by Alex Williams
Daily Lobo
Joe McKinney said he has been burned in effigy at UNM.
On Nov. 1, he will retire as UNM's first campus planner.
He said his 36 years of service have been interesting.
"I moved the African American, Chicano and women's groups over to Mesa Vista Hall - that was in the early '70s," he said. "I was also hung as an effigy when Yakota Hall was torn down to build the Duck Pond. It also destroyed 48 parking spaces, but most people like the Duck Pond now."
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McKinney's first job at the University was to administer the Warnecke plan, which was developed in 1960 as the master plan for UNM development.
He said it is one of the longest plans in use, going from 1960 to 1996 with only three major variations.
Buildings on UNM main campus are mostly in Pueblo Revival style, which McKinney said he has attempted to preserve.
Kim Murphy, director of real estate, was quoted in a Sept. 23 Daily Lobo article as saying, "It may be that the outcome is that there is a particular style for a particular precinct - a group of precincts - and maybe a different style for something else."
Main campus has a Pueblo Revival style, but other parts of campus are more modern.
The School of Architecture, slated to break ground in November, will be on the main campus, but not in Pueblo Revival style.
John Meem, a New Mexico architect, designed many of the UNM buildings, such as Scholes Hall, Marron Hall, Mesa Vista Hall and Zimmerman Library in Pueblo Revival style. Scholes Hall and Jonson Gallery are buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.
"UNM has one of the most unique-appearing campuses in the U.S.," McKinney said, adding it is due largely to the Pueblo Revival style.
"I've been a protector," McKinney said. "I saved Hodgin Hall. I had it put on the New Mexico historic register without going through any UNM administrator at all."
Hodgin Hall is the oldest building on campus, and it is also on the national historic registry along with 11 other buildings.
UNM has 18 sites or buildings on the state historical registry, nine of which are on main campus.
Although he has preserved many buildings at UNM, unless they are on a historic register, some could be demolished.
"The expansion of the biology building puts (Marron Hall) in harm's way," he said. "A lot of people would like to remove it."
Wagner Hall is a building Meem designed that will be torn down. The Centennial Engineering Center will be built in its place. The center will retain some of the original Pueblo Revival style, including elements of the portal on the facade, as McKinney demonstrated from the architect's sketch.
In the campus development plan drafted in 1996, McKinney had a section calling for the preservation of historic buildings and styles.
"I would hope they keep the pueblo style," McKinney said.
The plan covers most of the development of the area northwest of campus between Lomas Boulevard and Indian School Road. In the new plan, Taos Pueblo is cited as a possible architectural source for the development of future resident housing buildings.
McKinney said his job is a labor of love.
"It has something to do with how the campus looks overall," he said.
