Table Of ContentTable of Contents
List of Illustrations ii
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: “Jackson Hole is very near to his heart” 7
The Park Projects of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Gilbert Stanley
Underwood
Chapter 2: “A comfortable, well-designed, appropriate, high-grade 23
tourist center”
The Construction and Design of Jackson Lake Lodge
Chapter 3: “This Castle In Paradise” 45
Reactions, Debates, and the National Park Setting
Conclusion 60
Appendix A: Letter from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to his children, 66
February 28, 1956
Appendix B: Selected Architectural Works of Gilbert Stanley Underwood 67
Bibliography 70
Illustrations 78
ii
List of Illustrations
Figure 1: Old Faithful Inn postcard, Yellowstone National Park, Robert Reamer, 1901
Online Image: www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com.
Figure 2: El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon National Park, Fred Harvey Co., 1905
Online Image: www.nplas.org.
Figure 3: Proposed Extension, Grand Teton National Park, 1938
Daugherty, John. A Place Called Jackson Hole. Moose, WY: Grand Teton
National Park, 1999: 307.
Figure 4: John D. Rockefeller, Jr. hunting in Jackson Hole
Collection of the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum (JHHSM),
1993.4757.001.
Figure 5: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. on a boat ride on Jenny Lake, 1931
Collection of JHHSM, BC.0224.
Figure 6: Grand Teton National Park boundary map, 1950
Daugherty: 3.
Figure 7: Laurance S. Rockefeller in Grand Teton National Park
Taylor, Frank J. “His Millions for the Big Outdoors.” Saturday Evening Post.
234.50 (Dec. 16, 1961): 79.
Figure 8: Gilbert Stanley Underwood as Supervising Architect of the U.S.
Zaitlin, Joyce. Gilbert Stanley Underwood. Malibu, CA: Pangloss Press, 1989: 2.
Figure 9: Bryce Canyon Lodge, Bryce Canyon National Park
Zaitlin: 47.
Figure 10: Zion Lodge, Zion National Park
Reed Jones, National Park Service Collection
Figure 11: Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite National Park. Photograph by Ansel Adams
Gill, Brendan. "Ansel Adams' Forgotten Ahwahnee." Architectural Digest 50.6
(June 1993): 144.
Figure 12: Watercolor, Ahwahnee Hotel by Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Zaitlin: 90.
Figure 13: Detail, Ahwahnee Hotel
Online Image.
iii
Figure 14: Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite National Park. Photograph by Ansel Adams
Gill,145.
Figure 15: Grand Canyon Lodge, c. 1928
Zaitlin: 95.
Figure 16: Watercolor, Grand Canyon Lodge by Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Zaitlin: 91.
Figure 17: Grand Canyon Lodge
Online Image, nps.org.
Figure 18: Sketch of Grand Canyon Lodge
"Lodge and Sixty-Six Cottages Built on Grand Canyon Rim." Los Angeles Times
September 9 1928: E1.
Figure 19: Station at Chico, CA. Designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood & Co. Ltd.
Gilbert Stanley Underwood. “The Design of Small Railway Stations.”
Architectural Forum. 53 (December 1930): 695.
Figure 20: Desmond’s Department Store, L.A., Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Zaitlin: 122.
Figure 21: Union Pacific Omaha station, Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Zaitlin: 124.
Figure 22: Architectural elevation of Omaha station, Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Zaitlin: 125.
Figure 23: Rendering of U.S. State Department Building, Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Zaitlin: 145.
Figure 24: Emergency Housing Units, Washington, D.C. Gilbert Stanley Underwood
“PBA Residence Halls for Women, Washington, D.C. Designed to meet the acute
housing problem.” Architectural Record. 92 (July 1942).
Figure 25: Emergency Housing Units, Washington, D.C. Gilbert Stanley Underwood
“PBA Residence Halls for Women, Washington, D.C. Designed to meet the acute
housing problem.” Architectural Record. 92 (July 1942).
Figure 26: Grand Teton National Park advertisement
Washington Post and Times Herald, May 25, 1955.
Figure 27: Grand Teton National Park advertisement
Wall Street Journal, June 3, 1955.
iv
Figure 28: Original Jackson Lake Lodge, 1922
Jackson Lake Lodge history booklet, Grand Teton Lodge Co.
Figure 29: Ground Breaking ceremony, Jackson Lake Lodge
Collection of JHHSM, 2003.0074.011; 1958.0140.001.
Figure 30: Aerial image of Jackson Lake Lodge, c. 1966
Collection of JHHSM, 2002.0118.066a.
Figure 31: Guest map, Jackson Lake Lodge
Rockefeller Archives Collection, Folder ‘Photos 2’, Box 1, Family Related—
Organizations series, Record Group 12 GTLC, Special Collections.
