Property: 820 Camino Atalaya.
Realtor: Deborah Bodelson and Cary Spier of Santa Fe Properties.
Theme: Old Mex New Mex, a blend of regional and Old Mexico designs.
Participating Designers: 30
artists-in-residence: Carol Anthony, Karen Earle Browne, Cindy Peck and Abigail Ryan.
Attendance: 3,200.
History of the Property: This historic eastside home served as the estate of the famous White Sisters (Martha Root White and Amelia Elizabeth White) in the 1920’s and 1930’s, daughters of a wealthy New York newspaperman. This estate was located in the heart of the Santa Fe artists’ and writers’ colonies during the first half of the last century. The sisters worked as Army nurses during World War I in Europe, then came to Santa Fe. Here at Camino Atalaya, they built the sprawling estate known as “El Delirio” (”The Madness”), where they entertained an immense circle of distinguished friends and gained renown among dog fanciers for having raised generations of wolfhounds and Afghan hounds.
Later on, it served as the home and studio of renowned artist Raymond Jonson, a trailblazing member of The Transcendental Painting Group (1938-1942), which he co-founded along with Taos painter Emil Bistram. Other noteworthy residents included German woodcut artist Gustave Baumann and poet Witter Bynner. The area includes the Amelia E. White Park, which has a romantic arbor and many rose bushes, deeded by Amelia White to the city in 1966.
Its most recent owners, Barbara and John Clum, purchased the house in 1976. At that time, it was a three-bedroom residence with a small guest house. Over the years, the Clums remodeled and enlarged the dwelling three times to accommodate their large family and many activities, using local rock and flagstone for various projects as well as downed local aspen trees for latillas. One large central room, called the Atrium, had a pond, two waterfalls and scores of plants filling its floor.
The most recent remodel included the construction of a new bedroom as well as adding a space that would function as a discrete three-bedroom guest house. Full of creative and unusual rooms and nooks as well as the usual living spaces, the house now covers some 8,000 square feet.
