emmer) -
(Photograph by Regina N. Emmer)
The Durand Motor Company documents how the automobile shaped Fourth Street’s development as one of Albuquerque’s main thoroughfares from the 1930s to the 1950s. Like the contemporary Jones Motor Company, built in 1939 on Route 66 at the eastern end of Albuquerque, the Durand Motor Company responded to the mechanized needs of motorists with a combined automobile dealership and service station. Erected the following year on Route 85 in the heart of Barelas, the station and dealership announced itself to passing traffic with a projecting curved central bay topped by a scalloped cornice and an octagonal tower. The architect employed by the builder, Ambrosio Saavedra, has not been identified, though it is possible that both were actually looking at the Jones Motor Company, with its Streamlined Moderne architecture and distinctive stepped tower. In the 1950s, the Durand Motor Company also operated as a farm equipment and tractor dealer. The building is currently vacant, but has been preserved as part of the Barelas-South Fourth Street Historic District.
References
Wilson, Chris, “Auto-Oriented Commercial Development in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1916-1956,” Bernalillo County, New Mexico. National Register of Historic Places Inventory–Nomination Form, 1996. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
Wilson, Chris, “Barelas-South Fourth Street Historic District,” Bernalillo County, New Mexico. National Register of Historic Places Inventory–Nomination Form, 1996. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.