- City:
- Petrified Forest National Monument, AZ
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Shops and Auxiliary Buildings
- New Deal Agencies:
- Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Work Relief Programs, Conservation and Public Lands, Public Works Funding, National Park Service (NPS), Public Works Administration (PWA)
- Started:
- 1937
- Completed:
- 1940
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
A major upgrade of facilities at the Petrified Forest National Monument (now National Park) was undertaken by the New Deal in the 1930s. The work was carried out in 1936–40 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS), with a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA).
The most notable achievement was construction of the Painted Desert Inn in the northern portion of the park (above Route 66, now Interstate 40). Across Petrified Forest Road from the inn are two residences built for the park staff at the same time. Both were done in the Pueblo Revival style popular in the 1920-30s – flat roofs, thick stuccoed walls, small windows, protruding timber roof supports and painted in a desert ochre.
Source notes
C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown. Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office, 1939.
https://www.nps.gov/pefo/historyculture/pdi.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrified_Forest_National_Park
Arizona Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association (NNDPA), "The New Deal in Arizona: Connections to Our Historic Landscape," University of Arizona Library online collections, 2012.
https://content.library.arizona.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/NewDeal/id/196/rec/25
National Park Service flyer on Painted Desert Inn National Historic Landmark, available on site. 2013.
Site originally submitted by Richard Walker on April 30, 2022.
Additional contributions by Joan Greer.
At this Location:
- Painted Desert Inn: Construction - Petrified Forest National Park AZ
- Painted Desert Inn: Interior Decorations - Petrified Forest National Park AZ
- Roads and Trails - Petrified Forest National Park AZ
- Rainbow Forest Residential Compound - Petrified Forest National Park AZ
- CCC Camp - Petrified Forest National Park AZ
- Painted Desert Inn: Water Supply - Petrified Forest National Park AZ
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