The Chris Jorgensen Studio is a one-room log building, built in 1904 as an artist's studio for

Chris Jorgensen Christian August Jorgensen (October 7, 1860 - June 24, 1935) was a Norwegian-born American landscape painter. Jorgensen is best known for his paintings of Yosemite Valley and the California Missions. Early life and influences Chris Jorgensen was ...

in the

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as ...

. Jorgensen, an instructor and assistant director of the

California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximatel ...

, arrived in Yosemite in the 1890s. Jorgensen studied and depicted local Native Americans from 1899, collecting native basketwork. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...

acquired the Jorgensen Studio in 1919, calling it the Yosemite Museum. Jorgensen donated his basket collection to the museum in 1923. Jorgensen's widow, Angela Ghiardelli, donated many of Jorgensen's works to the museum following his death in 1935. From the 1920s the Park Service worked to remove what were regarded as intrusive structures in the center of the valley. The Jorgensen Studio was moved to the Wawona area in 1962 to become part of the Pioneer Yosemite History Center as part of a

Mission 66 Mission 66 was a United States National Park Service ten-year program that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Park Service. When the National P ...

program to assemble historic structures at the location. The one story cabin measures by with a steep gable roof that extends beyond the front of the cabin to form a porch. The gable over the porch is decorated by a vertical log infill pattern, with a sleeping loft within. a massive stone fireplace dominates the left side elevation The Jorgensen Studio 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 artist ...

on April 13, 1979.

References

External links

National Register of Historic Places in Mariposa County, California National Register of Historic Places in Yosemite National Park Rustic architecture in California 1904 establishments in California Relocated buildings and structures in California {{MariposaCountyCA-NRHP-stub

See also

References

External links