Ernie Pyle House/Library
900 Girard SE, 1940, Mount and McCollum, Builders

Ernie Pyle and his wife, Jerry, had this house built after years of roving the Americas for Ernie's work as a syndicated columnist. Both hailed from the Midwest but chose Albuquerque for a home after visiting many times and developing, in Pyle's words, "a deep, unreasoning affection" for New Mexico and befriending Edward Shaffer, editor of the Albuquerque Tribune, and his wife, Liz.

Pyle's stories of the people and places he and Jerry visited across the Americas had made him famous by 1940. But it was his personal, soldier-oriented dispatches from military theaters overseas, read avidly by millions during World War II, that brought him high acclaim and, in 1942, a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished war correspondence.Wartime work and travel kept Pyle far from home for months at a time, and some of his columns mentioned Jerry and the little white house and picket fence back in Albuquerque.

Ernie Pyle was killed in action by a sniper on a Pacific island in April, 1945. Four months later the war ended, and Jerry died later that year. The City of Albuquerque acquired the house from the Pyle estate and in 1948 opened it as a branch library. Ever since, the City has preserved it carefully and displayed Ernie Pyle memorabilia alongside the library's books. Visitors come from the neighborhood, all the United States, and many other countries.

Since the history behind the house is its most significant feature, and its conversion to a library has preserved the general character of the house and all its details, any future restoration or rehabilitation should reflect that character. Both the interior room configuration and the landscaping, even the picket fence built by Pyle and the grave marker of their dog, Cheetah, must be preserved to reflect the history and time period of its owner.