Logan Pass Visitor Center

Last updated

Logan Pass Visitor Center
Logan Pass Visitor Center.jpg
USA Montana location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nearest city West Glacier, Montana
Coordinates 48°41′43″N113°43′4″W / 48.69528°N 113.71778°W / 48.69528; -113.71778
Arealess than one acre
BuiltDesigned between 1960 and 1962 and built between 1963 and 1966
Architect Cecil Doty and Burt L. Gewalt
Architectural style Modern Movement, Park Service Modern
MPS Glacier National Park MRA
NRHP reference No. 08000334 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 15, 2008

The Logan Pass Visitor Center in Glacier National Park was constructed at the summit (Logan Pass) of the Going-to-the-Sun Road during the Mission 66 park facilities improvement program. The design concept was originated by architect Cecil J. Doty of the National Park Service Western Office of Design and Construction. Burt L. Gewalt of the Kalispell, Montana architectural firm Brinkman and Lenon was responsible for the construction documents, carried out between 1960 and 1962. Construction was completed in 1966. The visitor center uses common Mission 66 themes such as a broad, gently sloping roof, native stone, and glulam timber construction. [2]

Contents

The Logan Pass Visitor Center was one of the most significant Mission 66 projects, involving the construction of a large visitor orientation facility with attendant parking lots, utility services and amenities at the summit of Logan Pass. The altitude of the pass is 6,646 feet (2,026 m), and is inaccessible from October to May in most years. [3] The summit of Logan Pass had previously been used as a rest stop with toilet facilities. The size of the visitor center was somewhat reduced because the Saint Mary Visitor Center at the east end of the Going-to-the-Sun Road and the park headquarters at the opposite end at West Glacier provided appropriate orientation features in a less demanding physical environment. [2]

Description

Upper level Logan Pass Visitor Center August 2013.jpg
Upper level

The main section of the Logan Pass Visitor Center steps up its hillside with two main levels within a single-story enclosure. The lower level is the "Fireplace Room" facing northeast, featuring a concrete hearth with a copper hood. The information desk was originally in this space, but was moved to the upper level "Exhibit Room" in 1992. The upper level houses interpretive exhibits. As built, the visitor center used bright paint colors that were toned down to a conservative Park Service brown palette shortly after construction. Semi-separated toilet facilities are below the lower level, facing the parking lot. [4] They were enlarged in 1985. An office addition for Park Service personnel was constructed at the same time. [2]

The visitor center as originally built was 3,600 square feet (330 m2) in area. [2]

Design and construction

Preliminary design was carried out in the Park Service's Western Office of Design and Construction, primarily by WODC architect Cecil J. Doty, with assistance from Milton Swatek and Ed Dottery. The preliminary design set forth the Park Service's design intent for size, arrangement and general architectural character. The WODC design was sent to the Kalispell architecture-engineering firm of Brinkman and Lenon, where Burt L. Gewalt was assigned the task of developing detailed design documents. Gewalt made detail changes, increasing the size of the chimney and using stone-embedded concrete, a construction method originally developed by Frank Lloyd Wright. [2]

The construction contract was awarded to the Hefte Construction Company of Spokane, Washington in June 1963 for a contract cost of about $136,600. A separate contract was awarded for water and sewer utility work, for $61,319. Work began in July 1963 and stopped in late October for the winter. It resumed in July 1964, running through October, and again in 1965. The visitor center was completed on August 27, 1966. A separate contract for parking lot and site improvements was completed on September 12, 1966 at a cost of $168,176. Gewalt was the supervising architect through construction. [2]

Historic designation

The Logan Pass Visitor Center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 15, 2008, [1] when it was 44 years old, less than the usual threshold for inclusion of 50 years. The visitor center was cited in the nomination for its unusual design significance and prominence in Glacier National Park. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badger Pass Ski Area</span> Ski area in California, United States

