D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
April
2009
Southwest Storylines: Woman's Club
Page: 2
But what about that gorgeous building our local club occupies on Hwy. 180? It represents another unmet need the members decided to fulfill. By the 1920s, the women had outgrown their borrowed meeting spaces in churches and private homes. Mrs. James B. Gilchrist was delegated to spearhead a campaign to buy the land where the Woman's Club building now stands. The club bought one lot for $300 and Mrs. Gilchrist purchased two adjoining properties at a tax sale for $1.47, then donated these lots to the group. Local contractor Richard Tasch constructed the showcase headquarters at cost, which amounted to about $6,000, on what was then the far edge of Silver City.
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The club's 73-year-old
headquarters is a classic example of Pueblo Revival architecture. |
Regarded as one of the region's finest examples of Pueblo Revival architecture, the elegant, flat-roofed building features an ornamental bell tower above the front entrance, with a similar detail repeated at the southwest corner. Decorative vigas are visible below a varied parapet, while the main entry boasts five-light transoms and glass doors tapered by Tasch to suggest the lintels prevalent in Pueblo Revival structures. The club's large meeting room has a hardwood floor that made it popular for many years as a dance venue, but wear and tear led to the surface being covered with carpet and boot-scooting ended. The facility includes a large kitchen, paid for by the generous husband of a long-ago member who was exasperated by the women's interminable "fussing" about where the room should go and how it should look.
Maintenance of the 73-year-old building is a constant challenge. "The furnaces are believed to be original," Maddox sighs, "and we need a new, forced-air heating system. We've had pipes freeze because it gets so cold inside." The structure enjoys National Register protection from demolition, but upkeep remains the responsibility of the owners. "We've got to take care of it," says the club president. "This is the only building we have."
The general public will get an indoor look-see this summer when the Club stages an open house on a date to be announced. Before that, the state women's club organization will gather for its annual convention in the building on April 24-25. "They will help us celebrate our anniversary," says Maddox, her eyes lighting up. "The theme is going to be 'Whispers of the Past.' We're going to do costumes and the whole nine yards. We'll decorate the main room and stage in a Victorian manner, with kerosene lamps and antique parlor furniture."
Besides membership dues, the Silver City Woman's Club raises funds to support its endeavors from candy and "sweet" sales, game days and an annual Valentine Dinner. Rental fees are collected from unaffiliated groups that use the stylish building for an assortment of community-oriented activities. Most important, it is the cherished gathering place for second-Friday-of-the-month meetings and luncheons attended by scores of Silver City's most committed "doers."
Maddox concludes that some things about her club haven't changed a whit during the past century. "We have a wonderful group of ladies," she says. "They include a lot of good workers, people who simply do what needs to be done."
For information about the Silver City Woman's Club, 411 Silver Heights Blvd.,
call 538-3452.
Southwest Storylines columnist Richard Mahler is the author of 11 books, including The Jaguar's Shadow: Searching for a Mythic Cat, to be published by Yale University Press later this year. His byline has appeared in publications including New Mexico Magazine, Santa Fean, Los Angeles Times and Arizona Highways, and on columns for the Albuquerque Journal and Crosswinds. He lives in Silver City.