Utility Area: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Mesa Verde National Park
Regions 6, 7, & 8 Park Cultural Landscapes Program. 2012. Utility Area: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Mesa Verde National Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 850242. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. NPS Intermountain Regional Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico / CRIS-CL Database
Inventory Unit Description: The Utility Area, the focus of this inventory, is located approximately 1-1/4 miles north of the headquarters area in a wooded pinon-juniper setting. The site is accessed from a four hundred foot road spur that branches in a westward direction from the park entrance road. The core of the development covers nine acres, equally divided between adjacent maintenance and residential areas. The area was originally designed to accommodate complementary housing and work-related facilities for park service personnel. This component landscape is a historic designed landscape of the CCC era. The period of significance of this development extends between 1933 and 1937. Overall the plan for the Utility Area is notable for its adherence to Rustic style tenets of design. The Rustic style achieved harmony with the natural surroundings. Grounded in 19th century romantic or pastoral ideals, this functional architecture contributed to natural settings in a visually pleasing and non-intrusive manner. Characteristic features include the use of natural materials, appropriate scale and simple forms. Significant landscape features, such as curvilinear circulation systems, stone curbs, asphalt paths, masonry headwalls and end walls of culverts and signage were fabricated to replicate a rugged, handcrafted structures built by pioneer craftsmen with limited hand tools. Because the area contains both maintenance and residential functions, each with a distinct character, the Utility Area component landscape has been divided into two sub-units: 1. Maintenance Yard (Utility Area) and associated features 2. Utility Area Housing (White House Loop) and associated features
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Regions 6, 7, & 8 Park Cultural Landscapes Program
- Date of Issue
- 2012-04-16
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- IMR , MEVE
- Keywords
- architecture, blacksmith shop, carpenter shop, CCC, civilian conservation corps, community planning and development, culvert headwall, curbing, early park development historic designed landscape, employee housing, equipment shed, fire cache, garage, headquarters, historic cottage, historic designed landscape, housing, landscape architecture, maintenance area, politics/government, residential, rustic style, warehouse