Sometimes the treasures closest to home are the ones we miss. One of our Arizona treasures is La Posada Resort in Winslow, AZ. Built in 1929 it is described as “the last great railroad hotel.” It is Mary Coulter’s architectural masterpiece. She designed 21 projects for Fred Harvey. “Mary Coulter was hired by the Fred Harvey Company in 1903 to design fine hotels, restaurants, and gift shops along the Santa Fe Railway. She became America’s most influential woman designer. . . . This was her favorite project, the only time she was allowed to design everything from the buildings (to the china, maid’s uniforms,) to the gardens.”(laposada.org) Her plan was to create an oasis in the high plateau of the Colorado River to greet the guests arriving by train. LaPosada opened in 1930 and in a turn of history’s fortunes, her garden plans were never fully realized.
Tag: architecture
Philbrook Art Museum & Gardens, Tulsa, OK
If you should tire of your 72-room Italian villa surrounded by 23 acres of formal gardens, consider donating it to your city for an art museum. This happened! In Tulsa, OK, in 1938, oil man Waite Phillips & wife Genevieve decided to move from their Italian Renaissance villa to a home in California. Tired of their Tulsa home they donated it to the city. Accepting this “house” the city opened it as The Philbrook Art Museum surrounded by its beautiful gardens in 1939. Today it continues as a great point of pride for Tulsa.