Wawona Hotel Complex: Cultural Landscape Report Part 1 and Part 2,Yosemite National Park, National Park Service
Mundus Bishop, Contractor. 2012. Wawona Hotel Complex: Cultural Landscape Report Part 1 and Part 2,Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Cultural Landscape Report. NPS Pacific West Regional Office. Yosemite National Park
The Wawona Hotel Complex in Yosemite National Park is the largest existing late- Victorian hotel within a national park, and it continues to provide the same visitor services it has for the last 100 years. This CLR presents detailed documentation of the Wawona Hotel Complex’s historical development, evaluation of existing conditions, analysis and evaluation of landscape characteristics, and recommendations for treatment. The Hotel Complex is located in the broader landscape of the Wawona Basin, which has historically attracted visitors to its spectacular natural setting and protected valley. Galen Clark was an early homesteader that built the first hostelry/stage stop in 1857, located along the stage road into Yosemite Valley on the Merced River. The property was sold to Henry Washburn in 1875, who spent the next four decades developing the stop into a hotel resort destination. By 1917, the site offered the Hotel Annex, tennis court, croquet area, fountains and swimming tank, and golf course – a luxurious retreat within a day’s trip of the Giant Sequoias at Mariposa Grove. The family sold the Hotel to the National Park Service in 1932. Although modifications have been made since then, many of the materials, features, and spatial relationships that historically defined the complex remain intact. The Wawona Hotel and Thomas Hill Studio is a designated National Historic Landmark District, significant in areas of art, conservation, transportation, exploration, and settlement. The period of significance for the Wawona Hotel Complex landscape is 1876 to 1939, encompassing its transformation from a stage stop to a destination resort hotel with an early national park. Treatment recommendations in this draft report consider the complex interrelationship of its features. The NPS seeks to preserve contributing resources, accomodate continued use and operations, and protect natural systems.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Mundus Bishop, Contractor
- Date of Issue
- 2012-08
- Publisher
- NPS Pacific West Regional Office
- Units
- PWR , YOSE
- Keywords
- Archeology, artist, Audobon Cooperative Sanctuary, Commerce, Conservation, Covered Bridge, Cultural Landscape, Exploration, Galen Clark, golf course, Henry Wahburn, hotel, hotel, Mariposa Grove, Meadow, Merced River, National Historic Landmark District, Orchard, Painter, park development, Pre-historic, Recreation, resort, Ruins, Settlement, Stage Coach, Studio, Thomas Hill, Tourism, Transportation, Victorian, Visitation
- Subjects
- CRIS-CL: 725289: Wawona Hotel Complex