Associated Historic Context
Sarah Allaback, Ph.D., Mission 66 Visitor Centers: The History of
a Building Type (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2000).
Period of Significance
The "Mission 66" program was initiated by the National Park Service
in 1956 and was to be completed by the 50th anniversary of the agency
in 1966. Earlier planning and development projects, however, set important
precedents for the program and determined much of the character of its
planning and architectural development. The "public use buildings" at
Carlsbad Caverns (beginning in 1953) and at Grand Canyon (beginning
in 1954), for example, were important steps in developing the visitor
center building type. The Mission 66 era, in the broadest sense, began
in 1945, when the postwar phase of park planning and design began at
the Park Service.
Conrad L. Wirth, who initiated the program as Park Service director,
stepped down in 1964. His successor, George B. Hartzog, Jr., continued
Mission 66 and initiated a successor program, "Parkscape," intended
to be finished in time for the Yellowstone centennial in 1972. The Mission
66 era therefore did not end in 1966, since this year did not mark a
significant termination or change in park planning and design policy.
The Parkscape program continued many of the basic assumptions, policies,
and architectural style of Mission 66. Change did arrive, but a few
years later, as the Park Service planning and design functions were
centralized in Denver (1971), environmental laws were enacted and implemented
(especially the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969), the Parkscape
program ended (1972), and the political context of Park Service leadership
changed with the appointment of a politician with no park management
experience, Ronald H. Walker, as Park Service director (January 1973).
The general period of significance for this historical context therefore
includes the years from 1945 to 1972.
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) requires that properties
less than 50 years old possess "exceptional importance" if they are
to be determined eligible for the register (Criteria Consideration G).
The historical context developed for Mission 66 visitor centers indicates
that only those visitor centers that served as early prototypes (1945-1956)
or which were part of the original, finite group of Mission 66 visitor
centers (1956-1966) potentially possess exceptional importance. The
period of significance for any Mission 66 visitor center of exceptional
importance should therefore fall within the years 1945-1966. Not all
visitor centers dating to this period, however, will possess exceptional
importance (see requirements for exceptional importance below).
Associated Property Type: The Visitor
Center
During the Mission 66 era, the Park Service built housing, maintenance
areas, roads, entrance stations, parking lots, campgrounds, comfort
stations, picnic shelters, concessioner buildings, and other park facilities
intended to serve park visitors and facilitate park management. This
contextual study is associated with one property type of the Mission
66 era: the park visitor center. Other Mission 66 property types besides
the visitor center may be identified in the future, but will be associated
with an expanded historical context and registration requirements.
Mission 66 planners coined the term "visitor center" to describe a
new building type they developed to serve the vastly increased numbers
of people (and their cars) who began visiting the national parks following
World War II. The visitor center combined old and new building programs,
and it was the centerpiece of a new era in planning for visitor services
in American national parks. The influence of the visitor center idea
was profound. New visitor centers (and the planning ideas behind them)
were used in the development or redevelopment of scores of state parks
in the United States, as well as nascent national park systems in Europe,
Africa, and elsewhere. The original, finite group of Mission 66 visitor
centers therefore became prototypes for a new approach to park planning
all over the world.
The visitor center typically is a centralized facility that includes
multiple visitor and administrative functions within a single architectural
floor plan or compound. The use of the word "center" indicated the planners
desire to centralize park interpretive and museum displays, new types
of interpretive presentations, park administrative offices, restrooms,
and various other visitor facilities. Like the contemporary "shopping
center," the visitor center made it possible for people to park their
cars at a central point, and from there have access to a range of services
or attractions. The visitor center facilitated and concentrated public
activities, and so helped prevent more random, destructive patterns
of use.
The more significant examples of visitor center design contributed
to the evolution of the museum, as a building type, as had earlier national
park museums of the 1920s and 1930s. Some visitor center activities
and programs, such as administrative offices and museum displays, had
been featured in "park village" developments since the early 1920s,
although usually in separate buildings. Other program elements, such
as interpretive displays, slide shows, and films, were being developed
at the time by Park Service interpretive planners and museum staff.
The term "interpretation" replaced "education" at the Park Service in
the late 1940s, and the new approach was extremely influential on the
development of the floor plans, spatial processions, and functional
spaces of Mission 66 visitor centers. Theater spaces for new slide shows
and 16 mm films soon became standard requirements, as did space for
interpretive displays which either replaced or complemented the more
familiar exhibit cases of older park museums. The "information" desk
(as opposed to interpretive or museum displays) became an essential
and central feature of the new facility, and emphasized rapid and efficient
dissemination of practical information related to park attractions,
visitor safety, and convenience.
