Painted Desert Inn

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Painted Desert Inn

| nrhp_type = nhl

| image = PaintedDesertInn.JPG

| caption = Painted Desert Inn, 2006

| location = Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

| coordinates = {{coord|35|5|2.32|N|109|47|17.17|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Arizona#USA

| area =

| built = 1937

| architect = Lyle E. Bennett; Mary Jane Colter

| architecture = Pueblo Revival

| designated_nrhp_type = May 28, 1987{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=2016&ResourceType=Building|title=Painted Desert Inn|accessdate=2007-09-27|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070728061810/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=2016&ResourceType=Building|archivedate=2007-07-28}}

| added = May 28, 1987{{NRISref|2007a}}

| refnum = 87001421

}}

Painted Desert Inn is a historic complex in Petrified Forest National Park, in Apache County, eastern Arizona. It is located off Interstate 40 and near the original alignment of historic U.S. Route 66, overlooking the Painted Desert.[http://www.nps.gov/pefo/historyculture/pdi.htm NPS−Petrified Forest National Park]. accessed 11.27.2014

History

The inn's main building and associated guest cabins−casitas were designed in the Pueblo Revival style, by National Park Service architect Lyle E. Bennett and others from the Park Service Branch of Plans and Design. Construction was carried out by Civilian Conservation Corps builders and artisans over 1937–1940.{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/harrison/harrison28.htm |title="Architecture in the Parks: A National Historic Landmark Theme Study: Painted Desert Inn", by Laura Soullière Harrison |accessdate=2007-09-27|work=National Historic Landmark Theme Study|publisher=National Park Service}} A portion of the main building was remodeled from the 1920s inn on the site, nicknamed the Stone Tree House due to local petrified wood used in its architectural elements.[http://www.nps.gov/pefo/historyculture/stone-tree-house.htm Stone Tree House]

After post-war design revisions by architect and interior designer Mary Jane Colter, it was operated by the Fred Harvey Company as a Harvey House from 1947 to 1963, when it closed.{{cite web|url=http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=AZ&PARK=PEFO&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=36|date=2008-11-26|work=List of Classified Structures|title=Painted Desert Inn|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=2008-11-26|archive-url=https://archive.today/20240525201630/https://www.webcitation.org/66f4USzad?url=http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp%3FSTATE=AZ|archive-date=2024-05-25|url-status=dead}} Demolition was proposed in the mid-1970s, but after public protests the building was reopened for limited use in 1976 as a Bicentennial Travel Center after being listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987 for its architecture and the distinctive way in which New Deal works funding was used for its construction.{{cite web|url={{NHLS url|87001421}}|title=NHL nomination for Painted Desert Inn|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=2020-02-04}}

The main building of the Painted Desert Inn was extensively rehabilitated and restored over the years, reopening as a museum and bookstore in the 1990s full time. There was an extensive period of rehabilitation for the complex 2004–2006, reopening as a museum (the park's bookstores are now at the Rainbow Forest Museum and Painted Desert Visitor Center). Overnight accommodations are not currently available at the inn (not since 1947),[http://www.nps.gov/pefo/historyculture/pdi3.htm NPS−Petrified Forest National Park: Rehabilitation of the Painted Desert Inn] but during the summer months it has a nostalgic ice cream parlor.[https://www.nps.gov/pefo/learn/historyculture/pdi.htm Painted Desert Inn]

File:Kabotie mural.jpg (painted c. 1948), commissioned by Mary Jane Colter.]]

File:PDI skylights.JPG.]]

Murals

Hopi artist Fred Kabotie was engaged by Colter to paint the inn's murals in 1947–48. Colter knew Kabotie from a previous collaboration at the Fred Harvey Hopi House in Grand Canyon National Park. Kabotie's work depicts aspects of Hopi life, including a journey through the Painted Desert to collect salt.[http://www.nps.gov/pefo/historyculture/hopi-heritage-at-the-inn.htm NPS−Petrified Forest National Park: Hopi Heritage at the Inn]

References

External links

{{Commons category|Painted Desert Inn|
Painted Desert Inn|position=left}}

[http://www.nps.gov/pefo/historyculture/pdi.htm NPS: Official Painted Desert Inn website]
[http://www.nps.gov/pefo/historyculture/pdi.htm NPS: Painted Desert Inn guidebook]
[http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/harrison/harrison28.htm NPS: Painted Desert Inn] National Historic Landmark
HABS—Historic American Buildings Survey images:

:*{{HABS |survey=AZ-161 |id=az0292 |title=Painted Desert Inn, Navajo vicinity, Apache County, AZ}}

:*{{HABS |survey=AZ-161-A |id=az0365 |title=Painted Desert Inn, Residence 76 |link=no}}

:*{{HABS |survey=AZ-161-B |id=az0366 |title=Painted Desert Inn, Residence 77 |link=no}}

Category:Fred Harvey Company

Category:Museums in Apache County, Arizona

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Petrified Forest National Park

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1940

Category:National Historic Landmarks in Arizona

Category:Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona

Category:Park buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona

Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Arizona

Category:Civilian Conservation Corps in Arizona