New Mexico

In 1931, the governor signed an architectural act establishing the New Mexico Board. That year, the board licensed 29 architects, including C.R. Carr, who became one of the jurisdiction’s first Member Board Members.

The late-1980s brought a lot of changes to architects in New Mexico. In 1986, the board reported several troubling cases of firms purchasing the stamps of young architects. Updates to the state’s architectural act in 1988 led to two major changes: the definition of architects was updated to reflect overlaps with engineering, and an educator member was added to the board’s composition—a position that remains today. Additionally, state law was rewritten to specify that all building plans involving public safety or health must be prepared by an architect, except in the case of single-family dwellings and multiple dwellings of four units or less.