El Zaguán (Historic Santa Fe Foundation)

El Zaguán is a long, low adobe building on Canyon Road characterized by its flat roof, brick coping, and a central covered passageway—the feature that gives the property its name. First built in the mid-nineteenth century, the structure began as a modest farmhouse before it was purchased in eighteen fifty-four by James L. Johnson. As a merchant active in the Santa Fe Trail trade, Johnson expanded the house into a twenty-four-room residence that included a private chapel and extensive gardens fed by a historic irrigation ditch, or acequia.