Table of Contentss

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Dinosaur

Wright Brothers

Gettysburg

Pertified Forest

Rocky Mountain

Cecil Doty

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendix I

Appendix II

Appendix III

Appendix IV

Mission 66 Visitor Centers Chapter 2

Building the Visitor Center

Donald Benson remembers the prospect of a modernist visitor center on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as more controversial than the colorful beach shelter he designed for Cape Hatteras National Seashore a few years earlier. The shelter's sun shades rose out of the beach like sculptures, but such artistic license was acceptable in a recreational facility devoted to seaside entertainment. In contrast, the visitor center was expected to be functional, dignified, and a public building for the local community. If the Park Service was now familiar with the Mitchell/Giurgola design, local contractors must have been surprised when sets of plans and specifications were sent out for bidding in January 1959. [48] Modern architecture was not part of the design vocabulary of the region, nor were modernist buildings prevalent in the state of North Carolina. [49] Bids were opened on February 4, 1959, and the contract was awarded to Hunt Contracting Company of Norfolk, Virginia, for their offer of $257,203. [50]

Construction of the visitor center began in March 1959, and foundation piles had been driven by the end of the month. In early spring, the beam forms were at grade level. Superintendent Dough predicted rapid progress now that "the slow process of getting the building staked out, supplies on hand and work organized has been completed." [51] Concrete columns and piers were erected in June and most of the floor slabs poured. On July 24, the contractors' work was inspected by Tom Vint, chief of design and construction, and Chief Safety Officer Baker, both of the Washington office. [52] By the end of the summer, the east elevation had begun to take shape. A view from the south shows the beams for the exhibit room standing apart from the office wing. The next month, contractors were laying the ribbed ceiling forms for the corrugated concrete overhang around the perimeter of the assembly room. [53] The major concrete portions had been cast, and Mitchell and Giurgola may have witnessed some of this form work during their "field inspection" at the site on September 24-25. [54] Form work for the patterned wall was well underway by October. A steel grid was used to create the protruding shapes on the surface of the wall. While the decorative wall was under construction, contractors were also assembling the arch beam forms of the dome. The general shape became visible in November; a plywood shell framed the central half sphere, and intricate interior scaffolding supported the dome framework throughout this construction. Engineer Don Nutt of EODC witnessed the "dome pour" later in the month. Smooth reinforced concrete covered the central portion first. The contractors then turned to form work for the "flange overhangs," which were subsequently poured. The dome sat on four coupled columns and was "tied" at its base by four tension rods. A December photograph of the assembly room interior shows the completed dome and semi-circular windows, the supportive scaffolding removed.

Despite colder temperatures, contractors were able to pour the steps of the visitor center in January 1960. Chief of EODC Zimmer and Supervising Architect Cabot spent two days "reviewing progress and details" of the construction that month, and Don Benson and Ann Massey, both of EODC, visited the site to discuss color and design. [55] Interior framing was still exposed in February, but the dome, overhang, and exhibition area roof were considered complete. Roofing compound was applied to the lobby section of the visitor center the next month, although glass sections of the building remained empty. Wall panels and windows were not installed until April, when engineer Don Nutt and landscape architect Ed Peetz (EODC) visited for a construction review. Sometime during the month, the contractor made his third estimate for a completion date, settling on June 10. The final inspection of the visitor center took place on June 20, 1960. Evidently no major changes were required, and specialists from the museum division were busy installing the twenty-two museum exhibits during the first weeks of July, when work also began on the surrounding landscaping. [56]

Figure 24. Wright Brothers Visitor Center, exterior view looking north, ca. 1960. (Courtesy National Park Service Technical Information Center, Denver Service Center.)

The contractors for "planting and miscellaneous construction"—Cotton Brothers, Inc., of Churchland, Virginia—had replaced existing concrete walks and additional pathways by mid-August. Landscape work involved grading and spreading topsoil as well as "considerable experimentation and effort . . . with native groundcovers." After completing the walks, seeding, planting tubs and flagpole base, the contractors began work on the wooden fence. Progress was interrupted by Hurricane Donna, which struck September 11 and leveled sections of the fence, but repairs were accomplished by the end of the month. In addition, the contractors planted twelve varieties of trees and provided plants for inside the museum. Before the final inspection, Cotton Brothers installed the Park Service's signs and gate. [57]

Figure 25. Wright Brothers Visitor Center lobby, ca. 1959. (Courtesy MGA Partners, Architects, Philadelphia.)

The Wright Brothers Memorial Visitor Center was officially opened to the public on July 15, 1960. By all accounts, the building met with a positive reception. Superintendent Dough wrote that "hundreds of compliments have been received about the exhibits and the building's design since it was opened. Visitors are generally surprised to learn of the aeronautical principles formulated by the Wrights, and the descriptive term 'beautiful' is used repeatedly in describing the building." He also noted that although about two thousand visitors passed through the visitor center every day during the summer season, "these are so well distributed during visiting hours that there are seldom over 75 visitors within the building at a time . . ." [58] During the month of August, the site received 62,177 visitors, a 34 percent increase since the year before, and approximately three thousand more visitors than visited in August 1998. [59] Although Dough seemed optimistic about these figures in his initial report, by September he had become concerned about the "too interesting" museum exhibits, which he blamed for causing congestion in the visitor center. On five peak days ". . . 3,500 plus jammed into the visitor center." Dough indicated that the Park Service had not expected such crowds until 1966, as shown by graphs included in their Mission 66 prospectus. Rather than consider a building expansion, however, Dough suggested changing the exhibition layout: "More museum exhibits to further spread out the visitors may be the answer, but in our view the law of diminishing returns sets in when many more than about 19 exhibits are installed in a visitor center." [60] Mission 66 planning documents indicate that the Park Service anticipated record numbers of visitors—nearly ninty thousand per month by 1966—and judged the visitor center facility adequate to serve their needs. [61] By that time, Dough had retired and Superintendent James B. Myers assumed his post.

CONTINUED

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