NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic name: Integratron Other names/site number: College of Universal Wisdom Research Laboratory Name of related multiple property listing: N/A (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: 2477 Belfield Boulevard City or town: Landers State: CA County: San Bernardino Not For Publication: Vicinity: ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide ___local Applicable National Register Criteria: ___A ___B ___C ___D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Integratron San Bernardino County, CA Name of Property County and State ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private: X Public – Local Public – State Public – Federal Category of Property (Check only one box.) Building(s) District Site Structure X Object Sections 1-6 page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Integratron San Bernardino County, CA Name of Property County and State Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing 1 0 buildings 0 0 sites 6 8 structures 1 0 objects 8 8 Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register 0 ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) OTHER: life extension machine WORK IN PROGRESS EDUCATION: research facility COMMERCE/TRADE: business OTHER: control room OTHER: humidity control room OTHER: workshop OTHER: antenna INDUSTRY/PROCESSING/EXTRACTION: waterworks Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) RECREATION AND CULTURE COMMERCE/TRADE: business VACANT/NOT IN USE INDUSTRY/PROCESSING/EXTRACTION: waterworks Sections 1-6 page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Integratron San Bernardino County, CA Name of Property County and State __________________________________________________________________________ 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) OTHER: hemispherical dome Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: Foundation: concrete Walls: Wood Roof: Wood Other: Metal Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph Originally referred to as the “College of Universal Wisdom Research Laboratory,” the Integratron is a hemispherical-dome structure constructed by George Van Tassel as an electromagnetic human-cell regenerator, with peripheral capabilities of antigravity and time travel. Van Tassel began construction in 1958 and, though the dome was completed by 1960, Van Tassel added various elements to complete the machine, ultimately unfinished, until his 1978 passing. The Integratron is located at the northern portion of a flat, ten-acre rectangular parcel. The parcel is located at a sparse and remote desert setting within the unincorporated San Bernardino County town of Landers. Accompanying the Integratron upon the property are secondary buildings, structures, and objects, constructed by Van Tassel to support Integratron operation, and as elements of the “College of Universal Wisdom” campus—the centerpiece of which was to be the Integratron. The secondary resources include: the Observatory; the “Utilities Building” that presently houses an office and restrooms; the subterranean Humidity Control Room; Control Room and Workshop sheds; and an antenna-like object referred to as the “Bi-Polar Magnetic Detector.” ______________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description Section 7 page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Integratron San Bernardino County, CA Name of Property County and State Integratron The Integratron is a circular plan, two-story, hemispherical umbrella dome structure, 43 feet in diameter and 33 feet tall. The structure is of wood construction, and its exterior is painted. The structure is symmetrical in its design and is divided into 16 equilateral bays. At the ground level, every fourth bay contains a pair of wood frame hopper windows that are presently sealed. Each pairing is slightly recessed within its original molded wood frame and is underscored with a wood sill. The structure’s primary elevation faces south, and centered within it is a recently added single-panel wood door, which is an in-kind replacement. Visible in front of and just east of it is a recently added wood panel affixed to the outer edge of an eave, shrouding electrical equipment and meters. Centered at the structure’s west elevation is the exitway, which contains original sliding wood doors recently repurposed as a hinged pair. A concrete ADA-compliant wheelchair ramp was recently added in front of the exitway, as was a metal railing affixed to the ramp and the Integratron. The entire structure is built upon a raised, lip-like concrete slab base, approximately three inches tall and five inches wide, which forms a step at the main entrance, and is met by the recent ADA ramp at the west exitway. The entirety of the structure’s base is rimmed with wood quarter molding. Running along the face of the base’s southwest portion are multiple small, patinated- bronze plaques listing donor names of those who contributed $100 or more to complete the Integratron as part of a 1973 fundraiser. Beyond the base, except where the ADA ramp is installed, the Integratron is completely encircled by a 40-inch-wide concrete walkway, which is itself raised approximately three inches off the sand-covered desert ground. At the Integratron’s exterior, the upper and lower levels are separated at the dome’s springline by a highly distinctive apparatus consisting of a continuous ring of 64 protruding aluminum dirods. Each dirod is affixed to an open-frame, glue-laminated wood (“glulam”) exostructure supported by a three-by-two-feet box eave of wood-frame construction. This exostructure, based on a design by the 19th-century English engineer James Wimshurst (“Wimshurst Apparatus”), which was later modified by the electrical engineer Arthur Dearth (“A. D.”) Moore, was designed as a spinning apparatus. It was originally intended to generate 50,000 volts of electrostatic energy to support the structure’s primary function as a negative ion-producing cell regenerator. According to Van Tassel this apparatus as a whole—which he often referred to as the “spinner”—might also be capable of “caging” an electromagnetic frequency within