wfn.org | PC(USA) Will Not Purchase O'Keeffe Property

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

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5-September-1998 
98295 
 
    PC(USA) Will Not Purchase O'Keeffe Property 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
    and Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-After rounds of negotiations, the Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.) has opted not to buy a 12-acre parcel of land in New Mexico once 
owned by the late artist Georgia O'Keeffe, according to church officials 
here. 
 
    The deal was clinched Sept. 4 in agreements that both relinquish the 
denomination's option to buy the property in exchange for $350,000 from the 
Burnett Foundation, Texas-based investors interested in preserving 
O'Keeffe's legacy in the Southwest, and restrict future use of the land. 
Final documents will be signed next week. 
 
      The acreage sits inside the boundaries of the denomination's 
21,000-acre Ghost Ranch Conference Center. 
 
    The five-person PC(USA) negotiating team also agreed to provide an 
easement for a private road to O'Keeffe's adobe house, which also sits on 
the property.  The foundation agreed to follow its original plan to 
restrict the use of the house to O'Keeffe scholars. 
 
    In a statement issued when the agreement was near completion, GAC 
executive director John Detterick said, "We are pleased to have arrived at 
an agreement that protects the integrity of both the Georgia O'Keeffe 
property and our program at Ghost Ranch.  We believe this arrangement 
adequately meets the needs of both the church and the arts community. 
 
    "The agreement," Detterick said, "reflects good financial stewardship 
on the part of the church.  I expect that the proceeds from this 
transaction can be used to enhance programming and make much needed 
improvements at Ghost Ranch." 
 
    In addition to the $350,000 waiver fee and road easement, the deal 
allows the Burnett Foundation to transfer the property to the Georgia 
O'Keeffe Museum and Study Center in Santa Fe, provides for a $100,000 
refund in earnest money the church paid in July to guarantee its right of 
first refusal and gives current owner Juan Hamilton and then the PC(USA) 
first refusal rights in the unlikely event the foundation decides to sell 
the property. 
 
    Property restrictions - outlined in an agreement between the foundation 
and Hamilton and designated for 100 years -  include closing the house to 
the general public, restoring the existing buildings there and limiting 
future construction. In exchange for the 100-year restrictions, the church 
agreed not to build on a nearby 10-acre tract of land for the same time 
frame. 
 
     Further, Hamilton has agreed to serve as the intermediary should 
disputes about the restrictions arise between the church and the 
foundation.  Hamilton may also designate one of three entities as his 
substitute - including the PC(USA) - to enforce the property restrictions 
if he chooses.  If no designation is made at his death, the PC(USA) is 
automatically granted enforcement powers. 
 
    "The restrictions on the O'Keeffe property should ensure that the 
church's use of Ghost Ranch is not disturbed," PC(USA) general counsel Eric 
Graninger told the Presbyterian News Service, noting that preserving the 
conference center's remote atmosphere was the primary interest of the 
church. 
 
    The argument was made within the PC(USA) that buying the O'Keeffe 
property outright could be a way to attract new donors to a conference 
center that has suffered financially over the last several years and is in 
need of maintenance.  Ghost Ranch already offers a half-dozen programs each 
year focusing on some aspect of O'Keeffe's art, according to its acting 
director, Tom Guiles. 
 
    The church became embroiled in the legal dispute when the foundation - 
operated by John and Anne Marion of Fort Worth, Texas - offered $3 million 
for the property, which has been appraised at $750,000, though the 
celebrity connection increases its actual value.  The Marions reportedly 
offered the church $250,000 early in the summer in hopes it  might waive 
its first-refusal rights.  The church declined that offer and filed suit in 
New Mexico to temporarily halt the sale of the property. 
 
    Many of O'Keeffe's more famous paintings were done during her years at 
the adobe house, which - like the neighboring conference center - has 
panoramic views of the New Mexican desert's cliffs and buttes, many of 
which O'Keeffe captured on canvas. Hamilton inherited the O'Keeffe property 
and granted the denomination first-refusal rights in 1987, should the 
property ever be sold, in exchange for four additional acres of land. 
 
    The fragile mud house needs an estimated $500,000 worth of 
restorations, according to an article in the "Santa Fe Reporter." 
 
    The Marions founded the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Study Center in 
nearby Santa Fe and have pumped more than $55 million into arts projects in 
the city since 1994. 
 
    "I'm pleased we've been able to come to an agreement with the Marions 
that provides protection for our property and program at Ghost Ranch and 
allows them to achieve their goals for the legacy of Georgia O'Keeffe.  I 
hope, as we move into the future, we'll be able to work with them on 
possible future programming," said the Rev. Ed Craxton, associate director 
for Christian education in the Congregational Ministries Division (CMD) and 
a member of the church's negotiating team. 
 
    CMD is charged with oversight of the denomination's three conference 
centers. 

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