Mary Colter and Preservation
“The greenest building is the one already built,” historic preservationists say today. Although it is unlikely that Mary E. J. Colter was motivated by sustainability goals in 1935, her preservation of several buildings on the Bright Angel Lodge and Cabins site at Grand Canyon reduced the project’s impact on the environment.
As part of the new project, Colter remodeled the existing Powell Lodge and preserved two nineteenth-century buildings. One of these, the Bucky O’Neill Cabin, was built of notched logs in 1895 and expanded in 1900. After Bucky O’Neill’s demise in the Spanish-American War, the cabin was used for many years as the lobby for the old Bright Angel Hotel. Most of this hotel and camp would be demolished to make way for the new lodge and cabins, but Colter remodeled and added on to the Bucky O’Neill Cabin, keeping it as part of the new complex.
Restored old post office building, 1935. (Photo courtesy of Grand Canyon National Park Museum Collection, GRCA09721, Creative Commons License.)
The other building Colter retained was built with hand-squared logs and roofed with hand-split shingles. Constructed in the 1890s, it was moved to the south rim in 1902. It operated as a hotel until 1910, and then as a post office until 1932. After a new post office opened, the Santa Fe Railway purchased the old post office building. Colter had the non-original second story and porches removed, and the repurposed two-room cabin was then considered “one of the most attractive cabins in the Bright Angel community,” according to a visitor in 1936.
Colter showcased a range of Southwestern architectural styles in the new complex, with exterior walls of stone and finishes that looked like adobe and log. Colter’s overall design concept for the Bright Angel Lodge and Cabins was to give the impression of a pioneer village built up over a period of decades. Preserving the nineteenth century buildings played into Colter’s design narrative for the complex. It also eliminated demolition costs and reduced the need for new construction, saving money as well as materials and energy.
Another building on the site for the new lodge and cabins also escaped demolition. The Brown building, an employee dormitory, was moved 200 feet to the east. The specifications directed the contractor to re-use any suitable stone from its original foundation. Moving this building was probably the most time-efficient and cost-effective way to keep employees housed while they worked at the Grand Canyon, but it also had environmental benefits over demolishing and building new.
Today reusing and repurposing existing buildings and salvaging materials are strategies for diverting waste from landfills and reducing the embodied energy of a project. Although Colter had other motivations, her preservation of these buildings reduced the environmental impact of constructing the Bright Angel Lodge and Cabins.
Read about Colter’s other sustainable site and building strategies at Bright Angel Lodge and Cabins.
Sources
The Hotel Monthly, “The New Bright Angel Lodge and Cabins,” December 1936: 13-22.
Page & Turnbull, Inc. "Historic Structure Report: Bright Angel Lodge and Cabins." San Francisco, May 15, 2006.
“Specifications for Concrete, Masonry & Log Lodge at Grand Canyon, Arizona, for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company Coast Lines,” Grand Canyon Museum Collection, GRCA 26548 Folder 19.
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