San Francisco de Asís Church, Ranchos de Taos

The church of San Francisco de Asís faces the small plaza of Ranchos de Taos, about four miles south of Taos on NM-68, behind an adobe wall that encloses its forecourt and graveyard. It is about 120 feet long, with twin bell towers in front, but artists have always walked round to the back, where huge rounded buttresses swell out against the apse like poured earth. Georgia O'Keeffe painted it from there in 1929 and after, and Paul Strand and Ansel Adams photographed it.

Its dates are usually given as 1772 to 1816. Architectural historians think the church that stands was probably built between 1814 and 1816, when Ranchos, the first permanent Spanish village in the Taos valley, finally got a church of its own.

Adobe melts in the rain unless it is given fresh mud. In 1967 a restoration tried to end that chore with a hard cement stucco. The stucco trapped moisture, and the walls began to dissolve from within; in 1979 and 1980 it was stripped off, the crumbling facade and buttresses were rebuilt, and the church went back to mud. Every June since, parishioners and volunteers have spent about two weeks on the enjarre, the replastering: clay is dug and sifted, mixed with sand, straw and water, and spread by hand from the foot of the walls to the tops of the towers.

It is a working parish church, open to visitors outside services, and a National Historic Landmark since 1970.