The Cigar House, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Mead/Penhall House aka The Cigar House, Albuquerque, NM, USA The Mead/Penhall house or the "Cigar House" as we have termed it is located in Albuquerque, NM. Many of the buildings we feature have nicknames that have been around for a long time and we have no idea of their origin; some make sense and some seem a little obscure. We have not previously heard of a nickname being applied to this property so we chose to create one; perhaps it will stick, perhaps not. In any case if you take a look at the close in aerial shot taken from Google Maps...

THE MEAD/PENHALL HOUSE aka THE "CIGAR HOUSE"
4504 Sunningdale Avenue Northeast, Albuquerque, NM, USA
35°5'52.41"N 106°35'41.54"W

... we believe the reason we chose to christen the house the "Cigar House" will be quite apparent. Note that we could not get that view to stick in an embedded Google map so it is actually a screenshot but if you zoom in on the normal Google Map you should be able to replicate it.
The Mead/Penhall home was constructed on the last remaining lot in a neighborhood development with homes already in place on three sides. The home features clean, curving lines and is raised above the ground to take advantage of mountain and valley views.
The home was built 1992-1993 and the design was the work of the exceptional architect Bart Prince. The property was built for author Christopher Curtis Mead and his partner, photographer Michele Penhall. Born in 1947 Prince has received much recognition over the course of his career most recently being awarded the International Excellence in Design Award at the 2004 International Design Conference in Mexico. He has a portfolio of highly innovative and original properties and those along with other information about the architect can be found on his website.
The Cigar House, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Coincidentally Bart Prince, his career and his exceptional designs are the focus of one of the homeowners books; The Architecture of Bart Prince: A Pragmatics of Place by Christopher Curtis Mead with photos by Michele Penhall can be found on Amazon. The editorial review on Amazon includes the following summing up of Prince by David De Long, Univ. of Pennsylvania:
"Bart Prince may be the most creative architect practicing in America today. Expanding on approaches initiated by Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff, he celebrates a national tradition of absolute originality."
We tend to agree and plan on bringing you other Bart Prince designed properties in the future. If we win the lottery we might even have him design a house for us and bring you that one.