Margaret Waller (Lackey)

I ran across this today in the Albuquerque Journal. What a tribute to our classmate Ron Hutchinson who passed away too soon in 1986. I thought I would post it in our message forum. Enjoy!

A Sandia Heights home designed to capture natural light and sweeping views at every turn is on the market for the first time since its construction more than four decades ago.

The 4,167-square-foot home comes with three bedrooms, four bathrooms and sits on a little under an acre at 450 Live Oak NE. It hit the market for almost $1.3 million last month.

One of the unique features of the three-level home is that local award-winning architect Ron Hutchinson designed it. He died of a heart attack in 1984 at age 36, just as his career was gaining steam. Hutchinson’s death sent waves of grief through the New Mexico firm Hutchinson Brown & Partners Inc. that he oversaw as president, according to Journal archives.

A Santa Fe home known as Casa Pastoral was one of Hutchinson’s last projects. A 1986 article on that home called it an “ongoing expression of Ron’s extraordinary talent and sensitivity,” according to the University of New Mexico archives.

The article went on to say that Hutchinson knew how to “capitalize in every sense on all of the spectacular views and create areas for combined indoor and outdoor living.”

Combined indoor-outdoor living and expression of talent sum up how Charlene Brown views the Sandia Heights home that she grew up in and that Hutchinson designed. The home features massive windows and a patio outside of every main-floor bedroom.

“It’s so full of light,” Brown said.

Brown’s father was a mechanical engineer who, she says, may have worked with Hutchinson at some point. Brown said her father admired Hutchinson and his work and asked the architect to design their home after a job brought the family of five from Houston to New Mexico.

“My father was very upset when (Hutchinson) passed. It was a big thing for the community,” Brown said. “He didn’t reach his full potential.”

The anchor of the home is a custom, centrally-located fireplace with a firepit harnessed by 360 degrees of mesh screening and topped by a structure that spans to the ceiling and appears to free float in the main living space.

Jennifer Smith, the home’s listing agent and an associate broker with Realty One of New Mexico, said the unique architecture and views are what have most people “in awe” of the property.

The home offers close-up views of the mountains and unobstructed views of nighttime city lights, colorful New Mexico sunsets and the hot air balloons that grace the sky during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Brown said.

Brown, a planner with a background in architecture and who interned at Hutchinson’s firm when she was younger, added she likes to think that the slants and uneven pitches of the roof were designed to mirror the Sandia Mountains.

The home’s Zillow listing describes the design as contemporary Southwestern with mid-century influence, while Brown described it as handmade, heartfelt and artisanal.

Over the years, Brown’s late parents — the home’s sole owners since its 1978 construction — updated the kitchen, refreshed the 1,054-square-foot basement, added a four-car garage with skylights and installed a new roof and HVAC system.

Brown’s father died in 2008 and her mother lived in the home until her death earlier this year, which is what prompted Brown and her sister to sell the home.

“My sister and I are really attached to this house... but we’re of an age where we’ve made our lives in different places and it’s no longer centered around my mom,” Brown said. “I think it was just something that (needed) to happen. It needs to have a new family to appreciate it and grow in it.”

The home carries a family legacy as well as a legacy of architecture, talent and a life cut too short, Brown said. It gave her special memories, a connection to nature and “a great life” — things she hopes it offers its future owners too.