Month: October 2024

If you’ve spent much time at all in Los Alamos, you know we enjoy a rather remote location. As a third generation resident, I’ve heard all manner of stories about difficulties in getting goods and services up here throughout the years. As a real estate broker, I often remind my clients that patience is a necessity when considering home renovations, supplies for DIY projects around the house, and even in shopping for home furnishings! Deciding you want a new washer and dryer on a Friday morning isn’t a simple thing! These days even shopping online can result in days or even weeks of waiting for a delivery truck to haul your new appliances up the mountain.

This is now. An age of internet services when Amazon is beginning to explore drone delivery of goods! Try to picture what it might have been like in the 1920s when AJ Connell and Ashley Pond were trying to set up a boarding school for young men. Both students and masters at that time were more accustomed to living in cities where there were stores and factories and plenty of people available to offer goods and services. From the very beginning, AJ Connell knew he needed a skilled mechanic living on site 24/7 who could keep the place running.

Enter Floyd Womelsduff, a mechanic and all around handyman hired by Connell in 1924 to work for the Ranch School. Floyd’s brother, Jim Womelsduff, served as the LARS ranch foreman for a number of years and their mother, Sallie, lived in Espanola. Sallie Womelsduff inherited land in Espanola and moved from the Fort Worth, TX area to her new digs in Espanola not too terribly long before Floyd got the mechanic job up on the plateau at the ranch school. Floyd had come to New Mexico with his mother and spent several years working on a Rio Arriba County road crew.

Floyd Womelsduff wasn’t just important to the ranch school. Tall, slender, and rather quiet, Floyd was the plumber, auto mechanic, electrician, and diesel engine operator. In those days, the diesel generators were used to charge batteries for mechanical items all over the ranch. Everything from farm machinery to washing machines. The generators had to be coaxed into working every evening to provide light in all of the buildings, and it wasn’t unusual for Floyd and his brother Jim to be called out at all hours due to mechanical emergencies. They were even called out to help a forest service crew after an unexpected early snowfall caused the crew to be trapped near the fire watchtower up on St. Peter’s Dome (we sometimes refer to this as simply “the dome”).

In the early days, Floyd lived alone in the small, original mechanic’s cabin on the south side of Ashley Pond. Since Floyd lived up at the ranch school as well as his brother Jim, Floyd requested permission to build a larger cabin so his mother could move up to the plateau with her sons. There were four Womelsduff siblings all together.

Jim and Floyd had left school quite young when their father disappeared and left their mother, Sallie, to raise four children on her own. Lucy and Frank were the youngest Womelsduff siblings, and later Jim added his own family to the Womelsduffs living at the ranch school. In fact, Richard Womelsduff became quite interested in the history of the Pajarito Plateau as well as life at the ranch school. His writings would later become part of John D Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s book about the ranch school days. Richard named his Chapter 8, It Was a Good Time and Place to be a Boy as he seems to have very much enjoyed growing up on the ranch school property.

The “cabin” built by Floyd Womelsduff for himself and his mother was a traditional northern New Mexico log cabin. It began with slabs of rock in a shallow trench to create an outline of a cabin. Long Ponderosa Pines formed the walls and shorter ones supported the floor. The logs were all hand hewn and pinkish mortar was used to fill spaces between the logs. Unlike many of later ranch school “cottages”, the chief mechanic’s house was truly a log cabin and the logs were visible on the interior walls. However, it was such a nice log cabin that AJ Connell referred to it as the Chief Mechanic’s House from the very beginning.

There were two small bedrooms on the north side of the cabin and the living room took up the south side and a small kitchen occupied the west side of the cabin. There was no central heating built into the space and the Womelsduffs relied on the fireplace and cozy Navajo rugs to keep the place warm in winter.

The Chief Mechanic’s House was completed in 1925 and was occupied by Floyd and his mother Sallie until Sallie’s death in 1942. Sallie’s death came just a few weeks after the infamous War Department letter came to the Los Alamos Ranch School and changed everything within a few short months. Sallie’s family ofter said how glad they were that Sallie never had to deal with the displaced feeling which permeated the rest of the ranch school students and staff. She remained in her cozy cabin with her family and the lively but also relaxed ranch school way of life until she passed peacefully in her own home.

As with ALL ranch school buildings, the Chief Mechanic’s House’s role on the Pajarito Plateau didn’t end in 1942 when the Manhattan Project took over. In fact, the old cabin’s history only got more interesting as the years wore on. But we’ll talk more about that in a future post. And when you’re ready to talk about your own cozy dwelling in Los Alamos, give me a call! Whether you’re buying or selling, I’d love to talk real estate in Los Alamos with you!

