Historic Structure Report: Glacier Bay Lodge Complex Historic District

Wackrow, Kathleen

This HSR was completed to guide Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (GLBA) managers in performing treatment to the Glacier Bay Lodge Complex Historic District (AHRS # JUN-01161), a resource that was determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places by the Alaska State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) on September 29, 2011. The Glacier Bay Lodge Complex Historic District (the lodge complex) is a concessioner-run, federally owned, overnight accommodation in southeastern Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. It is located within the Glacier Bay Basin, a region encompassing Glacier Bay and its surrounding mountains and glaciers. The lodge complex is situated on the southeast shore of Bartlett Cove, about 5.5 miles northeast of the mouth of Glacier Bay, and it is approximately 6 miles northwest (as the crow flies) of Gustavus, Alaska. The Park Service Modern and Pacific Northwest Modern style complex is comprised of a central lodge building flanked by two clusters of cabins. The complex contains two additional buildings: one lodge services building and a luggage unit. Designed in 1964-1965, the lodge complex was constructed in two major phases. The first phase of construction, comprised of erecting the main lodge building and eight cabins, began in 1965 and opened to the public in June 1966. The second phase of construction, which took place over the 1972-1973 winter season, included minor additions to the lodge building, the installation of a lodge service building, and the construction of another eight cabins. The treatment recommended in this report is intended to address the condition of the property, while ensuring that we preserve the qualities that make this property historically significant. The overall recommended treatment for the complex is “rehabilitation.” According to The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, rehabilitation is “the act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.”6 The recommended treatment includes the removal of the non-historic cluster of concession services to the southwest corner of the lodge: the south elevation shipping/ receiving room addition and the lodge services building. Other substantial exterior non-historic modifications, including an accessibility ramp, elevator, and second floor fire exits, were made to the building in 1984 in order to comply with the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) of 1968. It is recommended that these additions are retained to remain in compliance with the ABA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. It is also recommended that non-historic modifications are removed from the second floor mezzanine of the lodge building. These recommendations are based on an effort to retain identified character defining features; the mitigation of noted active conditions and threats; and the general recommendations for long-term treatment of historic buildings at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. All recommendations are based on The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Buildings.7 Please refer to “Developmental History — Physical Description & Character Defining Features” for more information on character-defining features and “Treatment and Use” for an elaboration on the recommended treatments of this property. For copies of original and drawings, contemporary floor plans, and a historic furnishings report for the cabin units, please refer to the appendices of this report. For a maintenance plan for the buildings within the complex, refer to the separate report prepared by Dornbusch Associates in 2012, entitled Real Property Analysis for Concession Facilities at Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve.

Historic Structure Report: Glacier Bay Lodge Complex Historic District

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