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Tours and Site Map
Visiting the Couse House by Special Arrangement The house can be visited
by special arrangement May through October. The Couse house is located one block
east of Taos Plaza on the south side of Kit Carson Road. Parking is available
at the house, or in a municipal lot to the east, at the bottom of the hill.
Until ownership of the Couse house and Sharp studios has been assumed by The
Couse Foundation, the property is still the private home of the Couse family.
Recognizing the special experience provided by a visit to this historic place,
the family welcomes individuals and small groups by pre-arrangement in the summertime,
May through October. At present, there is no fee for the visit but voluntary
contributions to The Couse Foundation are accepted. The house is old and fragile
and constructed at one and two-step levels. It is not equipped for handicapped
or wheelchair access.
Arrangements to visit may be made by telephone: 575-751-0369
The Couse House
146 East Kit Carson Road
Taos, New Mexico
The Historic Site
The historic site includes not only the home and studio of E.I.Couse, but the
garden designed by his wife, Virginia, the workshops of his son, Kibbey, and
the two studios of his neighbor and fellow artist, Joseph Henry Sharp. The site
also reflects the contributions of a long history of previous owners.
The Couse house sits on the brink of an escarpment that originally defined the
defensive nature of old Spanish Taos. Occupation of the site began when Juan
de Luna built a family chapel there about 1835. Although the Luna chapel remained
a separate property, Pedro Luna built a small house against the chapel's south
wall in 1839. Various owners added to Pedro's house over the years, and when
the Couses purchased it in 1909, it had grown to seven rooms. The artist immediately
added a large studio to the existing structure and his wife began to carve a
garden into the barren hillside.
The Couses continued to make significant changes and additions throughout their
lifetime. After his mother's death in late 1929, their son Kibbey returned to
Taos to care for his widowed father. He converted the family garage into a machine
shop and added another building to the south, where he planned to manufacture
his invention, the Couse Mobile Machine Shop. With his father's death in 1936,
his plans changed and he built his factory in New Jersey. No significant changes
were made to the Couse house or its contents after that time.
Map of the Site
To download a map for printing, Click Here.
Aerial photos of the Couse-Sharp Historic Site
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