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Painted Desert Visitor Center - Petrified Forest, AZ
Posted by:
bluesnote
N 35° 03.937 W 109° 46.897
12S E 611093 N 3880998
The main visitors center serving Petrified Forest National Park. It also acts as a rest stop along Interstate 40 between Gallup, New Mexico and Flagstaff, Arizona.
Waymark Code: WM1AM29
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 09/03/2024
Views: 0
Taken from Wikipedia, "The Painted Desert Community Complex is the administrative center of Petrified Forest National Park. The community center includes administrative facilities, utility structures and National Park Service employee housing, planned by architects Richard Neutra and Robert Alexander as part of the Mission 66 park facilities improvement program. Work on the community began in 1961 and was completed by 1965. The complex contrasts with earlier Park Service architecture that sought to blend with the environment. The Painted Desert community used straight manufactured materials that deliberately draw a contrast with the natural environment.
The most significant building is the Painted Desert Visitor Center, designed as a severely modernist structure that includes administrative offices., a visitor center, an auditorium, a clinic and staff apartments. Other structures include a community center, school and a Fred Harvey Company concession building.
Neutra and Alexander paid particular attention to the division of the complex into public and private areas, using low walls to divide the Park Service service area from the central zone, and setting the inward-facing residential areas at a distance. Pedestrian circulation paths are used as defining organizing elements.
The original landscape design used non-native plants that required regular watering. Removal of irrigation caused these plants to die, altering the landscape.
The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2016."
Highway Number: I-40
![](/images/spacer.gif) Highway Access Direction: Either Direction
![](/images/spacer.gif) Rest Area Name: Painted Desert Visitor Center
![](/images/spacer.gif) Facilities: Picnic tables
restaurant
gift shop
museum
gas
charging station
geocaches
restrooms
pet area
![](/images/spacer.gif) Services: restaurant
museums
visitor center
ranger station
gas
charging station
![](/images/spacer.gif) Special Features: N/A
![](/images/spacer.gif) WiFi: no
![](/images/spacer.gif) Common Name for the Highway: Not listed
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