CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE
SEVENTEENTH COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. O-06-1 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Isaac Benton
ORDINANCE
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Designating El Vado Motel as a City of Albuquerque Landmark (Benton)
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DESIGNATING EL VADO MOTEL A CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE LANDMARK.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE:
Section 1. Intent
(A) El Vado Motel located at 2500 Central Avenue SW, Lots 24-39, Block 3. Westpark Addition to the City of Albuquerque, has been recommended as a City Landmark by the Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission; and
(B) El Vado Motel meets criteria for City Landmark designation, as specified in Section 14-12-7(A) of the Ordinance establishing the Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission and providing for designation of City Landmarks (R.O.A. 1994) as follows:
(1) Has historic significance rooted in its architecture and associations with automobile tourism on U.S. Highway 66;
(2) Portrays the environment of a group of people (lodging operators and automobile tourists) in an era of history (Late Depression/World War II/Post-War Period) characterized by a distinctive architectural style (Spanish-Pueblo Revival);
(3) Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type and method of construction; that being an automobile tourist court consisting of stuccoed adobe bearing walls with timber roof beams and wood decking/ceiling and including a multicolor, luminous tube (neon) image on a painted metal sign.
(4) Was listed in the State Register of Cultural Properties and National Register of Historic Places in 1993; and
(5) Its preservation is critical because of its relationship to already designated landmarks.
(C) Significant features of El Vado Motel identified by the Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission as being worthy of preservation:
(1) All three buildings in the complex;
(2) Spanish-Pueblo Revival styling in the form of buttressed walls with curvilinear parapets, projecting vigas, wood posts and beams, and doors and windows recessed in the adobe bearing walls;
(3) The court space between the buildings and its openness to Central Avenue; and
(4) The El Vado Motel pole sign at the Central Avenue frontage,
(5) The pattern and proportion of (window and door) openings in exterior walls;
(6) Wood windows and doors that remain or whose design is documented in photographs or drawings of the building;
(7) Characteristic interior features and finished such as exposed vigas (roof beams) and plaster walls; and
(8) Open carports between room units.
(D) In addition to the preservation of distinctive features set forth in subsection (C), the following guidelines should be adopted:
(1) New construction may be approved on the premises if it is compatible in scale, style, and material with the historic buildings. Carports may be enclosed to increase heated space, provided that their original openings remain evident and at least one carport remains open for historic interpretation purposes.
(2) The federal Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation shall be incorporated into the specific development guidelines for El Vado Motel by reference.
Section 2. That El Vado Motel be designated a City Landmark.
Section 3. SEVERABILITY CLAUSE If any section, paragraph, sentence, clause, word or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this ordinance. The Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each section, paragraph, sentence, clause, word or phrase thereof irrespective of any provision being declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid.
Section 4. This ordinance shall be effective five (5) days after publication in full.
Section 2, which designates El Vado Motel as a City Landmark, shall not be effective until June 1, 2006, and no permit for demolition of all or any part of the El Vado Motel shall be issued between February 6, 2006 and June 1, 2006.
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