RELEASE: A pair of NM properties that changed the course of 20th century technology have been added to the State Register of Cultural Properties
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RELEASE: A pair of New Mexico properties that changed the course of 20 th century technology have been added to the State Register of Cultural Properties.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 18, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT Stephen Hamway 505.412.3758 Stephen.Hamway@dca.nm.gov
Santa Fe, NM – A pair of properties that played key roles in New Mexico’s 20th-century technology advancements — including Microsoft and the Manhattan Project — have been added to the State Register of Cultural Properties.
On Friday, June 12, the Cultural Properties Review Committee voted to approve the Dorothy McKibbin House in Santa Fe and the Cal-Linn Building in Albuquerque – to the State Register. Established in 1969, the State Register of Cultural Properties is the official list of historic properties worthy of designation in New Mexico. Both nominations will now be forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register in Washington DC for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
“Technology shaped the story of New Mexico during the 20 th century, and both of these properties played key roles,” said State Historic Preservation Officer Michelle Ensey. “We’re grateful to the Cultural Properties Review Committee for their thoughtful consideration of both projects.”
Built along Old Santa Fe Trail in 1938, the McKibbin House was home to Los Alamos National Laboratories administrator Dorothy McKibbin until her death in 1985. During World War II, Manhattan Project administrator J. Robert Oppenheimer hired McKibbin to provide logistical support to the hundreds of newly arriving scientists in Santa Fe. The McKibbin House served as a social center where Manhattan Project scientists could mingle away from their clandestine work in Los Alamos. Designed by McKibbin’s friend and designer, Katherine Stinson Otero, the one-story, U-shaped house is built with thick adobe walls and is covered with a flat roof. Most windows and doors include Territorial Revival style, which is characterized by Greek-style pediments and symmetrical fenestration and a porch supported by posts and corbels. In Albuquerque, the Cal-Linn Building is significant as a key site in the early history of the personal computer. The building, adjacent to the State Fairgrounds in Albuquerque’s International District, formerly housed the offices and assembly facilities of early computer development company Micro Instrumentation & Telemetry Systems (MITS) and the first office of Microsoft. Between 1973 and 1975, MITS operated within this building during the development and release of the Altair 8800, widely recognized as the first commercially successful microcomputer kit. In 1975, the Cal-Linn Building also housed the earliest operations of Microsoft, as Paul Allen and later Bill Gates worked in dedicated space within the complex to develop and adapt the BASIC…