SF’s 1882 church added to register

The Church of the Holy Faith, 311 E. Palace Ave., which was built in 1882, has been added to the Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation by the board of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation.

The oldest Episcopal Church in New Mexico, it often in its early years had lay readers conducting services for lack of a priest and hosted Anglo soldiers garrisoned in Santa Fe. It was made in the “folk gothic” style of English churches from the 13th century and was one of the first dressed-stone buildings in Santa Fe, using stone quarried outside the village of Galisteo. Built on land purchased for $250 and funded by donations from prominent Jewish merchants, the church includes a Star of David in the crescent-shaped stained-glass window over its entrance.

Noted architect John Gaw Meem designed the parish house in 1925 and led major renovations to the church in 1953.