The procession (or sequence of spaces) through a visitor center was
a particularly important aspect of its design. Increased numbers of
visitors required this attention to circulation and visitor "flow,"
and contemporary modern architectural design also stressed procession
as an aspect of planning new buildings. In Mission 66 visitor centers,
the spatial procession through the facility often included wide entrances
and exits, ramps and inclined planes, an open lobby, easy access to
exhibit and auditorium areas, and significant views of natural features
or historic sites (either from a terrace or through a window wall) to
facilitate interpretive talks.
The siting of visitor centers was determined by new considerations
in park master planning that involved the circulation of unprecedented
numbers of peoples and cars. The visitor center was an integral part
of a new approach to park planning. The new buildings were typically
sited in relation to the overall circulation plan of the park, in order
to efficiently intercept visitor flow at critical points. The criteria
for siting Mission 66 visitor centers therefore differed from the criteria
for siting and designing the park villages and museums of the prewar
era. In larger parks, new visitor centers were often sited at park entrances,
or on park roads "en route" to major destinations in the park. In other
cases, visitor centers were sited at a major destination or attraction
within the park. In some cultural parks, visitor centers were often
sited as close as possible to the landscape or other resource to be
interpreted. This implied a certain amount of encroachment on the park
landscape, but it was felt that this provided the most powerful means
of interpreting a site that otherwise might remain obscure or less than
fully appreciated by park visitors.
Although visitor centers typically were sited in relationship to the
park's automotive circulation plan, designers explored the potential
for visitors to use nearby trails and outdoor spaces once they were
out of their cars. Outdoor amphitheaters, roof terraces, and other exterior
features all served as functional parts of the visitor center complex.
Rest rooms often were designed as separate buildings adjacent to the
visitor center, or at least with separate outdoor entrances. Nearby
parking lots and site development were integral to the overall procession
into and through the building. Ramps often replaced stairs into and
out of the building, and window walls helped break down the division
between site and interior space. Short interpretive trails ("nature
trails") were often developed to provide an outdoor experience near
the visitor center, and outdoor picnic and sitting areas were common
as well.
The Mission 66 visitor center remains today as the most architecturally
significant expression of the planning and design practices developed
by the Park Service during the Mission 66 era.
Associated Architectural Style: "Park
Service Modern"
The Mission 66 era visitor center also embodied a distinctive new architectural
style that can be described as "Park Service Modern."
Park Service Modern architecture responded to the new context of post-World
War II social, demographic, and economic conditions. American architects
had assimilated the influence of European modern architecture by the
1950s, and Park Service architects in turn were influenced by this national
trend. Park Service Modern style was an integral part of a broader effort
at the Park Service to transform the agency, and the national park system,
to meet the exigencies of postwar America. It was during the postwar
period that the Park Service adopted the "arrowhead" logo and redesigned
agency uniforms. As part of Mission 66, new professional training programs
were established and agency personnel was expanded. Major land acquisition
led to the development of new kinds of parks, including national recreation
areas (such as Glen Canyon, 1958) and national seashores (such as Cape
Cod, 1961). Other parks that had been acquired earlier but remained
undeveloped, such as Everglades and Big Bend national parks, became
showcases of Mission 66 planning and design. In some cases, such as
Carlsbad Caverns National Park or Chiricahua National Monument, visitor
center "additions" encased or extended older, rustic buildings, effectively
transforming them into visitor centers.
In some ways Mission 66 continued traditions of Park Service planning
and design; in other ways postwar social conditions, new practices in
the construction industry, and the budget policies of the Truman and
Eisenhower administrations necessitated new approaches to national park
planning and management. Mission 66 planners responded to the tremendously
increased demand for outdoor recreation, for example, as well as the
increased development of gateway communities outside parks. Above all,
the emerging Interstate Highway system forever changed the situation
for many national parks, making them less isolated and more visited
than ever. In some cases, such as Petrified Forest National Park, the
locations of Interstate routes influenced the siting of park visitor
centers.
Park Service Modern architectural style responded to all of these influences,
and served an essential role in the Mission 66 program by utilizing
efficient methods of construction (including inexpensive building materials)
while providing a new, contemporary image for the visitor centers and
other buildings. Park Service Modern buildings exploited the functional
advantages offered by postwar architectural theory and construction
techniques. The larger, more complex programming of the visitor center
encouraged architects, especially Cecil Doty (at the NPS Western Office
of Design and Construction) to take advantage of free plans (in which
different functional spaces overlapped or were only partially divided),
flat roofs (as well as other roof types), and other established elements
of modern design in order to create spaces in which larger numbers of
visitors could circulate easily and locate essential services efficiently.
