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Mission 66 Visitor Centers
Chapter 4 |
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A Case of "Gross Negligence":
Structural Problems at the Painted Desert
One rainy September Sunday in 1962, Inspector Mott noticed some cracks in concrete that had been poured on undisturbed grade. It was a damp day, and since he had "observed a similar condition at Dinosaur Visitor Center," Mott concluded that the earth below the foundation was unstable, perhaps even the bentonite that had so damaged Dinosaur. By January 1963, the park assembled its own specialists, Richard Neutra, and Dean Rasmussen for a final inspection of the Community, Trailer Park, and Maintenance Building. The group discovered enough deficiences in construction to consider a lawsuit. With what must have seemed like astonishing audacity to the Park Service, the Rasmussen Company appealed its contract for the residences, thereby forcing the park to seek damages. On July 8, 1963, Department Counsel Murray Crosse represented the government in a hearing of the "contract appeal case of Rasmussen Construction Company." During this process, Chief Architect Jerry Riddell and Robert Alexander conducted an inspection, only to find that "all the buildings of the Painted Desert Community have been affected by varying degrees of soil movement," clear evidence of "gross negligence." [74] The problems ranged from blatant failure to follow specifications for reinforcing steel to poor masonry and shoddy workmanship attributed to the many change orders that had resulted from budget cutbacks. In a follow-up report, Alexander advised condemning the buildings because, in the event of an earthquake, "many lives would be in danger of immediate extinction. Even a strong wind, which is common at the site, could topple a patio wall." [75] Riddell suggested immediate legal action against Rasmussen, predicting that the contractor would be "awarded a judgment in his case now pending decision." The Chief Architect was correct in his assumption; the contractors won the appeal. [76]
But the government was hardly willing to concede the case, nor could it afford to absorb such a financial loss. The park used its new proof of structural deficiencies to request a revised settlement. Finally, in August 1964, the Board of Contract Appeals conceded that certain delays and deficiencies were the responsibility of the Rasmussen Company and divided the costs between client and contractor. Throughout this process, Park Service officials continued to perform structural tests; Chief Engineer H. G. Gibbs examined the foundations, and WODC Structural Engineer Lada Kucera analyzed the steel reinforcing. [77] Both mendiscovered problems. In a letter of September 9, 1964, the department counsel asked for a reconsideration of the matter after WODC engineers reported "serious structural damage" in Rasmussen buildings. [78] The government does not appear to have received additional compensation for the problems, which demanded immediate attention and continued management.
The Park Service had gathered extensive evidence of deficiencies in the construction of the Painted Desert for use in the lawsuit and, in the midst of the controversy, began to accept bids for repairing "structural defects in residences at Painted Desert Community." By March 1964, the park was already planning extensive repairs, including remodeling the carports into garages. [79] This work, essentially closing the open shelters with concrete block walls, was not actually begun until about four years later. By then damage had progressed enough to require more radical solutions than patching and plastering. Superintendent Donald A. Drayton took pictures of the damage after the summer rainy season in 1968 and sent them to the regional director along with a plea for help. Even after considering suggestions by Riddell and his office, the Superintendent believed "phased replacement and relocation" of the residences the most viable option. One suggestion from the design office involved a method of surfacing the area around the buildings to prevent moisture from sinking in. However, Dr. Rush, a consultant and geology professor at Northern Arizona University, told Drayton that when bentonite soils were covered in such a way, "a natural moisture pumping action is created," actually drawing the moisture from the outside into the bentonite foundation. After examining the site in 1971, Dames and Moore, consultants in applied earth science, found "no feasible solution to the problem" and predicted that the buildings would eventually have to be abandoned. Five years earlier, Dames and Moore had analyzed the adverse movement caused by the bentonite foundation at the Quarry Visitor Center, Dinosaur National Monument.