Badger Pass Ski Area is a small ski area located within Yosemite National Park. Badger Pass is one of only three lift serviced ski areas operating in a US National Park. It is situated five miles (8 km) south-southeast of the Chinquapin intersection of Wawona Road with Glacier Point Road in the southern area of Yosemite National Park. Glacier Point Road provides the access to this ski area. During high snow level and/or ski season, Glacier Point road terminates at Badger Pass Ski Resort. Under these conditions, the remainder of Glacier Point Road is used for cross-country skiing access to Glacier Point and other destinations in the high country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake McDonald Lodge</span> United States historic place

The Lake McDonald Lodge is a historic lodge located within Glacier National Park, on the southeast shore of Lake McDonald. The lodge is a 3+12-story structure built in 1913 based on Kirtland Cutter's design. The foundation and first floor walls are built of stone, with a wood-frame superstructure. The lobby is a large, open space that extends to the third story. It has a massive fireplace and a concrete floor scored in a flagstone pattern, with messages in several Indian languages inscribed into it. The rustic lodge was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 as one of the nation's finest examples of large-scale Swiss chalet architecture. Lake McDonald Lodge is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sperry Chalet</span> Building in Montana, United States

Sperry Chalet is located about seven miles east of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. The chalet was opened in 1914 by the Great Northern Railway and was a National Historic Landmark contributing property, being one of five structures in the Great Northern Railway Buildings National Historic Landmark. Along with Granite Park Chalet, Sperry Chalet is one of the two remaining backcountry chalets in Glacier National Park, both operated by Belton Chalets, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyons station</span> NJ Transit rail station

Lyons is a New Jersey Transit station in Basking Ridge, New Jersey along the Gladstone Branch of the Morris & Essex Lines. The station serves south Basking Ridge as well as the Hills and Liberty Corner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaver Meadows Visitor Center</span> United States historic place

Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, also known as Rocky Mountain National Park Administration Building, is the park headquarters and principal visitors center of Rocky Mountain National Park in central northern Colorado. Completed in 1967, it was designed by Taliesin Associated Architects, and was one of the most significant commissions for that firm in the years immediately following the death of founder Frank Lloyd Wright. It was also one of the last major projects completed under the Park Service Mission 66 project. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mission 66</span> Program to dramatically expand National Park Service visitor services

Mission 66 was a United States National Park Service ten-year program that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Park Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rim Village Historic District</span> Historic district in Oregon, United States

Rim Village is the main area for tourist services in Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon, United States. It is located on the southwest rim of the caldera overlooking Crater Lake. The National Park Service designed Rim Village to concentrate park services at a location that provided easy access to rim trails and view points. Because of the unique rustic architecture of the Rim Village structures and the surrounding park landscape, the area was listed as Rim Village Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

Rim Drive is a scenic highway in Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon, United States. It is a 33-mile (53 km) loop that follows the caldera rim around Crater Lake. Due to its unique engineering and the surrounding park landscape, the drive was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Mary Visitor Center, Entrance Station and Checking Stations</span> United States historic place

The Saint Mary Visitor Center in Glacier National Park, with the connected Saint Mary Checking Station and Entrance Station was constructed at the east entrance to the Going-to-the-Sun Road during the Mission 66 park facilities improvement program. It was designed by Burt L. Gewalt of the Kalispell, Montana architectural firm Brinkman and Lenon, and was completed in 1967. The complex uses common Mission 66 themes such as native stone, and glulam timber construction, combined with a dramatic roof structure that echoes the mountain peaks in the background. The stone in the walls came from the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The view of the "St. Mary" webcam on the Glacier National Park official website is broadcast from the center and shows the westward-facing view over St. Mary Lake, which includes a distant view of Logan's Pass. There is also an osprey nest about one hundred meters to the east of the building, which can be viewed from the visitor parking lot and from the park's osprey webcam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glacier National Park Tourist Trails</span> United States historic place

The Glacier National Park Tourist Trails, including the Inside Trail, South Circle Trail and North Circle Trail, were established in Glacier National Park to connect a series of tourist camps and hotels established by the Great Northern Railway between 1910 and 1915. Prior to the construction of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, these trails were the primary form of circulation within the park. The trail system includes a number of bridges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado National Monument Visitor Center Complex</span> United States historic place

