Zion Lodge is located in

Zion National Park Zion National Park is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The lodge was designed in 1924 as a compromise solution between its developer, the Utah Parks Company, which wanted a large hotel, and

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 US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

director Stephen Mather, who desired smaller-scale development. The Utah Parks Company had been formed in 1923 as a subsidiary of the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

, and was, like many similar programs, intended to stimulate passenger rail traffic to the national parks of southwest

Gilbert Stanley Underwood Gilbert Stanley Underwood (June 5, 1890 – August 3, 1961) was an American architect best known for his National Park lodges. Biography Born in 1890, Underwood received his B.A. from Yale in 1920 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1923. After openi ...

designed the Zion Lodge as part of a series of similar structures for the Utah Parks Company at the north rim of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

and at

Bryce Canyon National Park Bryce Canyon National Park () is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along ...

. Underwood's design was more modest in scale and detailing than those at the Grand Canyon and Bryce, substituting milled lumber for whole logs in a "studs-out" style. Underwood used less stonework, in smaller pieces. The structures were designed to be more in keeping with the character of the valley floor, which at the time of construction was still inhabited by settlers. Underwood would go on to design all of the Utah Parks Company buildings in the valley, many of which are included in the Zion Lodge Historic District, which surrounds the lodge. A fire in 1966 destroyed the original main lodge building. It was rebuilt within 100 days, but the original rustic look was lost in favor of expedience in reopening the lodge. A 1990 remodel restored its original look. In addition to the main lodge building there are a number of original buildings that remain in the lodge complex. This includes guest cabins built in 1927 and 1929, employee dormitories built in 1927 and 1937, and a few support buildings. All were designed by Underwood. On April 12, 1995, a landslide blocked the

Virgin River The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about long.Calculated with Google Maps and Google Earth It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the ...

downstream from the lodge. Over a period of two hours, the river had carved away 590 feet (180 m) of the only exit road from the canyon, trapping 450 guests and employees in the lodge. A one-lane temporary road was constructed within 24 hours to allow evacuation. Access to the lodge was restored on May 25, 1995. Zion Lodge is a member of

Historic Hotels of America Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program identifies hotels in the United States that have maintained authenticity, sense of place, and a ...

, the official program of the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

References

External links

Zion Lodge - official site

Virtual photo tour, history, photos, and more. {{National Register of Historic Places Hotel buildings completed in 1966 Gilbert Stanley Underwood buildings Hotels established in 1924 Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah National Register of Historic Places in Zion National Park National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Utah Railway hotels in the United States National Park Service Rustic architecture Rustic architecture in Utah Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah 1924 establishments in Utah Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Utah Historic Hotels of America

See also

References

External links