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Unique Bruno Leon homes dot Rasaaf Hills

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Tucked away in Raasaf Hills, looking east toward the Organ Mountains, is one of four homes designed by renowned Modernist architect Bruno Leon (1924-2013).

All four were designed in the 1970s and have decidedly different footprints, but also stylistic touches that help them stand out from the more traditional adobes surrounding them.

Las Cruces Realtor Mary Mulvihill said she happened to get a listing on one of the four houses and was enthralled by the property as soon as she saw it. She immediately sent an email to The Bulletin: “Having been a Realtor in Las Cruces since 2006, I have seen some very nice homes, but it takes something really special to make me sit up and say, ‘OMG, how did that extraordinary structure find its way here?’ I had one of those minutes several weeks ago when I met with the personal representative of an estate and toured it. This is one of four homes designed by the noteworthy Modernist Bruno Leon and built in Raasaf Hills.”

“I don’t get very excited about many things,” she said during a recent tour of the property. “At my age, it takes something pretty incredible to get my attention,” she said.

The Leon-designed ‘Nautilus House’ got her attention. It did so in such a substantive way that Mulvihill frequently packs a lunch and takes a break from showing properties to enjoy her meal on the east-facing outdoor patio of the glass-intensive home, with its distinct sweeping roofline.

“It’s so quiet and beautiful out here,” she said.

Built of adobe, Nautilous House is designed as a spiral with large windows in all the main rooms and bedrooms. Because the roof only makes five contact points with the house, there is space for glass between the ceiling and the tops of the walls in every room of the house, allowing light to move through it from east to west all through the day.

“It’s a lot of glass, but the rooms are silent,” Mulvihill said. “You can’t hear anything from one room to the other.”

US Modernist’s website has a brief biography of Leon that captures both his resume and his New Mexico roots.

“Bruno Leon,” the website says, “was born in Van Houten, N.M. He graduated from Wayne State University in 1942, served in WWII in the Air Force 1943-1945 as a pilot, then moved to Raleigh to graduate from the NCSU School of Design in 1953. From 1954-1955, he was head of the design staff for the Buckminster Fuller Research Foundation in Raleigh. From there, he worked for I. M. Pei (1955-1956) then became an instructor at MIT until 1959. Leon also worked for Eduardo Catalano and Pietro Belluschi for a year during the short time they were partners.”

“In 1959,” the website continues, “Leon became an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana. In 1961, he moved to the University of Detroit Mercy to be Chairman of planning for a new School of Architecture. Leon was founding Dean (1964-1992). Among other honors, he received an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 1984 from the University of Detroit and was named an honorary professor at the Warsaw University of Technology. Throughout his career, he maintained a private practice as Bruno Leon Associates. He eventually returned to New Mexico and retired from academia.”

Aside from the four Leon houses in Raasaf Hills, Leon designed his own retirement home in Santa Fe and designed several other homes in Michigan. The US Modernist’s website offers pictures of some of them at ncmodernist.org/leon.htm.

Mulvihill can be reached at 575-496-6597.

Rasaaf Hills, Bruno Leon

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