Schedule:
8:00 am–3:30 pm, Thursday, October 7
| Registration Fee: |
$190 (includes continental breakfast, lunch and transportation) |
| Transportation: |
Charter bus and walking |
| Dress code: |
Casual with good, closed-toe walking shoes |
| Maximum attendance: |
21 |
| Handicapped accessibility: |
Not accessible |
| Continuing Education Credits: |
AIA—6.0 CEs
Engineering—6.0 PDHs
Canadian Architects—TBD |
Field Session:
You will explore two homestead ranches in the shadow of the mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park—McGraw Ranch and MacGregor Ranch. Each utilized different techniques to preserve their rustic wood and log architecture. The guides will focus on the different preservation issues and resolutions that were utilized for each homestead.
McGraw Ranch
The McGraw Ranch restoration was motivated in large part by a desire to reduce the maintenance backlog of $1.5 billion for historic structures in the National Park System, Rocky Mountain National Park proposed demolishing fifteen historic buildings at McGraw Ranch. In response to this threat, the National Trust for Historic Preservation intervened and partnered with the Park Service to convert the ranch into the McGraw Ranch Research Center, which provides facilities for scientists conducting research in the park. This creative, adaptive use of vacant historic buildings has become an influential national model, and is leading to several similar projects in other national parks. Source
MacGregor Ranch
The 1221 acre MacGregor Ranch is home to 42 buildings, 28 of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A grant from the Colorado State Historical Fund supported historic preservation and restoration work on the Agricultural Complex. During the grant period, the ranch completed the stabilization and preservation of the eleven-structure complex. Milled lumber, sand mixtures for mortars, and rocks for foundations, all native to the Ranch, were used in the restoration project in keeping with the methods used during the MacGregor days. Source
Historic Structures
Following the homestead visits, you will tour some of Rocky Mountain National Park park’s historic structures, starting with the Visitor’s Center, which was completed in 1967 and designed by Taliesin Associated Architects. It was one of the last major projects completed under the Park Service Mission 66 project, and became a National Historic Landmark in 2001.
There are about 600 buildings in Rocky Mountain National Park, though there were once twice that many standing within park boundaries. For much of the 20th century, the National Park Service considered Rocky Mountain a natural park, and therefore management decisions aimed to return the landscape to pre-contact conditions. Although some buildings were protected, it was not until 1988 that the “natural” designation was lifted and a new mandate toward historic preservation was embraced. Since then, numerous park buildings have been restored or rehabilitated. Source
Learning Objectives:
- Describe how altitude and climate impact the preservation of wood structures.
- Discuss various methods that have been used successfully to preserve wood structures at high altitudes.
- Discuss different preservation strategies applied in each project.
- Discuss how proposed adaptive uses can save historic structures.
Field Session Coordinator:
Natalie Feinberg Lopez, Built Environment Evolution, Boulder, CO, USA
