Ocmulgee National Monument Visitor Center Historic Structure Report

Ocmulgee National Monument Visitor Center Historic Structure Report December 2008 for Cultural Resoources Division Southeast Region, National Park Service by Joseph K. Oppermann - Architect, P.A. Winston-Salem, NC The historic structure report presented here exists in two formats. A traditional, printed version is available for study at the park, the Southeastern Regional Office of the NPS (SERO), and at a variety of other repositories. For more widespread access, the historic structure report also exists in a web-based format through ParkNet, the website of the National Park Service. Please visit www.nps.gov for more Cultural Resources information. Southeast Region National Park Service 100 Alabama St. SW Atlanta, GA 30303 2008 Historic Structure Report Visitor Center Ocmulgee National Monument LCS#: 091399 Cover image: Visitor Center, 2008 (photograph by author) THE VISITORS CENTER HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, GA Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS MANAGEMENT SUMMARY Executive Summary…………………………………….....………………………..…..1 Administrative Data…………………………………………………………..…….…..3 PART I – DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY A. Historical Background and Context……………………………………….. I.A.1-12 B. Chronology of Development and Use…………………………………....…I.B.1-40 C. Physical Description……………………………………………………….. I.C.1-73 PART II – TREATMENT & USE A. Ultimate Treatment & Use…………………………….………………..……II.A.1-3 B. Requirements for Treatment ………………………………………………....II.B.1-1 C. Alternatives for Treatment..………………………………...………………...II.C.1-2 D. Recommendations………………………………………………………….…II.D.1-2 REFERENCES APPENDICES A. Ocmulgee Superintendents B. Interview Transcripts C. 2008 As-found Measured Drawings D. Paint Analysis and Color Evaluation 2008 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page v THE VISITOR CENTER HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, GA Table of Contents 2008 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page vi THE VISITORS CENTER HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, GA Executive Summary EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 1939 advent of construction of the reconstruction of the site’s Earth Lodge, Visitor Center at Ocmulgee National looked to a radical new architecture for Monument near Macon, Georgia was a expression. He chose Art Moderne, a new, watershed event for the National Park twentieth-century, architectural style that Service, though the significance of the event took pride in its break from historical was not widely recognized at that moment. precedent. This style brought new modern The design of this building was a radical form and materials to architecture. At departure from the Park Service buildings Ocmulgee as was typical of the style, its previously constructed. formed-in-place concrete created massive curving forms. Window and door frames of Until the Ocmulgee building, the agency’s aluminum or stainless steel held glass in park facilities were uniformly traditional in long, shiny, horizontal rows, flooding the architectural expression. These new interior spaces with natural light. Walls of buildings were often rustic, in glass block added shimmering illumination, acknowledgement of the natural character of both inside and out. the park. Sometimes, as at Lincoln’s birthplace, they employed classical Swanson used these materials and architecture to give an air of solemnity to the architectural style to meld these very new site. And at other times they mimicked the characteristics with the very old elements of early architecture of the region. This design the archaeological site. He used the revival sentiment was so strong that it plasticity of the concrete to evoke the image typically held sway even if the copied of another building, the visitor center, rising historic style had little or no relationship to out of the earth, akin to the mounds. He the commemorated event or theme of the created a tall, tiered rotunda, squarish in park, as at Guilford Courthouse. plan with rounded corners reminiscent of the Earth Lodge. He gave the rotunda a boldly The Ocmulgee Visitor Center followed none formed exterior frieze patterned on the of these cues. Though a rural setting, near a incised decorations of the Native American historic nineteenth century community, this pottery found at the site. He used common site commemorated the early, pre-historic, colors of the native people, red and black, to native-American culture and its mound highlight the frieze and exterior pathways in community that flourished had once contrast to the creamy white building. flourished there. Vast amounts of artifacts had been recovered through archaeology. The result was a bold solution to a difficult Portions of a mound and site features had design problem. It was