![Mendenhall Visitor Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Mendenhall_Visitor_Center.JPG)
Linn Argyle Forrest, Sr. (1905–1987)
was an American
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
of
Juneau, Alaska who worked to restore "authentic Southeast Alaska Native architecture, especially
totem poles
Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually m ...
". During the 1930s and the Great Depression, he oversaw
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...
programs of the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
to preserve totem poles and other aspects of traditional, native architecture. In conjunction with a $24,000 U.S. grant to the
Alaska Native Brotherhood
The Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) and its counterpart, the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS), are two nonprofit organizations founded to address racism against Alaska Native peoples in Alaska. ANB was formed in 1912 and ANS founded three years lat ...
as a CCC project, Forrest oversaw the construction of the
Shakes Island Community House and totems at
Wrangell, Alaska
The City and Borough of Wrangell ( tli, Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw, russian: Врангель) is a borough in Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 2,127, down from 2,369 in 2010.
Incorporated as a Unified Home Rule Bor ...
during 1937–1939. Drawing on this experience, he later wrote ''The Wolf and the Raven: Totem Poles of Southeastern Alaska,'' which has been printed in 20 editions.
Forrest designed the
Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center
Mendenhall Glacier (in Tlingit language “Sít”) is a glacier about long located in Mendenhall Valley, about from downtown Juneau in the southeast area of the U.S. state of Alaska. The glacier and surrounding landscape is protected as p ...
, the Juneau Federal Building
[A cabin on the lake](_blank)
Juneau Empire
The ''Juneau Empire'' is a newspaper in Juneau, Alaska, United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in ...
and, with
Harold B. Foss, the nearby
Chapel by the Lake.
He designed the
Elvey Building and the Ernest N. Patty Gymnasium (1963) at the
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for cla ...
.
Forrest came to Alaska after working in the 1930s in Oregon, where he was the lead exterior designer of
Timberline Lodge
Timberline Lodge is a mountain lodge on the south side of Mount Hood in Clackamas County, Oregon, about east of Portland. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 by the Works Progress Administration, it was built and furnished by local artisans during th ...
on
Mount Hood.
[http://mrvarchitects.com]
Forrest is the architect of record of the
Oregon State Forester's Office Building, at 2600 State Street in Salem, Oregon, constructed by CCC workers and craftsmen and 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 ...
.
At one time he worked for the
architecture group within the
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
Northwest regional office.
Forrest married and had a family. His son, Linn Forrest, Jr., also became an architect. Together the two men designed the
Alaska State Centennial Museum
The Alaska State Museum is a museum in Juneau, Alaska, United States. The museum's collections include cultural materials from the people of the Northwest Coast (Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian), the Athabascan cultures of Interior Alaska, the Inupia ...
.
References
External links
Linn A. Forrest Photograph Collection, 1930s-1950s , Sealaska Heritage Institute's CollectionsPicasa collection of Linn A Forrest photos
Architects from Oregon
Architects from Alaska
Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
People from Juneau, Alaska
1905 births
1987 deaths
20th-century American architects
People from Crawford County, Ohio
University of Oregon alumni
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