Such planning dictated the use of concrete construction and prefabricated
components, and also often featured windows of unusual size, shape,
and location. Unusual fenestration, in particular, was a hallmark of
contemporary architecture and was often used with great effect in Mission
66 visitor centers to provide generous views of scenic or historic areas.
Some buildings, such Cape Cod (Salt Pond) and Colorado National Monument
visitor centers, were clearly sited in part to provide important views
from within the building or from adjacent outdoor spaces.
These aspects of contemporary modern architecture in the 1950s proved
particularly suited to the new programmatic and technical requirements
faced by park architects of the era. At the same time, Park Service
Modern design built on some precedents of Park Service Rustic design,
especially in the use of interior courtyards, plain facades, and exterior
masonry veneers. The result was a distinctive new style of park architecture
that amounted to a Park Service adaptation of contemporary American
modern architecture.
The architectural elevations of Park Service Modern visitor centers
were stripped of most overtly decorative or associative elements, and
the architects typically employed textured concrete with panels of stone
veneer, painted steel columns, and flat roofs with projecting overhangs,
terraces, or covered walks. Textured concrete block, or slump block,
was a favorite (and relatively inexpensive) material. These formal elements
often allowed the sometimes large and complex visitor centers to maintain
a low, horizontal profile that remained as unobtrusive as possible.
Stone and textured concrete could also take on earth tones that reduced
visual contrast with landscape settings. In some cases, such as Big
Bend (Panther Junction), Zion (Oak Creek), and Rocky Mountain (Beaver
Meadows) visitor centers, buildings were sited on a slope, so that the
public arrived on one side of the building and were presented with a
single-story elevation, while the rear (service/administrative) side
of the structure dropped down to house two levels of offices.
The Park Service Modern style developed by the Park Service during
the Mission 66 era soon had a widespread influence on state park design
nationwide and national park design internationally. The new architecture
reinterpreted the long-standing commitment to "harmonize" architecture
with park landscapes, and at its best, it did harmonize with its setting
in a new way. Park Service Modern building could be both more understated
and more efficient than Park Service Rustic buildings had been, since
the new approach, when successful, provided more program and function
for less architectural presence in the park. This was an important innovation,
considering that new, relatively massive buildings were considered necessary
to meet the demand for public services in the parks during the Mission
66 era.
The new visitor centers also exhibited a consistency in appearance
and quality that was the result of the strongly centralized Mission
66 planning program. While the visitor centers were not standardized,
they were the result of standard procedures and policies for design
and construction. This consistency helped reinforce the strong sense
of a national park "system," of which each park was a part. The Mission
66 visitor center became a recognizable point of reference for visitors,
who knew what kind of services they could expect at such a facility,
in order to begin their visit as pleasantly and efficiently as possible.
Although the new style had its critics from the very beginning, Park
Service Modern, as developed by Park Service designers during the Mission
66 era, became as influential and significant in the history of American
national and state park management as the Park Service Rustic style
had been. The Mission 66 visitor center remains today as the most complete
and significant expression of the Park Service Modern style.
Registration Requirements for Mission
66 Visitor Centers
The following requirements for registering Mission 66 visitor centers
in the NRHP are given in three levels of increasing exclusivity. The
first level (I) describes the requirements for registration for a historically
significant visitor center. The second level (II) describes the requirements
for determining "exceptional importance" for a building less than 50
years old. The third level (III) describes requirements for determining
national significance.
In all cases, National Register Criteria A and C may apply. Criterion
A would apply because the property is associated with events (the Mission
66 program as part of the development of the national park system) that
made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.
Criterion C would apply because the property embodies the distinctive
characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction; represents
the work of a master; or possesses high artistic values. Eligibility
under Criterion A relates to significance in one or several of the following
areas: Community Planning and Development (park), Conservation, Ethnic
Heritage, Entertainment/Recreation, Politics/Government, and Social
History. Eligibility under Criterion C relates to significance in one
or several of the following areas: Architecture, Landscape Architecture,
and Community Planning and Development (park).
I. Requirements for Registration
To be considered eligible for listing in the NRHP, 50-year old Mission
66 visitor centers should possess the following characteristics:
-
The visitor center should be one of the important precedents of
the Mission 66 program (1945-1956), be one of the visitor centers
originally planned and built as part of the Mission 66 program (1956-1966),
or as part of the Parkscape program (1966-1972). The property's
period of significance should fall within the years 1945-1972.
