Park Headquarters: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, National Park Service

Owens, Erica

The Park Headquarters cultural landscape is located in the northeast quarter of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. This landscape is comprised of features that were designed and constructed by the National Park Service during the Mission 66 era, between 1954 and 1966. The Park Headquarters site includes s Visitor Center and associated parking lot, park housing, a maintenance building, and access roads. In the spirit of Mission 66, planning and design efforts carefully addressed interpretation of the park resources and visitor experience through placement of buildings, roads, and parking. The policies that influenced Mission 66 design and planning are still evident at the park today and continue to influence the ways that visitors use the site. The period of significance for the Park Headquarters extends from 1954 through 1966 reflecting Mission 66 development within Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. In the early 1950s, the National Park Service began to develop plans for facilities that would support the mission of the unit. By 1955, NPS efforts resulted in the completion of a park master plan. The 1955 document included plans for buildings, new roads, walkways, and parking lots with an emphasis placed on the visitor. Following Mission 66 Modern architecture and planning practices as well as the 1955 master plan, groundbreaking ceremonies took place in August 1960. By August 1961, construction had been completed; resulting in new roads, parking areas, utilities and buildings. The Fort Vancouver Park Headquarters landscape is an intact example of a Mission 66 era national park development. The overall site plan, building exteriors, vehicular and pedestrian circulation routes, entrance sign, flagpole, parking lot, outdoor exhibit, and the spatial organization of these features and their design intent were all part of the master plan and remain completely intact. Embodying the principles of Mission 66 Modern architecture, all of the buildings and landscape features possess physical integrity through location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Furthermore, the Mission 66 style is still evident in the remaining landscape characteristics and features, which include: natural systems and features, spatial organization, cluster arrangement, land use, circulation, small-scale features, and buildings and structures. The National Park Service Mission 66 era and development is included in the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Historic District, which was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in January 2007. In this nomination, the Mission 66 features are contributing to the Historic District. The Park Headquarters cultural landscape is significant at the state level under Criterion A for its association with park master planning during the Mission 66-era and Criterion C for its distinct Mission 66-era Modern style architecture and site design. It is also eligible under Special Criterion Consideration G as a property achieving significance within the past fifty years for the Mission 66 development built within the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in the early 1960s.

Park Headquarters: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, National Park Service

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