Wupatki National Monument Visitor Center Complex Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Wupatki National Monument, National Park Service

Curran, Michele

The 51.62 acre Wupatki National Monument Visitor Center Complex Historic District (Wupatki VC Complex) is a historic designed landscape located in Coconino County, Arizona about 35 miles northeast of Flagstaff. The wedge shaped historic district includes a portion of Woodhouse Mesa because Cecil Doty designed the complex to lie in the flat area at the base of the Mesa. As the most significant land formation in the surrounding area, the Mesa is an important part of the Cecil Doty designed landscape, and needs to be included in the Historic District boundary. The placement of the complex at the foot of Woodhouse Mesa provides a backdrop for the complex and also provides extensive view to the surrounding Painted Desert landscape, which derives its character from the deep red Moenkopi sandstone and pale yellow Kaibab limestone dotted with pinyon juniper woodland and desert scrub ecotones. The Wupatki VC Complex is an amalgam of NPS Rustic style architecture constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and NPS Modern style architecture constructed as part of the Mission 66 program The Civilian Conservation Corps. The complex includes an entrance road, parking loop, administrative center, visitor contact area, trails/walkways to the Wupatki archeological structures, maintenance area, park housing, and an internal circulation system. Cecil Doty designed the Rustic style custodian’s residence (Building 1) and the original administrative building (Building 4) in 1938. In 1942, when the CCC was disbanded to help with the war effort, only the basement of Building 4 had been completed. With such short notice before the CCC decamped, the park’s custodian was forced to design an ad hoc roof to complete Building 4. The “basement” served as the administrative center until 1964, when Doty designed a visitor center addition as part of the Mission 66 program. The Phoenix based firm of Lescher and Mahoney prepared the final drawings for the Wupatki visitor center. The visitor center, apartment building, houses, and maintenance building were completed by 1967. As part of the Mission 66 development, the residences, apartment building, and parking lot island were landscaped and planted with native vegetation. The period of significance for the Wupatki Visitor Center Complex Historic District is 1940‑1967. The Wupatki complex is comprised of ten buildings and structures that contribute to its historic significance. Most of the contributing properties are in excellent condition and retain a high level of historic integrity, reflecting original CCC and Mission 66 era. Character-defining elements of CCC buildings in the Wupatki complex include rough stone masonry, carved wooden corbels, exposed vigas and canales, shifting parapets, enclosed patios and a corner fireplace reminiscent of the architectural prototypes of the American Southwest, well suited to the site and the region. Character defining elements of the Mission 66 buildings in the Wupatki complex include stone masonry, one story horizontal massing, low pitched or flat roofs, site placement in relation to Wupatki Pueblo, abstract Native American architecture that imitates both the nearby stonework and the traditional methods of construction, hogan shaped lobby, central skylight, and the overall layout of the complex.

Wupatki National Monument Visitor Center Complex Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Wupatki National Monument, National Park Service

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