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for John Gaw Meem
1894 - 1983
Meem was the son of an American Episcopalian missionary. He studied at the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, from which he received a B. S. degree in civil engineering in 1914. He then worked on construction of the New York subway system, until being drafted in 1917. After completing his World War I service, Meem began a career in banking. Because of his linguistic skills, the National City Bank of New York posted him to Rio de Janeiro, but a after a few month a case of tuberculosis forced his return to America, specifically to New Mexico. He developed his interest in Southwestern architecture during his convalescence. When he was sufficiently recovered, he joined the Denver, Colorado, architectural firm of Fisher and Fisher, and began evening classes at the Atelier Denver, an affiliate of New York's Beaux Arts Institute of Design.
In l924 he founded the firm of Meem and McCormick in Santa Fe, later Meem, Zehner, Holien and Associates. The firm specialized in designs based on the indigenous Pueblo, Spanish and Anglo-American styles of the area, and in the l920s was especially active in restoring many of the Spanish missions in New Mexico.
In l930 Meem won the competition to build the Laboratory of Anthropology at Santa Fe funded by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
In 1933 he became the architect of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and designed over forty buildings for that campus including the Zimmerman Library, Administration and Laboratory Building, dormitories, heating plant, health laboratory and student union. In the same year he was appointed by the American Institute of Architects to a national commission to plan and direct the civil works program set up by the Roosevelt Administration to provide employment for American architects. His Colorado Springs (Colorado) Fine Arts Center, built in 1934, was awarded the silver medal of the Fifth Pan-American Congress of Architects in l940. Following his retirement in 1959, Meem also served as consulting architect for the Santa Fe campus of St. John's College, which opened in l964.
Other works by Meem include the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colorado; LaFonda Hotel, City Hall, Courthouse, First Presbyterian Church, Cristo Rey Church, Museum of International Folk Art, and St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe; Sandia School, Albuquerque Little Theatre, and LaTrinchera Ranch in Albuquerque.
In l924 he founded the firm of Meem and McCormick in Santa Fe, later Meem, Zehner, Holien and Associates. The firm specialized in designs based on the indigenous Pueblo, Spanish and Anglo-American styles of the area, and in the l920s was especially active in restoring many of the Spanish missions in New Mexico.
In l930 Meem won the competition to build the Laboratory of Anthropology at Santa Fe funded by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
In 1933 he became the architect of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and designed over forty buildings for that campus including the Zimmerman Library, Administration and Laboratory Building, dormitories, heating plant, health laboratory and student union. In the same year he was appointed by the American Institute of Architects to a national commission to plan and direct the civil works program set up by the Roosevelt Administration to provide employment for American architects. His Colorado Springs (Colorado) Fine Arts Center, built in 1934, was awarded the silver medal of the Fifth Pan-American Congress of Architects in l940. Following his retirement in 1959, Meem also served as consulting architect for the Santa Fe campus of St. John's College, which opened in l964.
Other works by Meem include the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colorado; LaFonda Hotel, City Hall, Courthouse, First Presbyterian Church, Cristo Rey Church, Museum of International Folk Art, and St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe; Sandia School, Albuquerque Little Theatre, and LaTrinchera Ranch in Albuquerque.