unlike anything the been exposed and rebuilt. To introduce a Park Service had ever attempted. As was new building of an historic European or true for the Modern Movement in general, European descendant design vocabulary not everyone embraced the design or the would have been ingenuous. Instead the new architectural style of which it is a part. designer, James T. Swanson, a park service Its advent did enhance the opportunity for official who had also directed the 2008 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 1 THE VISITORS CENTER HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, GA Executive Summary other Park Service buildings of Modernist conserved and celebrated. Some parts of the design. building have been remodeled. It is highly desirable to restore some areas, especially The important role of the Ocmulgee Visitor the major public spaces. In general, the Center is not well known nor is it promoted. building is well maintained and in good This is a building that should be a National condition except for a persistent, long term Historic Landmark. The process of leakage problem at the terrace. gathering the support documentation should begin immediately with special emphasis on In summation, the building is a major icon oral histories the sources for which are of the Park Service and the Modernist diminishing daily. Movement. This building, largely pristine and in good condition, presents enormous Beneficial to both the documentation and opportunities to interpret and promote an preservation processes, the building retains a important but not well understood epoch in great deal of its 1939-51 building fabric and Park Service history, as well as the larger characteristics. These should be retained, historical context of Modern Architecture. 2008 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 2 THE VISITOR CENTER HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, GA Administrative Data ADMINISTRATIVE DATA Locational Data Building Name: The Visitor Center Building Address: 1207 Emery Highway, Macon, GA 31201 Location: Ocmulgee National Monument County: Bibb County State: Georgia Related Studies Binkley, Cameron. Science, Politics, and the “Big Dig;” A History of the Southeast Archeological Center. Cultural Resources Division, Southeast Regional Office, National Park Service, 2007. Jones, Tommy H. Earth Lodge Historic Structure Report. Atlanta, GA: Southeast Region National Park Service, 2005. Marsh, Alan. “Ocmulgee National Monument Administrative History.” Typewritten manuscript. Macon, GA: Ocmulgee National Monument, 1986. Brown, Jennifer T. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form; Ocmulgee National Monument, Amendment and Additional Information, 1996. Earlier listings were in 1966 and 1979. Wheeler, Beth J. Ocmulgee National Monument Cultural Landscape Report. Atlanta, GA: Cultural Resources Division, Southeast Regional Office, National Park Service, 2007. Real Property Information Acquisition Date: Visitor Center site included in 1936 land transfer to Department of Interior. Numbering Information LCS #: 091399 FMSS Number: 78211 2008 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 3 THE VISITOR CENTER HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, GA Administrative Data Size Information Total Floor Area: 22,500 s.f. Ground Floor Area: 13,100 s.f. First Floor Area: 8,400 s.f. Roof Area: 9,700 s.f. Perimeter Length: 690 l.f. Number of Stories: Two occupied floor levels Number of Rooms: 55 rooms 35 rooms at ground floor 20 rooms at first floor Number of Bathrooms: Two public restrooms Two staff restrooms One office half-bath Cultural Resource Data National Register Status: Listed; Contributing Structure National Register Date: Listed 1966 Documentation accepted 1978 Amended 1996 Period of Significance: A.D. 900-1100; 1250-1650; 1690-1715; 1936-1951 Only the 1936-1951 period applies to the Visitor Center. Proposed Treatment Preservation of the exterior and interior with restoration of key exterior features and interior public spaces to 1951 appearance. 2008 • JOSEPH K. OPPERMANN – ARCHITECT, P.A. • Page 4 THE VISITOR CENTER HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, GA Part I.A Historical Background and Context PART I. DEVELOPMENT HISTORY A. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT On the fall line of the Ocmulgee River near mounds and earth lodges before abandoning Macon, Georgia, is a cluster of earthen the area. By the mid-fourteenth century, mounds that in the 1930s became the largest Late Mississippians had settled downriver archaeological excavation in the eastern from the Ocmulgee mounds and developed United States. The importance of the the culture later classified as Lamar.2 discoveries there brought national attention to the site and attracted experienced as well Hernando de Soto, a

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