When Project Y came to town, every ranch school structure that could serve a purpose was put into use. The Pyramid of Los Alamos aka Spruce Cottage became the “WAC Shack”. The ladies of the “Women’s Army Corps” enjoyed their stay at Spruce Cottage. With it’s sprawling group of cozy rooms, Spruce Cottage was home to a group of young women instead of the young men who had occupied it for so long. Not that Spruce Cottage didn’t see it’s share of young men, the WAC Shack was a popular place for enlisted men to hang out in the off duty hours.

Sometime in 1943, plans were put in place to build a larger dormitory for the WAC unit stationed in Los Alamos. At the peak of their effort, there were 260 WACs here in Los Alamos. Most of the WACs were stationed at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge. There were smaller units at other Manhattan Project sights, and the largest unit of 275 were at Oak Ridge, Tenn. The “new” WAC Shack is still here in Los Alamos in its original location over on 17th Street. This building is currently under consideration for restoration with Los Alamos County. You can see more about this project HERE. There’s a lovely photo gallery of this building by Minesh Bacrania which is part of the “Behind the Fence” project which you can view HERE.

With the new WAC Shack in use, Spruce Cottage was split into three separate apartments. Thanks to the sprawling floorplan of the cottage, Spruce Cottage now known as T-115, had three different street addresses!

That bathtub so appreciated by the WACs, (who would’ve only had showers in their new dormitory), actually became quite the bragging point to anyone occupying the stone portion of the old Spruce Cottage. Kenneth Bainbridge and his family often allowed their friends to have a soak in their large, private bathtub. Kenneth Bainbridge was the physicist who took charge of the running of the Trinity site test.

You might imagine that when the Army remodeled Spruce Cottage after the WACs moved out, they did so as quickly as possible. Apparently this ended in some typical housing features being forgotten. Nathan and Elinor Ramsay were given an apartment created from the old boys dormitory section of Spruce Cottage. But when the Army put the apartment in, they forgot any closets. The Ramsays hoofed it over to the former Chief Mechanic’s House and borrowed two hand decorated wardrobes, which they utilized as closets until the Army remodeled Spruce Cottage yet again after the Fuller Lodge expansion.

Post War, circa 1948, Spruce Cottage was reconfigured into two apartments, duplex style. The end result left a “stone half” and a “wooden half”. The families of Jerome Kellogg and John Manley discovered that while they occupied two separate “homes”, they had no choice but to cooperate. Both apartments shared a hot water heater and a furnace. Can you imagine what that might be like? Good Neighbor behavior would take on a whole new meaning!

Stanislaw and Francois Ulam occupied the stone half of Spruce Cottage beginning in 1949. It is said that Stanislaw Ulam was sitting in the kitchen of the stone half of Spruce Cottage when he thought of a way to make the “Super” bomb work. His wife reported coming home and finding him sitting in the kitchen having his lunch while staring out the picture window with a strange expression on his face. While Ulam did indeed make a discovery that led to the development of thermonuclear weapons, his wife recalled later that she was appalled and had hoped the “Super” bomb would never successfully work.

In the summer of 1950 & 1951, Enrico and Laura Fermi rented the wooden half of Spruce Cottage. By 1951, James and Betty Lilienthal had begun to rent the stone half. When the dispersal of housing in Los Alamos began in 1969, the Lilienthals purchased both the stone half and the wooden half and returned Spruce Cottage to a single dwelling. Many folks in Los Alamos still think of Spruce Cottage as “the Lilienthal House”. The house was purchased by Bart and Colleen Ollinger in 1996 and has been preserved and appreciated by the long time Los Alamos residents ever since.

I love the long history of some of these old buildings in Los Alamos. It’s such a great thing to see that one of the most consistent parts of life in Los Alamos through the years is the ability to change with the times. I often hear from newcomers that they wish Los Alamos could get a this or a that. I remind folks that it’s best to just sit back and see what Los Alamos has brewing. Every decade seems to bring in a new mixture of activities, businesses, opportunities, and amenities. And when YOU’RE ready to join our community on the hill, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos Real Estate with you.

No. I’m not talking about our amazing local Mediterranean restaurant where robotic serving drones might deliver your order when it’s ready. Believe it or not, this name was originally given to a well known building here in Los Alamos. The structure has gone through a number of renovations and name changes until it does not at ALL resemble it’s original self.

In the photo above, it’s not difficult to decide which structure was referred to as “The Pyramid”! I think the most interesting aspect of this photo taken around 1922 from the northwest side of the LARS grounds, is the sheer distance between the Pyramid and the Big House! Most of our historic buildings seem clumped together to our modern minds. We just forget that they’re only close together now because they sprawled that way!