-
The visitor center should retain most or all of the physical characteristics
described in the description of the property type (above). The visitor
center should be a centralized facility that includes multiple visitor
and administrative functions within a single architectural floor
plan or compound. Programming elements should include interpretive
displays, space for slide shows and films, visitor contact, restrooms,
and other services. The visitor center should be intended to serve
the public by interpreting scenery, natural resources, and cultural
sites, and should be a major point of visitor arrival, orientation,
and service.
-
The visitor center should possess physical integrity to the period
of significance. The NRHP requires that the integrity of a property
be evident through historic qualities including location, design,
setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Examples
of alterations or remodeling that may impair the historical integrity
of a visitor center include (but are not limited to):
-
The addition of a new façade, new entrance wing, or
other major exterior alteration that transforms the outward
appearance of the building.
-
Complete alteration of entrance and sequence through building,
due to the addition of new building wings, entrances, or other
major alterations.
-
New roof structure that completely alters exterior appearance
of building (such as pitched, raised-seam metal roof replacing
original flat roof).
-
Extensive interior remodeling that alters definition of interior
spaces, function of spaces, and sequence through spaces.
-
The visitor center should embody distinctive characteristics of
a type, period, or method of construction that represent high artistic
values. Specifically, the visitor center should be a successful
reflection of the principles of "Park Service Modern" style. These
include:
-
Building is sited in relation to an overall plan of "visitor
flow" in the park, either near the park entrance, en route to
a major park destination, or at a park destination.
-
Building design emphasizes plan organization (the design of
the floor plans). Floor plan organization allowed segregation
of public areas from administrative areas, and also emphasized
efficient "visitor flow" through the building itself. A central
lobby space is often the arrival point, with trails or other
park destinations often accessed as the visitor moves through
the building.
-
Building's program centralizes numerous park services, including
information, interpretation, rest rooms, and administrative
offices.
-
Building makes use of the formal vocabulary and materials of
contemporary (1945-1972) modern architecture, including flat
roofs (as well as other types of roofs), window walls (and other
unorthodox fenestration), exposed steel supports, concrete and
concrete block construction.
-
Overlapping functional spaces (free plans) sometimes evident
in floor plan. Public areas usually on one level, or on split
levels, segregated from administrative areas.
-
Integration of interior and exterior public spaces, often separated
by windows, window walls, glass doors, or wooden doors with
windows.
-
Entrances, exits, and other doorways often are wide, providing
easy movement for crowds. Entrances often sheltered by porches,
ramadas, arcades, etc. Rest rooms often nearby, with separate
outdoor entrance.
-
Building emphasizes visitor's experience of spatial procession.
This sequence of spaces often features ramps, as well as significant
views of park landscapes either from terraces or through large
windows.
-
Siting of visitor center near landscape or attraction to be
interpreted sometimes allows interpretive programs to be extended
into the visitor center itself.
-
Building's elevations create a mostly low-profile, horizontal
effect.
-
Building "harmonizes" with its setting through horizontality
of massing, color and texture of materials. Use of textured
concrete, concrete block, and stone veneers in facades often
give building generally rough exterior texture, often featuring
earth toned colors.
-
Building footprint is often ell-shaped, rectangular around
a central courtyard, or a variation on these themes.
-
Use of naturalistic planting to partially screen building,
utility areas, and parking, as well as to repair areas disturbed
in construction. Planter boxes often used to define entrances.
-
Outdoor spaces and site work, including parking lots, paths,
amphitheaters, terraces, and patios often incorporated into
visitor center complex.
II. Requirements for Exceptional Importance
For any property achieving significance within the last 50 years, National
Register "Criteria Consideration G" requires that the property must
be of "exceptional importance" to be considered eligible for registration.
To meet this requirement and be eligible for registration, a Mission
66 visitor center less than 50 years old should possess all the characteristics
described above, and in addition, the following requirements should
be met:
-
The visitor center should be one of the important precedents of
the Mission 66 program (1945-1956), or one originally planned and
built as part of the Mission 66 program (1956-1966). The property's
period of significance should fall within the years 1945-1966.
-
The visitor center should possess substantial physical integrity
to the period of significance, 1945-1966. This should be considered
a higher standard for integrity than that described for National
Register listing of significant resources that have achieved 50
years of age. Sufficient features should be intact to relate the
property to the Modern movement in terms of massing, spatial relationships,
proportion, pattern of windows, texture of materials, and ornamentation.
Characteristics critical in defining the building's artistic merit
or exemplary modern design should not be altered. Essential features
that should be present for a property to represent its significance
include the historic main facade and entry, important public spaces
inside the visitor center, and other important interior spaces that
define the particular buildings's historic character and use as
a visitor center. An addition will not disqualify a resource, if
it is compatible with the original building and not opposed to the
intention of the original design, and if it does not obscure the
qualities for which the building is significant.
