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 ...

Juneau, Alaska Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Southeast Alaska, Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the ...

who worked to restore "authentic Southeast Alaska Native architecture, especially totem poles". During the 1930s and the Great Depression, he oversaw

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, 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 ...

programs of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

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 Wrangell (, ) is a List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska, borough in Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 2,127, down from 2,369 in 2010. Incorporated as a consolidated city–county ...

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, the Juneau Federal BuildingA cabin on the lake

Juneau Empire The ''Juneau Empire'' is a newspaper in Juneau, Alaska, United States. It publishes Wednesdays and Saturdays. History The newspaper was founded on November 2, 1912, as the ''Alaska Daily Empire''. It was founded by John Franklin Alexander ...

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. Forrest came to Alaska after working in the 1930s in Oregon, where he was the lead exterior designer of Timberline Lodge on

Mount Hood Mount Hood, also known as Wy'east, is an active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range and is a member of the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast and rests in the Pacific N ...

. 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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. At one time he worked for the architecture group within the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

Northwest regional office. Forrest married and had a family. His son, Linn Forrest, Jr., also became an architect. Together the two men designed the original Alaska State Centennial Museum.

References

External links

Linn A. Forrest Photograph Collection, 1930s-1950s , Sealaska Heritage Institute's Collections

Picasa 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 {{US-architect-20C-stub