Tjalke Charles Gaastra (1879 – 1947) was an American architect who worked in the American southwest in the first half of the twentieth century. He won the International Exhibit of Architecture in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

for the Gildersleeve house in Santa Fe, New Mexico which he designed for

New Mexico Supreme Court The New Mexico Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is established and its powers defined by Article VI of the New Mexico Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court which reviews civil and criminal decisio ...

justice, David Chavez. Gaastra was a major player in the Spanish Pueblo Revival architectural style in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gaastra's best-known buildings include the 710 Gildersleeve property, the Cassell building, the Bishop's Lodge, Gormley Elementary School, and the

Gustave Baumann House The Gustave Baumann House, at 409 Camino de Las Animas in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was built in 1923. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 as the Jane and Gustave Baumann House and Studio. The listing included two contr ...

in Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Wool Warehouse, Monte Vista Elementary School, the

Carlisle Gymnasium Carlisle Gymnasium is an indoor arena on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was the home of the New Mexico Lobos basketball team from its opening in 1928 until the completion of the larger Johnson Gymnasium ...

, the

Hendren Building The Hendren Building is a historic commercial building in the Nob Hill neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Built in 1946, it is one of the city's most notable examples of Streamline Moderne architecture, and representative of the boom in auto ...

, and the old Bernalillo County Courthouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and the Theatre Building built for Jack Brandenburg in

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Ch ...

. Several of Gaastra's buildings are listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Early-to-mid-life

Tjalke Charles Gaastra was born in 1879, and immigrated to the mid-western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

with his family. Between the ages of 14 and 21, Gaastra worked as a hod carrier, bricklayer and logger. From 1901 to 1910, he was listed as an architect in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

. In 1911, Gaastra received his architecture license from the state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, and worked in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

for seven years designing schools. He married in 1917 and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1918. Gaastra was architect on the Gildersleeve home built for David Chavez in 1928, property originally owned by painter/photographer,

Carlos Vierra Carlos Vierra (October 3, 1876 – 1937) was an American painter, illustrator and photographer of Portuguese descent. Early life Carlos Vierra was born and raised in Moss Landing, California near Monterey by his father, Portuguese sailor, C ...

Move to Albuquerque

In 1923, T. Charles Gaastra, who had come to Santa Fe in 1918 and designed buildings using the emergent Santa Fe style, had moved his practice to the larger, more promising Albuquerque which left architects

John Gaw Meem John Gaw Meem IV (November 17, 1894 – August 4, 1983) was an American architect based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is best known for his instrumental role in the development and popularization of the Pueblo Revival Style and as a proponent of ar ...

and Cassius McCormick in demand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaastra, T. Charles 1879 births 1947 deaths Dutch emigrants to the United States Architects from New Mexico 20th-century American architects