Notice San Felipe de Neri Church rising on the north side of Old Town Plaza in Albuquerque. Built in 1793, this is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city and the only building in Old Town proven to date to the Spanish colonial period. The church is listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places, and it has remained in continuous use for over 200 years.
Before this building rose, an older church established in 1706 under Fray Manuel Moreno collapsed in the winter of 1792–3, and from the founding until 1817 the church was run by Franciscan missionaries. Later, during the Victorian era under the influence of Bishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy, the church was remodeled with Gothic Revival elements—bell towers, a new pitched roof, and interior decorations—to give it a more European appearance. That layering of moments and styles—Spanish colonial origins, Franciscan stewardship, and Victorian Gothic touches—makes the place both architecturally and historically notable.
Between its Spanish colonial start and its Victorian Gothic bell towers, you can trace two centuries layered into this one façade.