Figure 32: Jackson Lake Lodge postcard, c. 1957
Collection of Grand Teton Lodge Co.
Figure 33: Construction, Jackson Lake Lodge, 1953
Collection of JHHSM, 2003.0074.043; 2003.0074.042.
Figure 34: Shadowood
Photo by author.
Figure 35: Picture windows, western façade, 2008
Photo by author.
Figure 36: Western façade, 2008
Photo by author.
Figure 37: Jackson Lake Lodge, aerial view, 1955
Collection of JHHSM, 2003.0074.057.
Figure 38: Porte Cochere
Photo by author.
Figure 39: Deck, eastern façade
Photo by author.
Figure 40: Detail, lamp
Photo by author.
Figure 41: Entrance
Photo by author.
Figure 42: Site plan, Jackson Lake Lodge, Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Rockefeller Archives Collection, No Folder, Box 8, Family Related—
Organizations series, Record Group 27 GTLC, Special Collections.
v
Figure 43: Cabins, Jackson Lake Lodge
Photo by author.
Figure 44: Cabins under construction
Collection of JHHSM, 2003.0074.030, 2003.0074.034.
Figure 45: Plan, ground floor
Rockefeller Archives Collection, No Folder, Box 8, Family Related—
Organizations series, Record Group 27 GTLC, Special Collections.
Figure 46: Business Lobby, 2008
Photo by author.
Figure 47: Business Lobby, 1954
Collection of Grand Teton Lodge Co.
Figure 48: Plan, second floor
Rockefeller Archives Collection, No Folder, Box 8, Family Related—
Organizations series, Record Group 27 GTLC, Special Collections.
Figure 49: Main stairs
Rockefeller Archives Collection, Folder ‘Photos 1’, Box 1, Family Related—
Organizations series, Record Group 12 GTLC, Special Collections.
Figure 50: Main Lounge, c. 1954
Rockefeller Archives Collection, Folder ‘Photos 1’, Box 1, Family Related—
Organizations series, Record Group 12 GTLC, Special Collections.
Figure 51: Main Lounge, c. 1966
Collection of JHHSM, 2002.0118.066c.
Figure 52: Interior, lounge
Photo by author.
Figure 53: Ahwahnee Hotel dining room
Zaitlin: 67.
Figure 54: Moose head andirons
Collection of Grand Teton Lodge Co.
Figure 55: Pioneer Grill, 1955
Collection of JHHSM, 2003.0119.080.
vi
Figure 56: Pioneer Grill, 2008
Photo by author.
Figure 57: Mural Room
Collection of JHHSM, 2003.0119.111.
Figure 58: Trapper Encampment at Jackson Hole, Rendezvous Murals, Carl Roters
Burwen, David M. and Susan Jo Burwen. Carl Roters and the Rendezvous
Murals. Venture Development Group, 2004: Plate 30.
Figure 59: Green River Rendezvous, Rendezvous Murals, Carl Roters
Burwen: Plate 30.
Figure 60: Sketches of the Stockade Bar
Rockefeller Archives Collection, Presentation Board Outlining Interior
Decoration. JHPI, Oversized Material, Presentation Boards (on Jackson Lake
Lodge) for Design Competition, 1956.
Figure 61: Stockade Bar
Rockefeller Archives Collection, Presentation Board Outlining Interior
Decoration. JHPI, Oversized Material, Presentation Boards (on Jackson Lake
Lodge) for Design Competition, 1956.
Figure 62: Typical Guest Rooms
Collection of Grand Teton Lodge Co.
Figure 63: Jackson Lake Lodge, 1955 advertisement image
Rockefeller Archives Collection, Presentation Board Outlining Interior
Decoration. JHPI, Oversized Material, Presentation Boards (on Jackson Lake
Lodge) for Design Competition, 1956.
Figure 64: Jackson Lake Lodge site
Newhall, Nancy. A Contribution to the Heritage o Every American: The
Conservation Activities of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1957: 110.
Figure 65: Viewing platform constructed in 1953 on the site
Newhall: 111.
Figure 66: Jackson Lake Lodge, viewed from Jackson Lake Dam, 2008
Photo by author.
Figure 67: Western façade, 1955
Collection of JHHSM, 2003.0074.004
vii
Figure 68: “Alcatraz.” Jackson Lake Lodge pre concrete treatment, 1954
Collection of Grand Teton Lodge Co.
Figure 69: Mortimore and Wirth Landscape Plans, Overall complex, 1955
National Park Service Collection, Denver Service Center.
Figure 70: Mortimore and Wirth Landscape Plans, main lodge, 1955
National Park Service Collection, Denver Service Center.
Figure 71: Spencer and Lee Landscape Plans, main lodge, 1957
National Park Service Collection, Denver Service Center.
