MARY ELIZABETH JANE COLTER An incomprehensible Woman EARLY LIFE
Born April 4, 1869 Pittsburgh, Penn
Also in 1869:
John Wesley Powell
Trans Continental Railroad TRAINING
1886 William Colter Dies California School of Design in San Francisco Apprentices to an architect “Arts and Crafts” movement THE BEGINNING
1892 begins teaching at Mechanical Arts High School St. Paul
Lectures University of Michigan
Meanwhile, along the Santa Fe… FRED HARVEY AND THE SANTA FE
Harvey Houses
“coffee was cold, eggs were old…chicken stew was really prairie dog” THE HARVEY WAY
Complete meal for 75 cents Home made bread, sliced 3/8 inch thick. Coffee brewed every two hours, Harvey blend, made with spring water Pies cut into four pieces, not six
“Sack of potatoes on the next train” “Big wind blowing in” HARVEY GIRLS
“Women don’t get liquored up and cause trouble, and cowboys won’t be rude to a lady” HARVEY GIRLS
Room, board transportation and $388 per month (modern dollars) plus tips Will not marry for six months. After six months, vacation time, a ticket on the Santa Fe, and a new contract. Harvey Boot Camp: The Cup Code
“Be human and be yourself ” “Courtesy and a Smile Pay Dividends” “Tact is an Asset and HONESTY is still a Virtue”
“It is our business to please cranks. Anyone can please a gentleman” MINNIE HARVEY … AND SPOUSE
“Once Harvey women are interested in something, the men are pulled along by the short hairs” HOSTEEN TSANI
Herman Schweizer
“He had that gift of the gods: A sure taste for the authentic And beautiful”
Indian Houses
Navajo Lite ALBUQUERQUE
1902
Half Hour Museum
Santa Fe Style
Harvey Indians Elle of Ganado HARVEY COMES TO THE CANYON
“…a tourist is continually harassed…by livery solicitors and guides, who Fought over prospective customers”
Ford Harvey: a passion of his own
Flagship Harvey House
“You want to put the hotel on the brink?” Charles Lummis SANTA FE RAILROAD ARCHITECTURE
1905
El Tovar
Charles Whittlesey
Norwegian Hunting Lodge MARY COLTER: ARCHITECT
Indian House for El Tovar Hopi House
Nampeyo
A NEW CAREER
Hired full time 1910
41 years of age
“Architect and Designer” MARY COLTER: ARCHITECT
Never a registered architect: why bother?
General concepts, exterior and interior, draw floor plans, building elevations, landscape design, and perspectives.
Male architect working under her signed off on the plans.
1890:US Census lists twenty-two women architects By 1900 about one hundred EL ORTIZ 1910
Lamy, New Mexico
Ten rooms
Minnie’s Dream Hotel
Owen Wister: “a little flower of art at the lonely junction” 1913 KANSAS CITY UNION STATION
The Westport Room THE LOOKOUT 1914
Frederick Law Olmsted: designs Should blend with their natural Surroundings.
Direct competition Kolb Studio. “a tiny rustic club”
“One may sit through the long, quiet, still days, and rest and read and watch the changes caused by sun and shadow upon the panorama spread below” HERMIT’S REST 1914
West Rim Drive Tea House
Trapper Cabin “YOU CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT IT COST TO MAKE IT LOOK THIS OLD” PANAMA CALIFORNIA EXHIBITION 1915-16
Painted Desert Exhibit
Harvey Indians “living as they have lived And their ancestors have lived for centuries.”
Maria Martinez INDIAN GARDEN 1916
Harvey wants lodge inside the Canyon
Ralph Cameron does not cooperate Surprise! 1920: SUFFRAGE
The most powerful woman in the Santa Fe Railroad/ Fred Harvey Companies can vote! PHANTOM RANCH 1922
Mary 53 years old at the time WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Rusts Camp
Roosevelt Camp
Roosevelt Chalet WHY PHANTOM?
