Donald Judd Historic District of Marfa joins the National Registration
The Texas Historical Commission (THC), a group that oversees the preservation of the state, announced that minimalist artist Donald Judd has reused a range of buildings, under the responsibility of two artist foundations, has been added to a national register that provides a protected status for long-standing cultural sites.
This list gives artists the future authority to preserve the work in the compound of West Texas town.
The name, approved by the National Park Service in May 2025, is part of an application issued by the Texas Commission this fall to expand existing military zones, including the Judd Foundation for shared locations.
Now, the town’s Da Russell historic district will include the name Judd found, and will also span 15 buildings and a large-scale installation, all of which were restored or produced by Judd between 1973 until his death in 1994.
The remodeled yard attracted widespread attention from Marfa, home to a former military base that was closed in the 1960s. Judd arrived in the early 1970s and over the next two decades he converted the resolved complex into outdoor facilities and studio spaces, eventually becoming the home of The Cintati and Judd Foundations, which are separate entities.
Judd carefully changed the elements of the structure left behind after the base closure and freely expanded the way he hoped to obtain funds from the New York DIA Foundation starting in 1978. At the time, Dia was newly formed and set up a board of directors that aimed to help artists build ambitious single human museums and provide a luxury budget.
When Judd came to Presidio County in 1971, he wanted to take over part of the land and build the work on a larger scale, an approach that was not feasible in New York City, and he was his former position. Nine buildings and memorial artworks are managed by the Chinati Foundation, and the Judd Foundation was established in 1986 to exhibit larger works.
Six other buildings are run by the Judd Foundation, which retains the artist’s former residence and work space.
This is the town’s second historic district with Judd, second only to the Marfa Historic District in the middle designated in 2022.
