Survey number: HABS NM-205
Calle Principal
Mesilla, New Mexico
The Barela-Reynolds house, located on the west side of the
plaza, survives today as one of the oldest and most historically
significant structures in Mesilla, with portions of the house
dating to circa 1850. The house was originally two separate,
adjacent properties, each a store fronting the Mesilla Plaza
with attached residence to the rear. The north portion of the
property was listed in 1857 as being in the possession of Mariano
Yrissari, a merchant and rancher who ran a lucrative commissary
business with nearby army posts. Yrissari sold his property
in 1860 to Maria Rafaela Garcia Barela. Garcia Barela's husband,
Anastacio Barela, was engaged in freighting and merchandising,
and also served as probate judge of Doña Ana County. Following
his death in the mid-1860s, his business interests were carried
on by his son Mariano, who maintained a store
in his mother's building on the Mesilla Plaza while serving
as Sheriff of Doña Ana County.
The south portion of the property was owned in 1854 by Pedro
Peres. In 1857 Peres sold his property to two Anglo traders,
Charles Hoppin and Nathan Appel. They in turn sold the property
to a competitor, Alexander Duval, two years later. The Duval
house and store were purchased in 1863 by the partnership of
James Edgar Griggs and Joseph Reynolds. Griggs and Reynolds
establish a flourishing mercantile business in southern New
Mexico with stores in La Mesa, Las Cruces, and Silver City,
in addition to Mesilla. In 1913 the younger Reynolds expanded
the business by purchasing the adjacent Barela property, combining
the two properties into their present configuration.
The Barela-Reynolds House survives today as an outstanding
example of a building type – the store with attached residence
– once commonly found in small towns across New Mexico.
Considered an excellent example of the Territorial
Style, and possessing one of the few remaining metal-front
facades in the state, the building was listed in the National
Register of Historic Places in 1978. The Historic American Buildings
Survey documented the structure in 2005. The Barela-Reynolds
House serves as a prominent reminder of Mesilla's nineteenth-century
heyday.