Phantom Creek
Why Phantom Creek? LUXURY IN THE DESERT
Upper one percent
Authors: Edna St. Vincent Millay Owen Wister
Movie stars: Tom Mix Roy Rogers DETAILS, DETAILS ROCK ON WATER AND SEWAGE EL NAVAJO 1923
Gallup, New Mexico
Sand paintings LA FONDA 1929
Architect Meem
“I got your letter saying that the hotel would be ready the first of February. I wonder where you are going to go when you die?” LA POSADA 1930
Favorite Building
Winslow, Arizona HOPE INCOME EXCEEDS ESTIMATES AS MUCH AS COSTS
Last of the Santa Fe great Railroad Hotels THE WATCHTOWER 1933
The perfectionist “Time, the lost principle in much modern construction, was taken to select each rock” INTERIOR
Fred Kabotie
“Mary Colter was…talented With strong opinions. We got Along well…most of the time” TIYO
Legend of the Snake Clan ALTAR ROOM SECOND FLOOR
Fred Greer ABO CAVES
Herman Schweizer BRIGHT ANGEL LODGE 1935
Motor lodge El Tovar vs. BA VILLAGE ON THE RIM VICTOR HALL 1936
Cinder block construction Men’s dorm MIMBRENO CHINA 1937
Super Chief
Turquoise Dining Room COLTER HALL 1937
Women’s dorm UNION STATION LOS ANGELES 1939
Closed to public PAINTED DESERT INN 1947
Salt Trail Mural
Fred Kabotie SOUTH RIM VILLAGE
“Attention…devoted to the harmonizing…with the landscape”
“As long as the Fred Harvey Company’s work is passed onto Miss Colter, Its present architect, its appropriateness can be considered assured.” PARK SERVICE RUSTIC: “PARITECTURE” MISS COLTER
“She was secure in herself . She knew what she knew – and what other people didn’t know”
“She simply didn’t suffer fools lightly”
“She was afraid of no one, from the President of the Railway Company on down”
“Either you would be interested, or you would be dismissed, so you better be interested” THE COLTER LEGACY
Born 1869 Lookout 1914 Union Station Chicago Mimbreno China 1937 1925
Alvarado Indian House Hermit Rest 1914 La Fonda 1929 Colter Hall 1937 1902 Hopi House 1905 Painted Desert Exhibition La Posada 1930 Union Station St. Louis 1915 1939
El Tovar Cocktail Lounge Indian Garden 1916 Watchtower 1933 Cosina Cantina Alvarado 1905 1940
El Ortiz 1910 Phantom Ranch 1922 Bright Angel Lodge 1935 Painted Desert Inn 1947
Union Station Kansas City El Navajo 1923 Victor Hall 1936 Retired 1948 1913 La Cantinita La Fonda 1949
Died 1958 THE COLTER LEGACY
Born 1869 Lookout 1914 Union Station Chicago Mimbreno China 1937 1925-1969
Alvarado Indian House Hermit Rest 1914 La Fonda 1929 Colter Hall 1937 1902-1970 Hopi House 1905 Painted Desert Exhibition La Posada 1930 Union Station St. Louis 1915 1939
El Tovar Cocktail Lounge Indian Garden 1916 Watchtower 1933 Cosina Cantina Alvarado 1905 1940-1970
El Ortiz 1910-1943 Phantom Ranch 1922 Bright Angel Lodge 1935 Painted Desert Inn 1947
Union Station Kansas City El Navajo 1923-1957 Victor Hall 1936 Retired 1948 1913-1958 La Cantinita La Fonda 1949
Died 1958 COLTER AT GRAND CANYON
• Hopi house 1905 • Lookout 1914 • Hermit Rest 1914 • Phantom Ranch 1922 • Watchtower 1933 • Bright Angel Lodge 1935 • Victor Hall 1936 • Mimbreno China 1937 • Colter Hall 1937 KIPLING
I called my men from the trenches My quarries, my wharves, and my sheers. All I had wrought I abandoned To the faith of the faithless years. Only I cut on the timber -- Only I carved on the stone: “After me cometh a Builder. Tell him, I too have known!“ BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mary Colter: House made of Dawn, Karen Bartlett, KAET documentary Mary Colter: Architect of the Southwest, Arnold Berke and Alexander Vertikoff Desert View Watchtower, M.E.J. Colter Appetite for America, Stephen Fried Mary Colter: Builder upon the Red Earth, Virginia Gratten Public Architecture and Design-Creating Community: Mary Colter. NPR Morning Edition.