San Isidro de Los Griegos

My neighbor Candice lives in the old San Isidro Church that is not far from my house. Since I was a little girl, I'd been curious that someone actually lived in an old church. Candice and I met in an odd way – she was searching for images of the church on the internet and found the two stories I had written about Los Griegos and of our neighbor Mr. Molina and then found my Etsy page. She contacted me and invited me to see her house.

Wow. What an incredible treasure of my beloved neighborhood. How many of you have a church that is over 100 years old down the street from where you live? And how many of you are fortunate enough to be invited to learn about the history and see first hand a landmark like this? I consider myself very lucky to have befriended Candice and to be able to hear the many stories associated with the original church. The picture to the left was taken sometime around 1930. It is an unusual picture because there is a Christmas tree in front of the church. Christmas trees were not traditional in Los Griegos at the time, but Albert Simms, whose family originally owned Los Poblanos, wanted to start the tradition that he brought with him when he moved to New Mexico. I'll talk more about him later on.



A few facts about Los Griegos and the church:

•Los Griegos was settled sometime in the 1780s by a descendant of a Greek soldier who came with Oñate – hence the name, Los Griegos.
•San Isidro was one of the mission churches of the San Felipe Church in Old Town.
•A priest from San Felipe would visit San Isidro every two weeks or so to hear confessions and say mass.
•In 1888 the church expanded to its current crucifix form and the pitched roof was added.

Back in 1960 when the Knight family moved into the house, the church had been abandoned for several years, around 1946. A new church, renamed Our Lady of Guadalupe, was completed in 1955 not far from the original.

Of course the church was in disrepair. Before the family actually moved in, Candice’s parents did incredible amounts of work to make it livable. She remembers that many of the neighbors thought they were rich gringos because they were doing so much work to the house. Candice made it very clear that they were not rich and everything used to restore the church and to make it livable, was second hand. For example, the beautiful cupboard area under the sink is made from the original pews of the church. The pews were in such bad shape that they had just enough to salvage to make the cupboard. The gorgeous tin work behind the stove is from an unknown source but was not originally in the church. By the way, Candice believes that the kitchen is where the altar stood!

The bricks that were laid for the floors came from the Tonque Brick Factory north of Albuquerque. No, not just the bricks that the factory made, but the actual bricks that came from the demolished building. Candice “fondly” remembers being dragged after school with her mother, Patricia, to load up the truck brick by brick and then having to go home to get the cement off the bricks to make them usable. Her mother did most of all the physical labor in the house including putting in those incredibly beautiful floors.

She also believes that the corbels in the fireplace came from either the Alvarado or the Franciscan hotels after they were sadly demolished. There was not a fireplace in the church originally, so her mother added that in to heat the house. To say the fireplace is impressive is an understatement.The communion rail spindles from the original church were given to a neighbor that he has used as part of his porch railing.

As Candice took me from room to room, I was struck by the thickness of the walls, three feet in most places. Looking out the windows really accentuate that. The windows were donated by Albert Simms. When he moved here from the east, he said that the church needed windows and had them installed. It was originally thought that the church might have been a morada, pre-1920s, because of the small slats that were in the walls instead of windows.

Albert Simms and his brother were an integral part of the community. His brother was a lawyer and bought the farm that is now Los Poblanos. Men from Los Griegos were hired to work on their farm as well as the farm of Robert Dietz - which is now the housing development of Dietz Farms, where I grew up! In return laborers were given little houses in the area to live in as part of their payment. The Simms would ring the bell from the school house to alert the workers that a cart was coming to pick them up for work and then again in the evening when it was time to go home. Candice says she distinctly remembers hearing that bell when she was a child. She said it would ring at 8:00am every morning and the carts, and later old buses, would pick up her neighbors. She can’t remember when that ritual ended; just that she realized she eventually no longer heard the bell.

One of my favorite rooms in the church is the devotional. At one time there was a mural on all the walls. Candice and I looked at it imagining what the mural originally depicted. We imagined that maybe it depicted the path of a farmer and the river and the Sandia Mountains in the background. This particular room was added on sometime in the 30s. Albert Simms also donated the building of this room to house a statue of San Isidro, patron saint of farmers and also used it to be married in..



Candice’s mother, Patricia, was a woman of incredible talent and artistry. Her creativity didn’t end with the addition of the fireplace, brick floors and beautiful kitchen. Patricia also built furniture and painted! Shining examples of her handiwork are the two beautiful headboards that still remain in the house. Keep in mind, this woman did not have power tools! Many of her painting touches are laced throughout the house including the refrigerator.



What is so spectacular about the church/home is that it is still standing. The Knight family has given so much love and care into preserving its integrity. But time takes its toll and there are definitely the beginnings of structural damage. Patricia passed away recently – I am so sad that I never got to meet her! Candice has moved back to Burque after living in the Bay Area for several years. She is carefully cataloging everything in the house and will be having an estate sale to raise money toward sustaining the structure of the house. She is hoping, weather permitting, that she can host it at the end of February. I will keep all DCFers informed. I would encourage you to check it out, not only for the lovely items she will be selling, but to also see a piece of Los Griegos history. You won’t have access to most of the house, but you will at least get a feel for this incredible building.

One more thing. Many thanks to Candice for allowing me to hang out with her, send many emails back and forth and to hear the rich history of not only the house, but of Los Griegos. There are more tales that she told me, including ghost stories! But that will have to wait for another post at another time. Candice, welcome back to the neighborhood!

Tin work in kitchen

Second wall of mural in Devotional

Third wall of mural in Devotional

Patricia Knight