1840s Old Town Hacienda, Now a Private Social Club
618 Rio Grande Blvd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104
Research updated May 2026
Age
21+
Cost
$$$
Members-only social club access. Exterior viewing is free from Old Town public streets.
Access
Limited Access
Old Town adobe hacienda with traditional New Mexican architectural elements; viewing from the public street
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1840 · National Register of Historic Places · New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties · Salvador Armijo and Old Town Albuquerque · Five-Generation Armijo Family Ownership
The Salvador Armijo House was built in the 1840s in what is now Albuquerque's Old Town neighborhood by Salvador Armijo (1823–1879), a prosperous merchant and the nephew of Mexican-period Governor Manuel Armijo. The house remained in the Armijo family for five generations and was remodeled or expanded several times, most notably in the 1870s and the early 1900s. During the mid-twentieth century portions of the building were converted into apartments.
The property was listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties in 1975 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 1977, Armijo's great-great-granddaughter Frances Wilson sold the house, and it was converted into a restaurant named Maria Teresa after the Spanish silver coin. The Maria Teresa restaurant operated through 2004, when it closed.
After the restaurant closed, the Hotel Albuquerque purchased the property and operated it first as a nightclub called Casa Esencia, then renovated it into a members-only social club, which is its current use.
Sources
Staff at the Maria Teresa restaurant — which occupied the Salvador Armijo House from 1977 through its 2004 closure — described voices, unusual noises, and sensations of being touched by unseen presences during after-hours work. These accounts are collected in regional New Mexico ghost-tourism coverage and in cody Polston's history-of-paranormal writing on the Albuquerque area.
Local tradition holds that the building's continuous occupation from the 1840s through the present, layered with Armijo family generations and multiple commercial conversions, makes it one of Old Town Albuquerque's most often-cited haunted addresses. The current Casa Esencia members-only social club does not promote paranormal programming.
Media Appearances
The exterior of the 1840s Salvador Armijo House can be viewed from the public streets of Albuquerque's Old Town neighborhood. The building is now a members-only social club and is not open to general public foot traffic.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Albuquerque, NM
Whittlesey House at 201 Highland Park Circle SE was built in 1903 by Charles Frederick Whittlesey, an architect for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. The three-story log-and-stone Norwegian Vernacular building was added to the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties in 1975 and is a contributing property in the Huning Highlands Historic District (1978). The Albuquerque Press Club has owned and operated it since 1973.
Phoenix, AZ
The Bouvier-Teeter House is an 1899 Midwestern-style bungalow built by cattleman and flour miller Leon Bouvier in what is now Phoenix's Heritage Square. In 1911, Eliza Teeter — a widow with six children — traded her Tempe farmland to Bouvier for the home and ran it as a boarding house for over five decades. She lived in the house until her death there in 1965 at age 96.
Augusta, GA
Built in 1835 for Augusta merchant John Phinizy, the Federal-style mansion at 519 Greene Street changed hands multiple times before a significant chapter as a funeral home from 1933 to 1938. It subsequently operated as an Elks Lodge and later became a private event venue known as the Marion Hatcher Center.