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(Photograph by Regina N. Emmer)
The house was built for the Las Vegas hardware and furniture merchant J.C. Johnsen, who was also the town mortician. The exuberant half-timbering, pillared porch (now enclosed), multi-paned oriel windows, steeply pitched roofs, and tall chimneys make the Johnsen House one of the best examples of the Tudor Revival, which competed with the Colonial Revival in houses that functioned as upscale status symbols in Las Vegas during the first decades of the twentieth century. The house is set back from the street 70 feet rather than the neighborhood standard of 40 feet and occupies a large lot with a frontage of 150 feet by an exceptional depth of 295 feet (i.e., double the normal lot depth of 147.5 feet).
References
Historic Las Vegas, New Mexico: Along the Santa Fe Trail. Las Vegas, NM: Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation, 1999.
Ivers, Louise. “The Architecture of Las Vegas, New Mexico.” PhD diss., University of New Mexico, 1975.
Wilson, Chris (with Anita Vernon and Hilario Romero). Architecture and Preservation in Las Vegas, Volume II: New Districts, New Developments. Las Vegas: Design Review Board, City of Las Vegas, New Mexico, 1982.
Wilson, Chris, “Douglas-Sixth Street Historic District,” San Miguel County, New Mexico. National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form, 1982. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC.
Wilson, Chris, “North New Town Historic District,” San Miguel County, New Mexico. National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form, 1982. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC.