1 Richard J. Neutra to Thomas J. Allen, "Rough
Draft of letter," January 25, 1963, Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO)
archives.
2 The Painted Desert Inn suffered from severe
structural problems. A 1960 "master plan" drawing noted that it would
either be adapted or replaced by an interpretive center on the same
site. In an earlier memorandum to the Director, Harthon L. Bill commented
that "with MISSION 66 at Petrified Forest it has been anticipated that
this structure would be evacuated by the concessioner and that as a
temporary expedient the structure could be utilized for interpretive
exhibits." See "Structural Inspection, Painted Desert Inn, Petrified
Forest," memorandum, Harthon L. Bill to Conrad Wirth, September 3, 1958.
In 1998 the Inn was open and undergoing renovation.
3 Laura Soulliere Harrison, "Painted Desert
Inn," National Register of Historic Places inventory form in Architecture
in the Parks (National Park Service, 1986); Jeffrey F. Burton, Days
in the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forests of Northern Arizona
(National Park Service: Western Archeological and Conservation Center,
1993), 29-30.
4 Wright's project, "Meteor Crater Inn for
Burton Tremaine" is pictured in Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph,
1942-1950, Yukio Futagawa, ed. (Tokyo: ADA Edita, 1988). A scrapbook
in the office of Meteor Crater Enterprises, Inc., contains an article
from the June 25, 1959, Mojave Miner (Kingman) with mention of
Philip Johnson's design.
5 Several books on Johnson neglect to mention
the Meteor Crater Museum. According to Philip Johnson, Architecture
1949-1965 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966) the Meteor
Crater Pavilion designed by the architect in 1950 has been destroyed.
Since concessions and services have been expanded, it is unclear whether
the extant museum building was designed by Johnson.
6 Richard Neutra, "Housing in Mild Climates,"
Progressive Architecture (October 1953); Neutra, Mystery and
Realities of the Site (Scarsdale, New York: Morgan & Morgan,
Publishers, 1951).
7 Annual Report of the Department of
the Interior, 1957, PEFO archives.
8 See the following drawings on microfiche
in the Technical Information Center (TIC), Denver Service Center (DSC):
"Addition to Museum and Administration Building," Rainbow Forest, #2047-A;
"Addition to Visitor Center," 2047-B; "Addition to Visitor Center" (working
drawing), 2047-C.
9 Assistant Director Stratton to Superintendent,
memorandum, September 7, 1962.
10 "News Media Fact Sheet, Dedication of
Petrified Forest National Park and New Visitor Facilities," October
27, 1963, PEFO archives.
11 Superintendent's Monthly Report (Fred
C. Fagergren), November 9, 1956, PEFO archives.
12 "Proposed Layout, Headquarters, Painted
Desert," #3206 (6-10-57); microfiche, TIC.
13 "Employee Residences, Painted Desert
Residential Area," #3208 (7-12-97), 2 sheets, TIC.
14 Drawings prepared and designed by Doty,
"Residential and Utility Area," #3212 (2-12-58), TIC.
15 Superintendent's Monthly Report, May
9, 1958, PEFO archives.
16 Superintendent's Monthly Report, May
9, 1958, PEFO archives.
17 "Drawings for Headquarters Development,
Petrified Forest," memorandum, Thomas C. Vint to Chief, WODC, May 9,
1958. Vint also mentioned an attached sketch, which was "not an attempt
to design the development but is to be taken more as an indication of
general distribution of facilities in the area."
18 Richard J. Neutra and Robert E. Alexander,
"Homes for National Park Service Families on a Wind-Swept Desert," n.d.,
Rare Book and Manuscripts Collections, Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell
University Library, Ithaca, New York. Some of the drawings used in the
text are dated May 15, 1958.
19 The landscape architectural branch of
WODC produced a new plan after February 1958 in response to Neutra and
Alexander's preliminary drawings. This layout flips the location of
administration and concession buildings and locates the employee apartments
to the north of the visitor center. During the December conference,
this alternative was abandoned and the previous plan reinstated. See
"Painted Desert Region, Part of the Master Plan," #3202-D, TIC.
20 "Painted Desert Preliminary Plan Discussion,
Los Angeles, December 19," memorandum, Superintendent to Regional Director,
Region Three, December 23, 1958.
