Marc Valdez Weblog: Albuquerque's First National Bank Building/ Banque Lofts/ SMPC Architects

On my Albuquerque visit, I was to attend the 41st annual Southwest Popular/American Cultural Association Meeting at the Hyatt Regency. Two blacks away, an old college friend, Karl Schindwolf, labored away at SMPC Architects, which was once located in Nob Hill, but now occupies the entire top floor of the old First National Bank Building, once known as the Sunrise Building, and now known as the Banque Lofts.

I've always wanted to visit this key building in Albuquerque. For example, in the 1940 movie "The Grapes of Wrath", you can see the building as part of the cityscape mislabeled Oklahoma City. The building is a part of Albuquerque history. So Karl gave me a tour.

View of downtown Albuquerque, looking southwest from the top, 11th floor.

SMPC architects.

View looking north-northwest, at a strange structure on the parking garage next door. This structure, sporting a hole, was featured at the start of the movie "Off The Map."

When the ceiling coffers were originally made, the builders moved the ceiling-coffer molds upwards, from floor to floor. When they reached the ceiling of the top floor, the builders left the molds in place.

View west, down Central Avenue, in downtown Albuquerque.

View northeast towards Hotel Andaluz (formerly the Hilton Hotel).

Looking down on loft balconies.

Today, hundreds of architectural drawings are made to guide contractors when they build new buildings, but in 1922, when this building was erected, maybe only about 14 drawings were required (which of course puts a lot of responsibility on the contractor). SMPC architects found the original architectural drawings when they moved in, so they prepped them for display.