page_title: Simms Building
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Simms Building / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: landofsunshineha01newm (find matches) Title: The land of sunshine; a handbook of the resources, products, industries and climate of New Mexico Year: 1904 (1900s) Authors: New Mexico. Bureau of Immigration Frost, Max., 1873- , comp Walter, Paul A. F New Mexico. Board of managers for the Louisiana purchase exposition, 1904 Subjects: Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904&#160;: Saint Louis, Mo.) Publisher: Sante Fe, N.M., New Mexican printing company Contributing Library: The Library of Congress Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: a vast grape producing section. Thegrape-shipping season extends from about the 20th of Aug-ust till the last of September. This short season is due to thecommercial grapes being all midseason varieties. Early andlate ripening varieties need to be added to the large vineyardsin order to extend the shipping period. There were 1,180 acresin bearing vines in 1900 and 9,000 acres of young vines. Small fruit does well and jdelds big profits, especially cur-rants, raspberries and gooseberries, which obtain a size andllavor that are excelled nowhere, nearly all varieties flourishand yield good crops year in and j^ear out. Orchard Crops. There were 719,057 bearing fruit trees in 1900, which pro-duced 263,870 bushels of fruit. The value of all orchard pro-ducts in 1899 was estimated at §197,335. There is a noticeableincrease in the amount of dried and evaporated fruits, whichindicates that culls and marketable products are being moregenerally utilized. In the near future New Mexico will prob- Text Appearing After Image: THE LAND OF SUNSHINE. &lt;5 ably be able to supply its own markets with jams, jellies,marmalades, etc., manufactured from such fruits as generallygo to waste, thus effecting a great saving. Where Agriculture Can be Pursued Successfully. There are many thousands of acres in New Mexico, asidefrom those already in use, which can be utilized for horticul-tural purposes. The portions of the Territory which aresuited to horticulture are the river bottoms or valleys and thesmaller valleys along the mountain streams. There are alsolarge areas, commonly known as the mesas or uplands, whichhave the finest soil, and which would produce good crops.The largest horticultural districts are the Rio Grande Valley,extending from Embudo to the Texas line, taking in portionsof the counties of Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, Sandoval, Bernalillo,Valencia, Socorro, Sierra and Dona Ana; the Pecos Valley,mostly in the counties of Chaves and Eddy, the Animas andthe San Juan Valleys in San Juan county and the MimbresVal Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Simms Building is historic high-rise office building in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. Designed by Flatow and Moore and completed in 1954, it was the city's first large-scale modernist building and is regarded as "Albuquerque’s best example of the International Style". The building was added to the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties in 1997 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, only 44 years after it was completed.
  At 180 feet in height, the 13-story building was the tallest in New Mexico until the Bank of New Mexico Building was completed across the street in 1961. Its design was inspired by the latest trends in modern architecture, especially the Lever House in New York City, with glass curtain walls and a combination of vertical and horizontal volumes. Sandstone blocks from the previous building on the site, the Commercial Club, were included in the exterior walls. The Simms Building also included an innovative radiant heating and cooling system with limited solar heating capabilities. The building received attention nationally as well as locally and helped catalyze the modern architecture movement in New Mexico.
context_section_description: The Simms Building was commissioned in 1952 by banker and former Congressman Albert G. Simms, who had owned the old Commercial Club building on the site since 1932. To design the building, he hired Max Flatow and Jason Moore, whose recently established firm Flatow and Moore would become one of the largest in New Mexico. In fact, the Simms Building was their first major project as partners. Simms initially planned to build a four- or five-story building, but when the architects showed him a more ambitious 12-story proposal he decided to go ahead with the project even though he felt it was a "crazy idea".
  Flatow and Moore designed a bold International style tower, reflecting the latest trends in modern architecture; the style had only recently been adapted to highrise buildings like the Lake Shore Drive Apartments (1951) and United Nations Building (1952). Their design drew particular inspiration from the Lever House in New York City, especially the glass curtain walls and the way the tower seemed to float above its horizontal base. While embracing a futuristic design, the architects also chose to keep a link to the past by reusing sandstone blocks from the Commercial Club in some of the ground-floor exterior walls. The Simms Building was intended to be a symbol of progress and modernity for the growing city of Albuquerque.
  Construction on the building started in September 1952 and was finished just over two years later in November 1954. The original construction cost was about $2 million. The new building was the tallest in New Mexico, surpassing the First National Bank Building, and boasted novel features like the first use of Thermopane insulating glass in the southwest and an innovative radiant panel heating and cooling system. The Simms Building attracted notice both locally and nationally—it was featured in its own issue of Albuquerque Progress, a monthly journal published by Albuquerque National Bank, and it was written up in the national publications Progressive Architecture in 1955 (with photos by Julius Shulman) and Architectural Forum in 1957. According to the Progressive Architecture piece,
  It is a strange fact that in the smaller cities generally, distinguished commercial architecture seldom appears. An outstanding exception is the Simms Building, in Albuquerque... Indeed, few office buildings that we have seen are more rational, sensibly schemed structurally and mechanically, or more colorful.
  The building was sold to Sandia Savings and Loan Association in 1973 for $1.75 million and was renamed Sandia Savings Building, though the Simms name persisted in local usage. Sandia Savings made a number of changes to the building, enclosing the open-air promenade on the 13th floor for more office space, expanding the ground-level retail area, and adding a multilevel parking garage. The projects added about 19,000 square feet (1,800 m²) of space and cost $1.6 million. In 1993 it was given minor renovations and the official name was changed to Simms Tower. A more thorough, $7 million renovation was completed in 2014, including upgrades to the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systems while maintaining the building's historic character.
  The building was added to the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties in 1997 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. The building was considered "exceptionally significant", justifying its inclusion even though it was only 44 years old at the time.
caption: The Simms Building replaced the Richardsonian Romanesque Commercial Club, built in 1892.[10] Some of the sandstone blocks were reused in the new building.
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