Posted October 17, 2023
Folk Art on a Grand Scale
Antonito’s current “claim to fame”, or tourist attraction, is the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad,. The historic old station is located at the west side of town. Tourists go there to catch the 10:00 am scenic train ride to Chama, NM. While driving around some of the side streets of Antonito, I spotted a couple of silver spires well off the main road at the east side of town.
Darla and drove through the neighborhoods and found this quite unique set of buildings and…well…stuff! As it turned out, the spires were a part of an artist/resident’s home. He was working on a new wing on his house at the time so I asked for permission to take photos. He gave me the “thumbs up” sign and continued working.
The main section of this dwelling masterpiece is painted silver, or is covered with chrome and silver objects. I told my wife, “This guy is good…I don’t think the design crew at Disney could outdo him to get this look!” He didn’t come down from his work to ask for money, so I have to assume he’s building it simply to satisfy his artistic vision.
The Chrome Palace
Quite honestly, I don’t know if the place has an official name. I liked Chrome Palace! Next time I am in Antonito, I’ll go back to check on the progress of his new wing! Just to try something new, I applied a teal and orange preset adjustment on a few of the gallery images below.
