Built in 1845, the farmhouse house is an example of early-mid 19th century Spanish Pueblo adobe architecture.

In 1937 the house was recorded in the Historic America Buildings Survey of the National Park Service.

[2] He later built a compound of homes on the property along Camino de Monte Sol for himself and the artists of the Los Cinco Pintores collective of painters including Joseph Bakos, Fremont Ellis, Willard Nash, and Will Shuster.

[6] Applegate collected arts and crafts made by Native American artists, as well as works by Hispanic santeros, saint carvers.

[1][8] A monograph of his work, Frank Applegate of Santa Fe: Artist and Preservationist, was published in 2001.