Franklin , Jean Michel and Clipper and JM 's house
Franklin Mac Fie and Jean Michel Belluc bought land in Medenales New Mexico . Jean Michel built a somewhat traditional Northern New Mexican style adobe but included a Morroccan style fire place and an inner courtyard not usual in this part of the world. Meanwhile Franklin made a very creative and unusual ferro cement house that changed with various developments. He started out with the idea of geodesic dome, however he didn’t reinforce the frame enough and ended up with sculpted free form that blended into the hill organically allowing Franklin to create an incredibly beautiful interior as well. It had a “Star Trek” like window over looking the field to the Chama River.Sometimes it got referred to as Franklin’s Hobbit House. It included a wall of found glass and gloriously merged organically with the hard adobe earth of New Mexico.
Here is typical type phenomenon that happened while they were living there. The Major Domo of the Chama Accequia ( the Head Boss of the Chama ditch) Reynel Maestes sold them the land and noticed certain leadership qualities of Jean Michel (IBM executive -French aristocrat attributes, he was used to $ and power,etc) Reynel goes to the ditch meeting with his loaded pistol. He shoots the ceiling and shouts that the Frenchman ( the gay Frenchman) will be the new Major Domo! He will get us more water from the big guys in Santa Fe and the Feds -and he did! Later on, when some young fool makes the mistake of stealing from Jean Michel and Franklin – Jean Michel shuts the water off ( their life blood !) until what ever it was got returned..Right away! and it was.
Below: Franklin incongruently on a horse in front of a part of rental house on adjacent property that they lived in while building. A typical New Mexico situation: they had 4 rooms and the largest one had barbwire running through it along the line of Vigas (rough hewned logs supporting the ceiling) to mark where one brother of the family owned part of the house!
Franklin on horse at the rental house
MacFie's Western Photo
these photo’s are part of a huge set of Polaroid photos done at this time
Franklin in his surroundings
Franklin's house
