Ann-Mary Lutzick, Scholar and Director of the Winslow Old Trails Museum, shares insights on the vision of one of the southwest’s greatest architects, Mary Colter.
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A successful female architect and designer when the profession was almost exclusively dominated by men, Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter worked for the Fred Harvey company from 1902 to 1948. Known as a perfectionist with an uncompromising demand for authenticity, Colter worked on twenty-two projects for the company, and most of her landmark structures are located in the Southwest, most notably at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and Winslow’s La Posada Hotel. Colter’s influence on the region’s architecture and décor is substantial, and her use of local materials, landscapes, vernacular architecture, and Southwestern cultural motifs influenced a genre known as National Park Service Rustic. The commercial accessibility of her work facilitated the development of tourism in the Southwest, as did her promotion of Native American cultures through collaborations with Indian artists and the Fred Harvey Indian Department.
– Bio courtesy of Ann-Mary Lutzick, Director of Old Trails Museum, Winslow
Additional Audio: Mary Colter likely wouldn’t have come to the west if she hadn’t worked for the Fred Harvey Company. Ann-Mary Lutzick shares a short history of the Fred Harvey Company.
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Additional Audio: Ann-Mary Lutzick describes the state of exisiting Mary Colter/Fred Harvey buildings.
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Additional Audio: Ann-Mary Lutzick describes more of Mary Colter’s career with the Fred Harvey Company, focusing on La Posada.
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For more historic and contemporary photos of Mary Colter’s Grand Canyon buildings, visit the Grand Canyon National Park Service’s photo stream
To learn more about Mary Colter’s masterpiece, La Posada, visit http://www.laposada.org/
I find it fascinating that Colter incorporated story in such a unique way when designing her buildings. What a great piece of history!
Thank you for sharing the story of a woman who was a pioneer in the field of architecture and an integral part of Arizona history.
great post