The Colorado National Monument Visitor Center Complex is a group of structures in Colorado National Monument in Mesa County, Colorado, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Frederick Adolph Brinkman was an American architect based in Kalispell, Montana, and Brinkman and Lenon is a partnership in which he worked. More than a dozen of Brinkman's extant works in and around Kalispell have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Anderson Style Shop, Charles Boles House, Brice Apartments, City Water Department, Cornelius Hedges Elementary School, Russell School, Linderman School, the Montgomery Ward Store in Kalispell, and the O'Neil Print Shop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Caverns Historic District</span> Historic district in New Mexico, United States

The Caverns Historic District comprises the central developed area of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The complex was built between the early 1920s and 1942, initially in Pueblo Revival style, and later in New Mexico Territorial Revival style in the area around the natural entrance to Carlsbad Caverns. The earlier structures are built of local limestone, the later buildings in adobe. Thirteen buildings in the district are considered contributing structures. Buildings built between 1940 and 1942 were constructed with labor provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake McDonald Lodge Coffee Shop</span> United States historic place

The Lake McDonald Lodge Coffee Shop is a visitor services building in the Lake McDonald district of Glacier National Park, Montana. The coffee shop was built in 1965 as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 program to upgrade visitor facilities, in order to increase visitor dining capacity. Under the Mission 66 projects, visitor facilities were usually comprehensive in nature, providing a range of visitor services. Specialized concession buildings like the Coffee Shop were unusual in Mission 66. It was leased to the Glacier Park Company for operation, in anticipation of the construction of lodging facilities by the company.

Cecil John Doty (1907–1990) was an American architect, notable for planning a consistent architectural framework for the U.S. National Park Service's ambitious Mission 66 program in the 1950s and 1960s. Doty spent his childhood in May, Oklahoma, then attended Oklahoma A&M, and received a degree in architectural engineering in 1928. During the Great Depression that immediately followed Doty's graduation, Doty found intermittent work, but was unable to establish a business in Oklahoma City. In order to make a living, Doty signed up with the Civilian Conservation Corps, first as a file clerk, then as an architect in the state parks program.

Architects of the National Park Service are the architects and landscape architects who were employed by the National Park Service (NPS) starting in 1918 to design buildings, structures, roads, trails and other features in the United States National Parks. Many of their works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a number have also been designated as National Historic Landmarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Logan Health</span> Hospital in Montana, United States

Logan Health (also known as Logan Health Medical Center), formerly Kalispell Regional Medical Center (KRMC) is a 622-bed non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located in Kalispell, Montana, servicing the northern Montana region. The hospital is the region's only university-level academic medical center. The hospital is owned by Logan Health and is the flagship hospital of the system. The medical center is affiliated with the University of Montana. The hospital is also an ACS designated level III trauma center and has a helipad to handle medevac patients. Attached to the medical center is the Montana Children's Hospital that treats infants, children, adolescents, and young adults up to the age of 21. The hospital is also accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Boles House</span> Historic house in Montana, United States

The Charles Boles House, located at 40 Appleway Dr. in Kalispell, Montana, United States, is a Tudor Revival-style house builtin 1932. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courthouse Historic District (Kalispell, Montana)</span> Historic district in Montana, United States

The Courthouse Historic District in Kalispell, Montana is a 10 acres (4.0 ha) historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. It included 18 contributing buildings and one contributing site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anderson Style Shop</span> United States historic place

The Anderson Style Shop, at 222 Main St. in Kalispell, Montana, was built in 1941. It was designed by Kalispell architect Fred Brinkman in Moderne style. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wheaton, Rodd L. (June 1, 2006). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Logan Pass Visitor Center". National Park Service. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
  3. "Going-to-the-Sun Road FAQs". Glacier National Park. National Park Service. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
  4. Peterson, Chris (February 1, 2024). "At Logan Pass, endangered insect presents a quandary for flush toilets". Daily Inter Lake. Retrieved February 2, 2024.