The Brinkerhoff is a historic lodge in Grand Teton National Park on the shore of Jackson Lake. It is the last remaining example of a forest lease vacation lodge in the park. The log house and caretaker's lodge were designed by

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 ...

Jan Wilking of

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in, and the county seat of, Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-largest city in the state, with the population at 59,038 as of the 2020 census. Only Cheyenne, the state capital, is larger. Casper is nic ...

and were built in 1946 in what was then

U.S. 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 ...

land for the Brinkerhoff family. After the creation of Grand Teton National Park, 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 ...

acquired the property and used it for VIP housing. Among the guests at the Brinkerhoff were

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

and

Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

. The lodge is also notable as a post-war adaptation of the

rustic style Rustic architecture is a style of architecture in the United States, used in rural government and private structures and their landscape interior design. It was influenced by the American craftsman style. According to the National Park Service, � ...

of architecture. The interior is an intact example of this transitional style.

History

In the early days of Grand Teton National Park there were 111 forest leases, a legacy of

administration of lands that were incorporated into the new park. Ben Sheffield received a Forest Service lease for a parcel on Jackson Lake in 1930. The Sheffield house burned in the 1940s and the lease was purchased in 1947 from R. E. McConaughy by Zachery K. Brinkerhoff Sr. and his son. The Brinkerhoffs were the owners of an oil development company, the Brinkerhoff Drilling company. They hired Wiling to design their retreat, which was built by Scotty Sloten and four carpenters of Swedish descent from the Wind River valley, experienced in log construction. The house was furnished with furniture and accessories made by Western-style designer

Thomas C. Molesworth Thomas C. Molesworth (1890–1977) was an American furniture designer who was a significant figure in the creation of a distinctly Western style of furniture and accessories, using hides, horn and natural wood. Molesworth's style drew from the Art ...

. The house was sold to the Park Service in 1955, complete with the Molesworth furnishings. It received significant publicity as a result of the presidential visits. The National Park Service uses it for meetings and lodging.

Description

The Brinkerhoff is an early example of the conscious adaptation of rustic-style architecture that had been employed in public buildings around Jackson Hole to a private vacation house, in which the rustic style sets the tone of a rustic retreat. Jan Wilking's interpretation of the rustic style represents a transition from the heavy, consciously rustic style seen in public park buildings, to a cleaned-up, more finished and polished style, which would be further developed in vacation homes throughout the West. The main house is a partial two-story log building of dressed log construction, with vertical wood sheathing on the upper story. The front gable is sheathed in planks arranged in a V-pattern. A deck spans the full width of the west side of the house, overlooking

Mount Moran Mount Moran () is a mountain in Grand Teton National Park of western Wyoming, USA. The mountain is named for Thomas Moran, an American western frontier landscape artist. Mount Moran dominates the northern section of the Teton Range rising above ...

and Jackson Lake, an early occurrence of a feature that has since become ubiquitous. The interior features a two-story living room. Interiors are finished with knotty pine paneling and polished wood floors. A smaller caretaker's cottage mirrors the style of the main house. The Brinkerhoff was placed 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 ...

on April 23, 1990.

References

External links

Grand Teton Historic Resource Study: Tourists
National Park Service * at the National Park Service's NRHP database
The Brinkerhoff
at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office {{DEFAULTSORT:Brinkerhoff Buildings and structures in Grand Teton National Park Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming Rustic architecture in Wyoming National Register of Historic Places in Grand Teton National Park 1946 establishments in Wyoming

History

Description

See also

References

External links