| Ernest L. Blumenschein House | |
| Nrhp Type: | nhl |
| Coordinates: | 36.4058°N -105.5761°W |
| Area: | less than one acre |
| Designated Nrhp Type: | December 21, 1965[1] |
| Added: | October 15, 1966 |
| Refnum: | 66000495 |
| Nrhp Type2: | indcp |
| Designated Nrhp Type2: | July 8, 1982 |
| Partof Refnum: | 82003340 |
| Nocat: | yes |
The Ernest L. Blumenschein House is a historic house museum and art gallery at 222 Ledoux Street in Taos, New Mexico. It was a home of painter Ernest L. Blumenschein (1874-1960), a co-founder of the Taos Society of Artists and one of the Taos Six. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965.[2] [1]
The Blumenschein House is located on the south side of Ledoux Street, 1-1/2 blocks south of central plaza in Taos. It is a single-story adobe structure, with eleven rooms, built in the Spanish Pueblo style with a central courtyard. A low wall with central opening separate the courtyard from the street. The house's construction date is uncertain, but its oldest sections probably predate the 1820s. The interior is furnished to appear as it might have been when the Blumenschein family lived there. It features family possessions, a collection of the family's art, works by other famous Taos artists, and fine European and Spanish Colonial style antiques. The museum is owned and operated by Taos Historic Museums.[2]
Ernest Blumenschein, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was schooled in art in Cincinnati, New York City, and Paris. While in Paris he met Joseph Henry Sharp, who described a visit he made to Taos in 1883. Blumenschein and Bert Phillips traveled to Taos in 1898, where they established the Taos Art Colony. He used this house as a home and studio from 1919 until 1960. The house itself had previously been used as a home and studio by Herbert Dunton, and was already well known as a gathering point for artists. The colony formed by these people was broadly influential in exposing the art world to Taos and the desert southwest.[2] The house remained in the Blumenschein family until 1962, when his heirs donated it to the organization that is now Taos Historic Museums. After a period as a multiunit residence, it was converted into a museum and gallery space.