Jackson Lake Lodge: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Grand Teton National Park, National Park Service

Shapins Associates

The Jackson Lake Lodge National Historic Landmark District is located in the heart of Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming. Perched at the edge of a natural terrace, Jackson Lake Lodge offers visitors expansive views to the west of Willow Flats, Jackson Lake, and the Teton Range. The project area extends west to a dirt road at the base of the terrace—formerly U.S. Highway 287—then south to Christian Creek, east to the Teton Park Road (Hwy. 89), and north above the employee housing. Included in this boundary are Jackson Lake Lodge, the north and south guest cottages, employee housing, corral, service station area, Lunch Tree Hill, adjacent trails, and two entry roads from different periods. Due to its exceptional national importance in the areas of architecture, landscape architecture, conservation, and recreation, the Jackson Lake Lodge is significant as a National Historic Landmark. The period of significance is 1953‑1960, which encompasses the beginning of construction of the lodge complex and the design and installation of major landscape plans. Jackson Lake Lodge was the design precursor to the Mission 66 program of the National Park Service, which called for the modernization of the parks in order to meet the needs of increased visitors to the parks. Mission 66 was a nation‑wide infrastructure improvement program implemented by the National Park Service from roughly 1956 until 1966. With the onset of World War II, the National Park Service was reduced to minimal staff and visitor services. All new construction projects halted and preventative maintenance was intentionally neglected. Shortly after the war, however, tourism increased dramatically. Even though the demand for facilities and visitor services intensified, the NPS budget for equipment, materials, and personnel did not increase and NPS was struggling to provide visitor services. Mission 66 was a development strategy that would address long‑neglected repair, restoration, and new construction projects. It provided NPS with the means to improve park infrastructure and increase visitor services over the next ten years. Important features of the Jackson Lake Lodge landscape reflect important historical developments, such as the rise in visitation to national parks and the growing importance of the automobile as a means of transportation. The landscape of the Jackson Lake Lodge is also of exceptional value as being the first major lodge complex designed in a modern style of architecture within the National Park System. From the 1920s until World War II, the National Park Service employed the Rustic style in the construction of buildings and other facilities. The Jackson Lake Lodge component landscape represents a significant break with this tradition. Designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the main lodge building is primarily an International style structure. Yet Underwood was careful to incorporate some elements of the Rustic Style in this building. Therefore, the architecture of the Jackson Lake Lodge NHL District is viewed as transitional in nature. Though there have been some changes to the landscape both by design and the changes that occur with time as a landscape matures, the district retains a high degree of historical integrity. The condition of the Jackson Lake Lodge cultural landscape is good.

Jackson Lake Lodge: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Grand Teton National Park, National Park Service

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