Figure 72: Mortimore and Wirth Landscape Plans, parking area, 1955
National Park Service Collection, Denver Service Center.
Figure 73: Spencer and Lee Landscape Plans, parking area, 1957
National Park Service Collection, Denver Service Center.
Figure 74: Parking area, 2008
Photo by author.
Figure 75: Jackson Lake Lodge, c. 1965
Photo by William Ohaus.
Figure 76: Jackson Lake Lodge, 2008
Photo by author.
Figure 77: Entrance drive
Photo by author.
viii
Acknowledgements
In my exploration of this grand lodge at the base of the beautiful Teton Mountains, I owe
gratitude to many individuals and research institutions. I must first thank my thesis
advisor, Richard Guy Wilson, and two dedicated readers, Ethan Carr and Cammy
Brothers, for their encouragement throughout this process. Without their support and
advice this thesis would not have turned out as it did. Thanks is also due to the staff at
the Rockefeller Archives in Sleepy Hollow, New York, and the staff at the Jackson Hole
Historical Society in Jackson, Wyoming for their assistance throughout the past year.
I am also eternally indebted to my family: to my parents for letting me spend two
years in Wyoming without ever questioning where it would take me, and to my brothers
for always reminding me there are National Parks I have yet to discover. Thanks
especially to my mother, Susan Flint, who spent hours on the other end of the phone
while I talked her through my thesis argument. Again. Last but not least, I owe the
completion of this thesis to my husband, Anders Engle, who drove me from National
Park to National Park. Thank you for joining me on this adventure, and for encouraging
me always.
1
Introduction
At the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, the architect,
Gilbert Stanley Underwood, attempted to create a balance between the past and the
present. Completed in 1955, the building reflects the tradition of the great national park
lodges of the early twentieth century, while also demonstrating the new, modern aesthetic
that came to dominate American architecture after World War II. Highlighted by the
varied reactions to the building, the Jackson Lake Lodge marks a shift in national park
architecture that raises questions about the treatment of design in the American
wilderness.
The interdependence of recreation and preservation in the national parks has
shaped discussions of America’s scenic western preserves since the late nineteenth
century and the beginnings of the concept of national parks. With the loss of the Hetch
Hetchy Valley in Yosemite in 1913 to the City of San Francisco to be used as a reservoir,
preservationists were forced to look to arguments beyond the protection of scenic
landscapes for their emotional merit.1 Public support and economic rationales became
key to the continued protection of natural wonders like Yosemite and Yellowstone,
however both of these arguments required attracting visitors to the sacred landscapes. In
order to solidify the survival of the national park idea, the public had to be included,
opening the door to greater park development and tourism. However contradictory,
protection relied on development.
Railroad companies and other concessionaires seeking to take advantage of
economic possibilities in national parks quickly answered the question of what was
1 Alfred Runte. National Parks: The American Experience. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1997: 83.
2
appropriate construction for such wilderness settings. Built for a wealthy class of
traveling Americans, great “rustic” lodges like Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National
Park by Robert Reamer, 1901 (fig. 1) and El Tovar in Grand Canyon National Park by
Charles Whittlessey, 1904 (fig. 2) were constructed in the early twentieth century parks
to attract tourists.2 Typically constructed of natural materials with rough surfaces, these
lodges pandered to romantic American perceptions of nature. They combined local
materials and cultural traditions, particularly exploiting Native American motifs in their
creation of a rustic aesthetic. Growing out of the tradition of the Swiss chalet and the
Adirondack camps, the lodges were reflections of American design expectations, and, as
the railroad companies were well aware, they appealed to visitors.
With the founding of the National Park Service in 1916, these ideals were adapted
beyond large-scale concessionaire built facilities, and remained prominent in national
park design through the 1930s. As Arno B. Cammerer, the third director of the National
Park Service wrote in the forward to the 1938 expanded edition of Albert Good’s 1935
Parks and Recreation Structures, “In any area in which the preservation of the beauty of
Nature is a primary purpose, every proposed modification of the natural landscape,
whether it be by construction of a road or erection of a shelter, deserves to be most
thoughtfully considered.”3 He continued to state that in addition to keeping these
modifications to a minimum, they should be “attractive to look upon, [and] appear to
2 “Architecture on the Parks: A National Historic Landmark Theme Study.” The National
Park Service. Feb. 26, 2001. Park Net. March 30, 2009.
<http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/harrison/harrison5.htm>
3 Albert H. Good. Parks and Recreation Structures. New York: Princeton Architectural
Press, 1999 Reprint: vii.
Description:Photograph by Ansel Adams "Ansel Adams' Forgotten Ahwahnee Figure 70: Mortimore and Wirth Landscape Plans, main lodge, 1955. National