-
The visitor center should possess exceptional importance in one
or more of the following ways:
-
As an outstanding example of "Park Service Modern" style, as
defined above, preferably one published in contemporary architectural
journals or the recipient of design awards. Building may also
be the subject of subsequent scholarly evaluations.
-
As the work of a regionally, nationally or internationally
recognized architect or architectural firm, working for the
National Park Service. Such a work must be recognized as an
outstanding example of Park Service Modern design through evidence
of awards and honors, critical acclaim by the press, and scholarly
evaluation. Notable architects are defined as those who received
high recognition as leaders in their fields and have received
critical acclaim for numerous projects over a period of years
in major architectural publications. The work of still-practicing
architects is generally not considered eligible because the
body of their work is yet to be completed and, therefore, cannot
be holistically assessed for historical significance.
-
For its demonstration of distinctive programming, planning,
or design features that affected the evolution of the visitor
center as a building type nationally, regionally, or internationally.
Building may have gained special recognition by Mission 66 planners
and designers as an important stylistic example or functional
prototype for the Mission 66 and Parkscape programs. Building
may have served as a stylistic example or functional prototype
for visitor center design in state parks, or in other settings,
such as arboretums, municipal parks, etc.
-
As an essential part of an overall Mission 66 park development
plan that had extraordinary importance in the history and development
of an individual park. The building may be part of a larger
Mission 66 development area which may be a National Register-eligible
historic district.
-
For association with events and activities that have made an
outstanding contribution to the history of local communities
or native groups. This may include the incorporation of programmed
space for craft production, demonstrations, and other activities.
It may also include aspects of the inspiration for the design,
such as the Mesa Verde (Farview) Visitor Center, inspired by
kiva design.
III. Requirements for National Significance
The "associated historic context," "period of significance," "associated
property type," and "associated architectural style" for National Historic
Landmark (NHL) nomination of Mission 66 era visitor centers are all
the same as described above in Requirements for Registration. In addition,
any property achieving national significance within the past 50 years
must possess "extraordinary national importance" to qualify as a NHL.
-
To qualify as a NHL, the visitor center should be an outstanding
exemplar of Park Service Modern style in one of the following ways:
-
As the work of a nationally or internationally recognized architect
or architectural firm, working for the Mission 66 program during
the period 1945-1966. Such a work must be recognized as an outstanding
example of Park Service Modern design through evidence of national
or international awards and honors, critical acclaim by the
national or international press, and scholarly evaluation. Notable
architects are defined as those who received high recognition
as leaders in their fields and have received critical acclaim
for numerous projects over a period of years in major architectural
publications. The work of still-practicing architects is generally
not considered eligible because the body of their work is yet
to be completed and, therefore, cannot be holistically assessed
for historical significance.
-
As a foremost example of visitor center design by Park Service
architects, especially Cecil Doty. To be considered a foremost
example, the visitor center should be an outstanding example
of "Park Service Modern" style (as defined above), preferably
one published in contemporary journals or the recipient of design
awards. Building may also be the subject of subsequent scholarly
evaluations which demonstrate its outstanding design achievement,
high artistic quality, or pivotal influence on the evolution
of visitor center design in national parks, state parks, and
elsewhere.
-
The visitor center should have substantial physical integrity
dating to the period of signficance, 1945-1966. This should
be considered a higher standard for integrity than that described
above for National Register listing. Sufficient features should
be intact to relate the property to the Modern movement in terms
of massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows,
texture of materials, and ornamentation. Characteristics critical
in defining the building's artistic merit or exemplary modern
design should not be altered. Essential features that should
be present for a property to represent its significance include
the historic main facade and entry, important public spaces
inside the visitor center, and other important interior spaces
that define the particular buildings's historic character and
use as a visitor center.
For NHL designation, NHL Criteria 1 and 4 would apply. Criteria 1 would
apply because the property is associated with events (the Mission 66
program as part of the development of the national park system) that
have made a significant contribution to broad national patterns of American
history. Criteria 4 would apply because the property embodies the distinguishing
characteristics of an architectural type specimen exceptionally valuable
for the study of a period, style, or method of construction (Park Service
Modern style).
The following NHL Themes would apply:
III. Expressing Cultural Values
5. Architecture, Landscape
Architecture, and Urban Design
VII. Transforming the Environment
3. Protecting/Preserving
the Environment
The following NHL Areas of Significance would apply:
Architecture
Landscape Architecture
Community Planning and Development
Politics/Government
The following NHL Comparative Categories would apply:
XVI. Architecture
XVII. Landscape Architecture
XXXII. Conservation of Natural Resources
XXXIV. Recreation