It has been two decades, but Ray and Judy Dewey, former owners of Santa Fe’s Dewey Galleries, remember one particular day as if it had just happened. What occurred would affect their lives in the most interesting of ways, both then and now.

            “It was in the early 80’s, and some people came into the gallery with beautiful New Mexican tin sconces in a brown paper bag,” Ray recounts.  Those treasures had been created by Robert Woodman, a well-known Santa Fe tinsmith who did most of his work in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s.  “The man made tinwork for John Gaw Meem,” notes Ray, with respect for this famed Southwest architect evident in his voice. 

            Their curiosity around, the Deweys investigated further and were led by a relative of Woodman to a residence that was part of the estate of the deceased tinsmith.  “We went up to this house that was filled with these pieces of tinwork,” Ray recalls with renewed excitement.  Although a shambles, the home charmed the couple, and they purchased it.  “We probably should have bulldozed the house – it was in such bad shape, “Ray now admits with laughter.  Instead, he states, “It has been a 19-year project.”

            Renovated and restored over the years by the Deweys as they raised their two college-age sons, Adam and Justin, the original home can be traced back to the 1840s or ‘50s.  Alterations to the adobe structure were accomplished with an eye toward historic authenticity, the couple says, calling the result “almost purely” Pueblo-style. 

            This delightful home, with beamed-and-corbeled ceilings and adobe walls that are more than 2 feet thick, is a reminder of Santa Fe’s architectural evolution. It also is a showcase for the Spanish Colonial and Native American art, artifacts and furnishing the Deweys collected over time, and a canvas for the historically astute and charming touches of Santa Fe interior designer Deena Perry.  

            In addition to a proven track record as a designer, Perry has an international reputation as a one-time restorer of centuries-old paintings and a background as a purveyor of antiques.  She was the perfect person to guide the Deweys in their restoration efforts, Judy affirms.  “Deena simplified things,” she says.  “She created a myth about the house, and as changes were suggested, she tied them historically together.  It was as if the house had been an old hacienda, and she made plans around who had lived in it and how they entertained in it.”

            Perry says the so-called “myth” is a technique borrowed from architects.  The purely invented premise for her design and remodeling recommendations was that the Dewey home might have been a comfortable residence in New Mexico of the late 1700s, when the region was actually part of what we now call Mexico and the house inhabited by a Spanish governor.

            But, in fact, Perry volunteers, the historically significant accoutrements the Deweys had already collected and those she envisioned for the setting had never existed in such abundance in the dwellings of the early Santa Fe Spanish outpost.  “However, they would have been a reality in California back then,” she instructs.  Her inspiration for details came from reading about and visiting the Spanish Colonial missions of San Juan Capistrano, San Diego, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.

            Interestingly, two years before those visits Perry had been on a trip to the colonial Mexican city of San Miguel de Allende, where she was intrigued by how old-time wainscoting was painted and how color was rubbed into plaster walls. “I found out where people would go to buy the raw pigments,” she says.  With no immediate goal in mind, she brought home a sampling of those hues, which later were put to good use in the Dewey residence in decorative painting, in wainscoting and in designs around doors.

            It is these unique details and others that give the home its timeless quality.  In the living room, or sala, for example, thick carved wooden molding located below the beamed-and corbelled ceiling surrounds the room.  “It’s called bed molding, and it’s a support for the ceiling and upper walls,” Ray explains. The artifact dates from the late 17th to early 18th centuries and was acquired by the Deweys when part of an old Santa Fe chapel was torn down.  “It’s used more in churches than in homes,” Judy says.

            Also a reminder of earlier times in New Mexico, an entrance between the library and dining room measures a scant 5 feet, 6 inches in height, says 6-foot-4-inch Ray.  Original to the house, its diminutiveness once was a way of keeping warmth inside rooms.  “It keeps me humble,” laughs Ray.

            The colorful painted surround of this portal was inspired by one found in a church in New Mexico’s Laguna Pueblo, and was rendered by artist Marie Romero Cash with natural pigments of indigo and cochineal. 

            Looking back on the day she and her husband purchased the once-dilapidated property, and more than happy with its transformation, Judy says of the cozy residence:  “It just needed a lot of love.”