Painted Desert Inn

Painted Desert Inn
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Painted Desert Inn, 2006
Location	Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
Coordinates
Built	1937
Architect	Lyle E. Bennett; Mary Jane Colter
Architectural style	Pueblo Revival
NRHP Reference #	87001421
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	May 28, 1987
Designated NHL	May 28, 1987

Painted Desert Inn is a lodge complex in Petrified Forest National Park, in Navajo County, eastern Arizona. It is located off of Interstate 10 and historic U.S. Route 66, overlooking the Painted Desert.

History

The inn's lodge building and adobe guest cabins−casitas were designed in the Pueblo Revival style, by National Park Service architect Lyle E. Bennett and others from the Park Service Branch of Plans and Design. Construction was carried out by Civilian Conservation Corps builders and artisans over 1937–1940. A portion of the main lodge building was remodeled from the 1920s inn on the site, known as the Stone Tree House due to much local petrified wood used in its architectural elements.

After post-war design revisions by architect Mary Jane Colter, it was operated by the Fred Harvey Company as a Harvey House from 1947 to 1963, when it closed. Demolition was proposed in the mid-1970s, but after public protests the building was reopened for limited use in 1976. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

The main lodge building of the Painted Desert Inn was extensively rehabilitated and restored, reopening as a museum and bookstore in 2006. Overnight accommodations and food service are not currently available at the inn.

Mural by Hopi Artist Fred Kabotie (painted c. 1948), commissioned by Mary Jane Colter

File:PDI skylights.JPG

Skylights in the Painted Desert Inn, painted by the CCC−Civilian Conservation Corps

Murals

Hopi artist Fred Kabotie was engaged by Colter to paint the Inn's murals in 1947–48. Colter knew Kabotie from a previous collaboration at the Fred Harvey Hopi House in Grand Canyon National Park. Kabotie's work depicts aspects of Hopi life, including a journey through the Painted Desert to collect salt.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Petrified Forest National Park
• Fred Harvey Company buildings
• HABS—Historic American Buildings Survey in Arizona

External links

• NPS: Official Painted Desert Inn website
• NPS: Painted Desert Inn guidebook
• NPS: Painted Desert Inn National Historic Landmark
• HABS—Historic American Buildings Survey images:

• Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. AZ-161, "Painted Desert Inn, Navajo vicinity, Apache County, AZ"
• HABS No. AZ-161-A, "Painted Desert Inn, Residence 76"
• HABS No. AZ-161-B, "Painted Desert Inn, Residence 77"