John Bernard Wosky (September 11, 1904 – July 28, 1979) was an American architect and landscape architect and park superintendent. He worked for the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

from the 1920s through the 1950s and designed a number of works that have been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. He was assigned to

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

from 1928 to 1952, initially as the parks's resident architect, and later as its assistant superintendent. He later served as the superintendent at

Crater Lake National Park Crater Lake National Park is an American national park located in southern Oregon. Established in 1902, Crater Lake is the fifth-oldest national park in the United States and the only national park in Oregon. The park encompasses the caldera of ...

and

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

Early years

Wosky was born in Iowa in 1904. His father Joseph Wosky was an immigrant from Bavaria who worked as a blacksmith in an Iowa coalmine. His mother Jane Wosky was an immigrant from Ireland. At the time of the 1920 United States Census, Wosky was living with his parents and three siblings in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

.Year: 1920; Census Place: Des Moines Ward 7, Polk, Iowa; Roll: T625_509; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 164; Image: 780. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census atabase on-line

Architectural career

In 1924, he moved to California and began working as a draftsman in the Los Angeles office of

Gilbert Stanley Underwood Gilbert Stanley Underwood (1890–1960) was an American architect best known for his National Park lodges. Born in 1890, Underwood received his B.A. from Yale in 1920 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1923. After opening an office in Los Angeles that ...

(1899–1960), an architect best known for his design of National Park lodges, including the

Old Faithful Lodge Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone National Park is located opposite the more famous Old Faithful Inn, facing Old Faithful geyser. The Lodge was built as a series of detached buildings through 1923 and was consolidated into one complex by architec ...

(1923),

Bryce Canyon Lodge Bryce Canyon Lodge is a lodging facility in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, United States, built between 1924 and 1925 using local materials. Designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the lodge is an excellent example of National Park Se ...

(1925), and

Ahwahnee Hotel The Ahwahnee Hotel is a grand hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley. It was built by the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and opened for business in 1927. The hotel is constructed of steel, stone, concre ...

(1926). By 1926, he began working with NPS Chief Landscape Architect

Thomas Chalmers Vint Thomas Chalmers Vint (August 15, 1894 – October 26, 1967) was a landscape architect credited for directing and shaping landscape planning and development during the early years of the United States National Park System. His work at Yosemite ...

at the

(NPS). Wosky returned to Iowa in approximately 1926. However, he returned to California in 1927 and became employed as an associate landscape architect by the NPS. He trained under Vint and developed a reputation as "an accomplished rustic architect." According to one historical account of NPS landscape architecture, "Vint took the opportunity to develop a designer with little design education into a specialized professional who could, for example, produce Park Service Rustic architecture designs, assess a Bureau of Public Roads location survey, and work with superintendents drafting development outlines." Many of Wosky's works while employed by NPS were in the "rustic" style that became known as "

National Park Service rustic National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create buildings ...

" architecture. From 1928 to 1933, Wosky was assigned to

as the park's resident landscape architect. In 1929, Lassen and Crater Lake National Parks were also placed within Wosky's area of responsibility. His surviving works at Yosemite include the

Crane Flat Fire Lookout The Crane Flat Fire Lookout in Yosemite National Park was built in 1931. An example of the National Park Service Rustic style, the lookout is a two-story structure with a lower storage or garage level and an upper observation level, with an over ...

(1931), which was designed to blend with its natural surroundings and became a prototype for general use within the Park Service. Other works by Wosky at Yosemite include Buck Creek Cabin (1931),

Henness Ridge Fire Lookout The Henness Ridge Fire Lookout in Yosemite National Park was built in 1934 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) which was a public work relief program for unemployed men age 18-24. The CCC provided unskilled manual labor related to the conserva ...

and the Chinquapin and Wawona ranger stations. Wosky also designed the

Generals' Highway Stone Bridges The Generals' Highway Stone Bridges, built in 1930, are part of the Generals' Highway from the General Grant Grove of giant sequoias in Kings Canyon National Park (then called General Grant National Park) through Sequoia National Park. One bridge ...

, including the Clover Creek Bridge, Marble Fork Bridge, and Lodgepole Bridge (1930–1931).

Administrative career

From 1934 to 1952, Wosky was the assistant superintendent at Yosemite. He also served as the park's acting superintendent from March to June 1937. He also served as the superintendent of

from March 1952 to October 1953. From 1953 to 1959, he was the superintendent of

. He concluded his career as the Chief of Operations for the NPS Western Regional Office.

Family and death

Wosky was married to B. Frances Wosky. They had a daughter, Joan, who was born in approximately 1933 in San Francisco, California.Year: 1940; Census Place: Mariposa, California; Roll: T627_262; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 22-12. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census atabase on-line Frances passed away in 1946, he remarried in 1947 to Naomi Davies. Wosky died at

Sebastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...

in July 1979.Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1940–1997 atabase on-line Original data: State of California. California Death Index, 1940–1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wosky, John American people of Irish descent American people of German descent 1904 births 1979 deaths Architects from Iowa 20th-century American architects

Early years

Architectural career

Administrative career

Family and death

See also

References