History
The Mission Church of San Francisco de Asis stands at the center of the village of Ranchos de Taos, south of Taos. Construction began in the late eighteenth century and was completed around 1816 by the Spanish Colonial farming community of Las Trampas de Taos, with labor and materials drawn from the surrounding parish. The church was raised at the heart of a walled plaza that the parishioners built around it, a defensive arrangement common to the northern Hispano villages of the period.
The church is a Spanish Colonial mission building of massive adobe construction. Walls more than four feet thick rise to support a flat roof carried on vigas with corbelled mounts. The plan is cruciform, approximately one hundred twenty feet long, with twin bell towers flanking the entrance and the great sculpted adobe buttresses at the rear of the transepts that have become the most photographed feature of the building. Those buttresses, with their swelling, beehive-like profile, were a structural solution to the lateral thrust of the roof and have been repeatedly stabilized and replastered over two centuries.
The church has been continuously cared for by the Hispano Catholic parish of Ranchos de Taos, and the community organizes an annual enjarre, a community mud-plastering of the exterior walls each summer in which families work in shifts to renew the adobe surface. That tradition has preserved the building in working order across more than two hundred years. The church was famously studied by Georgia O'Keeffe, painted in a series of canvases in the late 1920s and 1930s, and photographed by Ansel Adams and Paul Strand, fixing it in the visual canon of American art.
San Francisco de Asis is a National Historic Landmark. It is an active parish church and is open to visitors at scheduled hours. Within the adobe tradition of New Mexico, San Francisco de Asis stands as the foremost surviving Spanish Colonial mission church of the northern Hispano frontier and the architectural emblem of the late Spanish Colonial style.
Notable features
- Massive adobe wallsSpanish Colonial
- Beehive-curved adobe buttresses at transeptsSpanish Colonial
- Cruciform plan approximately 120 feet longSpanish Colonial
- Twin bell towers flanking the entranceSpanish Colonial
- Vigas with corbelled mounts supporting adobe roofSpanish Colonial
- Enclosed adobe-walled plazaSpanish Colonial
Common questions
What is San Francisco de Asís Mission Church?
San Francisco de Asís Mission Church is a Spanish Colonial mission church at the center of the historic plaza in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, roughly four miles south of Taos. It is one of the most intact examples of Spanish Colonial mission architecture in the American Southwest and an active Catholic parish.
When was San Francisco de Asís Mission Church built?
San Francisco de Asís Mission Church was built by Franciscan friars and the local community between approximately 1772 and 1816. It was constructed under the patronage of Saint Francis of Assisi and has stood at the center of the Ranchos de Taos plaza for more than two centuries.
Where is San Francisco de Asís Mission Church located?
San Francisco de Asís Mission Church is located at 60 St. Francis Plaza in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico 87557, roughly four miles south of Taos. It anchors the historic plaza of the surrounding village.
Can you visit San Francisco de Asís Mission Church?
Yes, San Francisco de Asís Mission Church remains an active Catholic parish under the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, with a small museum and gift shop on the plaza welcoming visitors outside of Mass. Visiting hours and Mass schedules should be confirmed with the parish before arrival.
What architectural style is San Francisco de Asís Mission Church?
San Francisco de Asís Mission Church is built in Spanish Colonial style of sun-dried adobe brick laid over a cruciform plan roughly 120 feet long. Its defining features include enormous adobe buttresses—famously the rounded, beehive-shaped forms at the apse—paired bell towers, and a viga-supported roof.
Why is San Francisco de Asís Mission Church historically significant?
San Francisco de Asís Mission Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970, under reference number 70000416. It gained international recognition through paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe and photographs by Ansel Adams, Paul Strand, and Ned Scott.