Ernest Blumenthal & the WPA: Still Showing What a Stimulus Should Look Like (Part One)

NOB HILL--And then came the stimulus money. I watched as workers quickly assembled ready-made bus stops up and down Central Ave. The mayor had said he didn't want to spend stimulus funds on anything that would increase the number of city employees. I listened as an APS supervisor told me how classroom assistants and other personnel would not be hired with this money because funding would not be there for those positions down the road; and they bought gadgets instead.

Some stimulus. We spent lots of money, but got very few jobs. We did get a dozen bus stops and some school supplies. But let's look at what happened during the Roosevelt administration and see if they had a better solution. City Hall back then was run by Mayor Clyde Tingley. By 1936, the city's Architect and Chief Building Inspector was Ernest H. Blumenthal. A quarrel with Mayor Tingley led to his separation from city employment by 1940.

Blumenthal's Beautiful Buildings
I'm sure you have seen at least one of them: the Monte Vista Fire Station. It now houses the Gruet Steak House on the main floor. His other really famous building is the Old Airport Terminal. Both of these were WPA projects built during the depression, and both were done in Pueblo Revival style. Fire Station Number Three (Monte Vista) was erected in 1936. The Airport Terminal was done is 1939. He also did several houses later, including an early all-electric house in Nob Hill.

The WPA
The Works Progress Administration was the largest employer in the United States during the depression. In terms of its workers, it was noted for three things: paying locally prevailing wages, a 30-hour work week, and an extensive training program. Contruction projects were designed to hire as many people as possible, which meant a lot of hand-crafted work. The WPA also hired artists and writers. WPA art is some of the best that America has ever done.

Monte Vista Fire Station
I decided to try to contact the Blumenthal family. One phone call later I was talking to Ernie Blumenthal, the architect's grandson. He was extremely helpful and put me in contact with his sister, Susan. She lives in Placitas, but agreed to meet me at the fire station for a tour of the building.

The building is basically done in what is called Pueblo Revival style. There are vigas protruding from the walls below the parapets. It's roof line is multi-leveled, and the parapets themselves undulate in a way that echoes of worn adobe. The carved wooden lentels above the windows and doors add to the rustic appearance. A tan stucco finish of the thick walls brings it back to its historical inspiration. Even a rustic ladder of logs leads from the roof up to the very top of the structure.

The Hose Tower
Most notable among the architectural features is this highest "room" of the building...what is actually the hose tower. In the early days of the station, the canvas fire hoses were scrubbed with soap and water on the station's driveway then hoisted by their middle up into the hose tower to dry. Blumenthal turned this necessary component of any fire station into a wonderful aesthetic part of the overall design. Today the tower contains the fire pole. This was moved there during the conversion of the building to a restaurant. It used to be in the middle of the sleeping quarters upstairs...what is now the bar area. But I guess having an upstairs bar with a big hole in the floor containing a brass pole for a fast exit was just a little too much to even contemplate.

Those Fire Doors
These doors, which used to open big enough to let out fire trucks, just might be the most magnificent doors in Albuquerque. They were so heavy that an electric motor and a system of giant gear wheels were used to open them. You can still see them today above the doors on the inside of the building. And they still work!

The wood panels in the lower half of the doors have been replaced with glass, but this does not detract at all from them. You can almost still hear the fire bell ringing, the gears grinding, and those big doors swinging open. What a sight that must have been!

Windows and Lentels
The lentels are exposed and very pronounced in the fire station. Some of them have a carved out rounded underside--as if rounded windows had once been there. Also, on some of the windows there seemed to be extra stuccoed space between the current windows and the lentels. This led me to wonder if there had been a change of window sizes during the remodeling from a fire station to a restaurant. I wondered if there was a photograph of the original building so I could show you a comparison between then and now. In fact, I thought it might really change the overall appearance of the building.

The ABQ Museum's $20 Hold Up
So I called the ABQ Museum's photoarchive department. Yes, they DID have an early photo of the fire station. Did I want an appointment to come in and take a look at it? And oh, by the way, it will cost you $20 to publish it in the Duke City Fix.

$20?
At least it's not the $200 we could have charged you.

So don't be looking for any photo here about its original appearance. I think I remember even seeing construction photos of the fire station at one time. But $20 per photo seemed to be a little steep for something we must own anyway. If you have any questions, you could always give them a call at 243-7255.

The New Stimulus
The fire station used as many local materials as possible. The timbers were from nearby forests. The flagstone is from New Mexico. The doors and other woodwork were milled and assembled on site. The walls were adobe blocks between concrete post and beam construction.

The WPA concentrated on helping train and employ as many people as possible while creating something good for the community that lasts until the present day...70 years later. They did this using the 30-hour work week, thereby spreading out the work (and money). Have we done anything now that resembles this kind of thinking? Not so far.

But there is still time. We should start planning now for projects that train and employ as many as possible. We should plan on using local materials and products. We wouldn't have to start in a big way. How about making our own bus stop benches and shelters? How about some locally made markers detailing our history? How about stone embankments and retaining walls on our paths rather than chainlink rock boxes. How about hiring people even if the jobs won't last forever? Isn't that better than buying things ready-made from somewhere else?

Blumenthal and Algonite
Besides his buildings, one of Ernest Blumenthal's involvements was with the substance called Algonite. According to his granddaughter, Blumenthal made a bench out of the stuff that is still in pretty good shape today. This pourable formulation of cement, granite, marble, and lead ore was also what the Madonna of the Trail sculptures were made of. Funded by the D.A.R., there are 12 of them throughout the U.S., including one here in Albuquerque. Being poured into a mold, all 12 are identical except for the inscriptions on the base. Interestingly, a time capsule was buried somewhere within the statue here. During our tri-centennial it was supposed to be opened but was never found. After drilling about a dozen holes in the statue the city gave up. Maybe the lead ore in the formulation made even metal detectors unusable.

Next Time...the Old Airport Terminal
Blumenthal's Airport Terminal building is the most spectacular of all his work. if you have never seen it, you are in for a treat. That's next time.