21 Jerome C. Miller and K.M. Saunders met
with the architects in their office on December 12 and made the following
alterations in building size: administration-orientation building and
covered corridor reduced from 11,000 to 8,880 square feet; maintenance
structure and vehicle storage shed reduced from 15,350 to 10,600 square
feet. The eight apartment units remained 4,000 square feet. Total reduction
amounted to 6,870 square feet. See "Painted Desert Preliminary Plan
Discussion."
22 "Work SchedulePainted Desert,
Petrified Forest," memorandum, Hugh M. Miller, Regional Director to
Director, March 6, 1959.
23 "Work Schedule, Painted Desert, Petrified
Forest," memorandum, Director to Chief, WODC, February 17, 1959; "Petrified
Forest NMPainted Desert Development Construction Funds as Now
Available or Programmed," January 16, 1959.
24 Sanford Hill to Regional Director, Region
Three, "Los Angeles Meeting, Painted Desert HeadquartersPetrified
Forest," memorandum, December 24, 1958.
25 "College Buildings: St. John's, Science
and Art in a Venerable Setting," Architectural Record, vol. 126,
no. 3 (September 1959): 176-179.
26 Hines, Richard Neutra, 236.
27 John Rollow, for Richard Neutra and
Robert Alexander, to Fred Fagergren, November 29, 1961.
28 National Geographic, vol. 120,
no. 6 (December 1961): 882-885.
29 "Architect Richard Neutra, What Will
the Neighbors Think?" Time, vol. 54, no. 7 (August 15, 1949).
30 Superintendent's Monthly Report, October
3, 1958; "Part II, More Livable Homes, Bold New Plan for Best Land Use,"
Life, vol. 24, no. 12 (September 22, 1958). Fagergren may not
have known that the Life magazine with Neutra's picture on the
cover (1949) included two pages of "Modern Houses across the U.S." with
examples by Stone, Wright, Gropius and others. The article singled out
Neutra for special praise.
31 Edward Durell Stone, The Evolution
of an Architect (New York: Horizon Press, 1962), 148-149.
32 Superintendent's Monthly Report, March
14, 1960.
33 "New Standard Plans for Permanent Employee
Housing," memorandum, Director Wirth to Regional Directors, Chiefs,
EODC and WODC; Superintendent, National Capital Parks (NCP), February
17, 1960.
34 "New Standard Plans for Permanent Employee
Housing," memorandum, Sanford Hill to Regional Director, March 3, 1960;
attachments: floorplans and "Selective Components for NPS Standard House
Plans."
35 "Justification for Exceeding Cost Limitation,
Single-Unit Employee Housing, Petrified Forest NM," memorandum, Sanford
Hill to Fred C. Fagergren, March 11, 1960; "Employee Housing Construction
Cost Limitation," memorandum, Fred C. Fagergren to Sanford Hill, March
21, 1960.
36 "Painted Desert Housing Plans," memorandum,
Fred C. Fagergren to Regional Director, Region Three, April 21, 1960.
37 "Painted Desert Housing Plans," memorandum,
Jerome C. Miller to Fred C. Fagergren, May 3, 1960.
38 Sanford Hill to Richard J. Neutra and
Robert E. Alexander, February 29, 1960.
39 "Typical Floor Plans, Housing," Neutra
and Alexander, January 9, 1959, microfiche, TIC.
40 Sanford Hill to Richard J. Neutra and
Robert E. Alexander, April 6, 1960.
41 Fred C. Fagergren to Sanford Hill, April
11, 1960.
42 Neutra and Alexander's "as constructed"
drawings are dated January 31, 1961. Consultants on the project were
Boris M. Lemos, mechanical engineer, and Parker, Zehnder and Associates,
structural engineers, both of Los Angeles. The Park Service revised
the drawings in May 1967.
43 "Residential: Award Citation," Progressive
Architecture (January 1959), 146-147.
44 Superintendent's Monthly Report, May
10, 1961.
45 The Stratton Company of Hurricane, Utah,
also worked on this contract.
46 Dion Neutra to Fred C. Fagergren, June
13, 1961.
47 This chapter is based on two year's
worth of "inspector's weekly construction reports" filed between April
1, 1961, and April 27, 1963. See PEFO archives.
48 Harry J. Mills to Fred C. Fagergren,
March 9, 1962.
49 Fred C. Fagergren to Dean Rasmussen,
August 23, 1962; John Rollow to Fred Fagergren, August 17, 1962.