Pyramid for the Masters

The Pyramid was built sometime before 1920. Most of the early ranch and ranch school buildings have origin dates that have been estimated over the years by our local Historical Society through the process of comparing photographs and existing surveys.

The first few years of the school’s existence were lean in both the student and schoolmaster populations. Masters lived in the Big House with the boys and AJ Connell. As the number of pupils grew, the need for more space caused Connell to request the addition of a Master’s Cottage. The square shape of the building along with it’s steeply pitched roof earned it the name, “The Pyramid”.

Two masters occupied the space, each with a separate apartment. By apartment we’re talking a desk, a dresser, and a brass bed. Although it seems a waste that there were beds in each space because the house also had a little sleeping porch. (Because AJ Connell must’ve been obsessed with porch sleeping, something most of us probably get if we have no a/c in high summer up here!) However, later residents of the Pyramid apartments were probably truly glad of the private sleeping space.

Newlyweds in the Pyramid

We’ve already explored the original residents of Master Cottage #3, Fermor and Peggy Pond Church. While their cottage on the mesa was built, they moved into the Pyramid. At that time, the school’s secretary moved into the other half of the Pyramid. Fermor and Peggy would occupy the Pyramid until their home was finished in 1925. With no kitchen inside the Pyramid, Peggy and Fermor took their meals at the Big House with the rest of the students and staff. Talk about a nice start to married life! No cooking!

From Pyramid to Spruce Cottage

By 1927, the school had a good number of students and masters, plus other staff which required a bit more in the way of living space. The Pyramid had been housing unmarried teachers for several years, but now Connell decided to give the senior boys troop, Spruce Patrol, a bit more privacy and distinction. There was no way Spruce Patrol was going to fit in the current Pyramid configuration. So, the Pyramid roof was abandoned, the building got longer, and it got a two sided pitched roof and a larger sleeping porch.

Spruce Patrol’s new digs included a good sized common room and a larger sleeping porch so everyone had space. Connell wasn’t so secure in Spruce Patrol’s good behavior that he let them be over there without a RA, so to speak. One of the former master apartments remained on one side of the structure. A master occupied this space which alleviated the crunch in the Big House and kept Spruce Patrol under some kind of supervision. By 1928, some of the unmarried masters were also living in the former Director’s Cottage, (Master Cottage #1).

Couples Galore

By 1935, Master Cecil Wirth got hitched and Connell decided he wasn’t content to have Wirth move away from his digs at Spruce Cottage. Instead of moving the married couple out, Connell hired John Gaw Meem to design an addition on the West side of Spruce Cottage. Therefore, the building got even more sprawled out!

The Wirths eventually moved into bigger space (they would eventually live in Master Cottage #3 for a few years after the Churchs moved out), and Master Harry Walen and his new bride, Betty, moved in. Poor Betty Walen reminds me of an awful lot of folks who move here to Los Alamos even today. The young bride had never been West of Washington D.C. before marrying Harry and following him to a job in the middle of nowhere on a plateau at the end of the world in New Mexico! Sound familiar? Of course, Betty Walen also had a pack of high school senior boys sharing her roof!

Betty was a lovely woman and a good sport. During her time in the stone addition at Spruce Cottage, Fuller Lodge had become the center of ranch school life. She and her husband took their midday and evening meals in the Lodge, but she cooked breakfast on a little wood cookstove in her apartment. Apparently she became an early riser fairly quickly due to the Spruce Patrol habit of coming to bother Master Walen at an ungodly hour in the morning.

When Harry and Betty were expecting their first child, musical cottages happened again and Peggy and Fermor Church moved back into Spruce Cottage so the Wirths could move their expanding family into Master Cottage #3. Peggy and Fermor would live at Spruce Cottage in the stone addition until the Manhattan Project took over and the school closed down for good.

I always find it fascinating to think about how many lives the ranch school buildings have had here in Los Alamos. Connell intentionally built most of the structures so they could be easily remodeled and repurposed. Cottages were frame structures sided with logs on both the inside and the outside. This allowed the building to be added onto with minimal fuss and honestly kept these buildings in use from then until now.

Next week, I’ll dig a bit more into the Pyramid’s days as a WAC Shack and also when it suddenly sprawled so large that it occupied three addresses on three different streets! Until then, enjoy this beautiful fall weather, the colors on the trees, and go take a visit to the Historical Museum, which is still open even during the parking lot project.

And when you’re trying to buy or sell a home in Los Alamos, give me a call! I love Los Alamos housing both historic and modern and I would love to chat with you about your real estate needs!