William Lumpkins

William Thomas Lumpkins (April 8, 1909 - March 20, 2000). Born at Rabbit Ears Ranch near Clayton, Territorial New Mexico. Education: Roswell High School (1929, where he met Peter Hurd), UNM (art), Colorado State (engineering), USC (architecture, 1934). Married Norma Pruneau (1962).

Described in the 1980 Rocky Mountain News profile of Karen Terry as “often referred to as the ‘grandfather of solar’ in his part of the world.” The 2017 Cap’A interview with Bruce W. Davis places him among the pioneers of the New Mexico passive solar movement — which it dates to the 1940s — as “one of the pioneers of passive solar adobe construction,” named alongside Peter Van Dresser and John Gromim.

Architecture career

Built his first passive solar house in 1935 in Capitan, NM — decades before the solar movement, the basis for the “grandfather of solar” epithet. Worked in the WPA architectural division (1934-38). Opened his firm in Santa Fe in 1938. WWII service as Navy Lt. Commander, Chief of Flight Operations, Memphis (1941-46). Lived and worked in San Diego for 15 years post-war; relocated to La Jolla around 1950. Returned permanently to Santa Fe in 1967. Designed over 2,000 buildings in the Santa Fe area. Wrote the adobe specifications chapter of the Uniform Building Code.

Sun Mountain Design (1972)

Founded Sun Mountain Design in 1972 — a solar energy design firm that brought together David Wright, Keith Haggard, Travis Price, Peter Goodwin, Herman Barkman, and Wayne Nichols. Co-designed the Balcomb House / Unit One at First Village, Santa Fe (1976) with Susan Nichols — an adobe house that was 80% solar-heated, documented in Mother Earth News.

The Karen Terry referral

When Karen Terry decided she wanted a solar house on land her mother had given her, she was directed to Lumpkins; he in turn directed her to David Wright, then living in New Mexico, who adapted a variation of his own house around her ideas. The result was The Karen Terry House (1974) — the second passive solar house built in New Mexico.

Sun-dwellings design team (1973-1976)

Per the ASES regional history and the Van Dresser biography, Lumpkins sat on the NMSEA Sun-dwellings design team headed by Peter van Dresser, which began meeting in Santa Fe in 1973 — alongside David Wright, Francis Wessling, Steve Baer, Benjamin “Buck” Rogers, Mark Chalom, Aubrey Owen, and Keith Haggard. The team designed four two-bedroom passive-solar dormitory test units at Ghost Ranch, built from summer 1976 under Quentin Wilson and Mark Chalom; the best-performing building supplied 78% of its needed heat versus 18% for the control.

Publications

Adobe Past and Present (1974), Casa Del Sol (1981), La Casa Adobe (1986), New Mexico Style (1995), Pueblo Architecture and Modern Adobes (1998).

Art career

Founding member of the Transcendental Painting Group (1938). Co-founded the Santa Fe Art Institute (1985). Work exhibited at the Smithsonian, MFA Boston, and Centre Pompidou (1982 exhibition). La Fonda hotel ballroom in Santa Fe named in his honor.

Awards

1985 NM Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. 1988 Santa Fe first Arts Recognition Award. National Historic Preservation Award.