50 Fred C. Fagergren to Harry J. Mills,
June 4, 1962.
51 "Occupancy of New Headquarters Building,"
memorandum, Fred C. Fagergren to Regional Director, Southwest Region,
July 18, 1962. PEFO archives.
52 "Open House Coincides with 'Founders
Day' at Painted Desert Reception Center," Holbrook Tribune (August
17, 1962).
53 "Painted Desert Reception Center," Marc
Sagan and Edward J. Bierly, Branch of Museums, Washington, February
4, 1960.
54 The monument was authorized to become
a park when Eisenhower signed legislation on March 28, 1958, but the
designation was delayed until the government gained title of private
lands. See Lubick, "Petrified Forest National Park," 137.
55 Stratton to Fred C. Fagergren, September
7, 1962.
56 John Rollow to Fred Fagergren, July
27, 1961.
57 John Rollow to Fred C. Fagergren, November
28, 1961.
58 John Rollow to Fred C. Fagergren, May
2, 1962.
59 Superintendent's Monthly Report, April
13, 1962.
60 Fred C. Fagergren to Dean Rasmussen,
February, 1962.
61 Fred C. Fagergren to Dean Rasmussen,
October 23, 1962.
62 "Color Schedule Painted Desert Community,"
Neutra and Alexander, May 7, 1962, PEFO archives.
63 "Suggestions from Mr. Richard J. Neutra
regarding residences," ca. January 26, 1963.
64 Richard Neutra to Thomas J. Allen, "Rough
Draft," January 25, 1963.
65 A plan for the "Proposed School" by
the WODC dated February, 1962, shows the footprint of the school building
and the proposed play area with baseball diamond and tennis court. See
drawing #3236, TIC, DSC.
66 Alexander took on the project after
the dissolution of the partnership.
67 A "Bob Petley Postcard," published by
Petley Studios, Inc. of Albuquerque, New Mexico, featured "Painted Desert
Northern Arizona" in an "aerial view showing the visitors center and
the vast Painted Desert." The undated card is in the collection of Rita
Garcia, Petrified Forest, National Park.
68 "Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona,"
brochure accompanying dedication material, n.d., PEFO archives.
69 Richard Neutra to Thomas J. Allen, "rough
draft," January 25, 1963.
70 Fred C. Fagergren to Chief, WODC, February
21, 1962; Richard Neutra to Fred C. Fagergren and Philip F. Van Cleave,
chief park naturalist, February 17, 1962.
71 Richard Neutra, Life and Shape
(New York: Van Rees Press, 1962), 338-343.
72 See the following drawings located in
the Technical Information Center, "General Plan, Painted Desert Plaza,"
March 1962; "Plaza and Related Areas, Painted Desert Community," March
1963; "Planting Trees and Periphery," April 1963.
73 Interview with Charlene Yazzie, chief
of maintenance, by the author, Petrified Forest National Park, July
31, 1998.
74 Jerry A. Riddell to Chief, WODC, "Inspection
of buildings at Painted Desert Community," July 30, 1964.
75 Robert E. Alexander, "Report on Petrified
Forest Installation," July 22, 1964; Robert Alexander to Sanford Hill,
July 24, 1964, PEFO archives.
76 The Petrified Forest archives contain
extensive records relating to the lawsuit.
77 H. G. Gibbs, "Inspection of damage and
foundation movements at Painted Desert Community," travel report, August
24, 1964; L. Kucera, "Investigation of Structural Failures of Block
Walls," ca. August, 1964.
78 Murray L. Crosse to Chairman, Board
of Contract Appeals, memorandum, ca. September 8, 1964.
79 "Remodeling Carports to Garages," WODC,
#3310, March, 1964, TIC.
80 See "Alterations to Lobby," Western
Regional Office, #80005, TIC. The community room was remodeled at this
time and the "large metal door removed and the area enclosed." Charles
A. Veitl, Superintendent's Annual Report, 1973.
81 Roger K. Rector, Superintendent's Annual
Report, 1979.
82 The present entrance to the Fred Harvey
building was not part of the Neutra/Alexander design. Originally, visitors
saw only the entrance to the visitor center from the parking lot, and
could only enter the concession building from within the courtyard.
The new entrance was installed at an unknown date.
83 David B. Ames to Manager, Texaco, Inc.,
March 18, 1976.