Albuquerque Old Town

The Original 1706 Spanish Colonial Villa Of Albuquerque, Laid Out Around A Plaza With San Felipe De Neri Church On Its North Side; A City Historic District Of About Ten Blocks · Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque was founded in 1706 as a Spanish colonial villa laid out around this plaza, to the standard colonial plan: a square with a church on one side and defensible house blocks around the rest. San Felipe de Neri on the north side dates in its present form to 1793 and has held services continuously ever since, which makes it one of the oldest working buildings in the city. When the railroad arrived in 1880 it was laid two miles east, and the commercial centre of Albuquerque simply got up and moved there, which is the reason the old plaza survived: it was left behind rather than redeveloped. Today it is about ten blocks of low adobe and territorial-style buildings holding shops, galleries and restaurants around a shaded square with a bandstand. It is touristy in the way every surviving colonial plaza is touristy, and it is also genuinely old. Three of the city's best museums stand within a five-minute walk of the plaza, which is the part most visitors never find out.

303 Romero Street NW, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87104, United States

The plaza and the streets around it are public space, open at all hours and free. The shops and galleries around the square generally open late morning and close in the late afternoon or early evening, with longer hours in summer and on weekends. San Felipe de Neri is a working parish church with daily Mass and closes to sightseers during services. The museums nearby keep their own hours and several close on Mondays.

Albuquerque Old Town on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos