The Santa Fe Federal Building was designed by the United States Treasury Department in the Pueblo Revival style at a time when most federal buildings were being designed in the classic styles.

The design employed the scale and architectural elements of surrounding structures. A covered walkway across the front of the building surrounds two open courtyards. The interplay of one and two story elements, flat roofs, rounded parapets, small towers and varying ceiling heights were inspired by the pueblo dwellings of the Indians.

Source: Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1974.

When we photographed the building in 2007, it housed the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.