In 1973, Superintendent Charles A. Veitl announced changes in the visitor center, "implemented in order to achieve a standard of acceptance more in line with those outlined in the Activity Standards Handbook." These choices would also adjust the focus of interpretation from the country's national parks to the immediate Petrified Forest environment. First, the map locating every national park was replaced by exhibits of petrified wood. Wall panels describing the entire national park system were substituted with a series of illuminated views of sites throughout the park. These were accompanied by exhibit cases containing items from each featured site. The room was carpeted "to obtain a better, more 'lively' appearance and create an atmosphere . . . more conducive to interpretation." When visitation was particularly heavy, Park Service personnel could use a portable desk for souvenir sales, thus leaving the information table for its instructional purpose. Planning for the most significant alteration—the addition of an auditorium to the far end of the visitor center—began in November 1974. The park's orientation movie had been previously shown in the community building. Auditorium "Plan B" was accepted in April and approved working drawings by mid-summer. The construction drawings completed in June show a new end wall erected in the lobby, shortening the space by about one-third. Auditorium equipment, including the projection booth, appears to have been installed in the storage closets. [80] In 1979 a new front entrance vestibule was constructed. As built, the front facade of the visitor center featured floor-to-ceiling windows and glass double doors facing the parking lot. Today, visitors enter from the courtyard side and pass through the original front door to reach the lobby. The glassed-in entrance vestibule was intended to conserve energy and "to improve foot traffic control," but it also minimizes the focus on the visitor center building. [81] Whereas visitors originally saw only the doors to the visitor center as they approached the complex, in 2000 the entrance to the Fred Harvey building is more prominent. [82]
In March 1976, Superintendent David B. Ames requested that Fred Harvey, Inc., conform to the park's new color scheme. By June, all buildings were to be painted "cliff brown" with "tobacco brown" trim, including the Texaco station. [83] During the spring and summer of 1977 the park made further "improvements," reroofing the buildings and quarters and rehabilitating the houses. Citing lack of insulation as a problem during the winter, the park installed a Franklin stove in one unit as a test until further funds were approved. Carpeting was added both for insulation and to cover the linoleum floors cracked due to the moving bentonite foundation.
In 2000, the plan of the Painted Desert Community remains much as it was in 1963. All of the buildings are extant and the general circulation pattern remains intact. However, since the 1960s, changes have been made that, when taken together, significantly alter the aesthetics of the place. Although much of the remodeling was done to repair faulty construction, the methods of solving structural problems often evolved into aesthetic issues. For example, perhaps in an effort to cut down on glare, residential strip windows extending from wall to wall were reduced to standard rectangular windows. These rooms were once illuminated by a dramatic stripe of light; today, they are dark and oppressive. The open mudrooms, left unroofed so that laundry would dry quickly, are now covered over; if useful for storage, the enclosures diminish patio space and block additional light. Flat roofs—once the unifying feature of the entire complex—are now sometimes slanting, sometimes raised in zigzag profile. Flimsy metal rods with curling decorations have replaced the smooth metal poles supporting the covered walkways in front of the residences. The community building's aluminum roll down door has disappeared, leaving featureless wall in its place. Wood paneling covers much of the Fred Harvey building's once shimmering glass wall. One of the tiled columns is actually enclosed within a courtyard entrance vestibule. Although many of these alterations clearly originated out of functional needs, such as drainage and sun and wind protection, the chosen solutions also incorporated the aesthetic preferences of the day. In other circumstances, such decisions would hardly be worthy of mention, but at the Painted Desert Community, where every element reinforces a modernist aesthetic, these "domesticating" alterations might as well be Queen Anne turrets or classical pediments.
The Painted Desert Community was an experiment for the Park Service. If appropriate for the late 1950s, when Mission 66 promised a new park experience, the complex was too modern for the next generation. In the 1970s, changes were made to make the buildings seem warmer and more homey. Today, visitors might prefer the aesthetics of the original structure, with its brilliant colors, bare concrete, and sparkling chrome. Or, perhaps, they would rather return to the rustic Painted Desert Inn, the nearby historic concession building considered a liability during the Mission 66 program. Located less than a mile apart, these buildings were each the center of visitor services during their respective eras. Today the 1930s inn and the Painted Desert Community illustrate the challenge of contemporary historic preservation.
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Last Modified: Monday, Nov 6 2000 12:08:48 pm PDT
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