Do You Know This Building? Answers: 1.b) north of Woodland Park; 2.c) 1937; 3.d) part of a Forest Service station complex Approximately seven miles north of Woodland Park is a widely dispersed complex of buildings built on a gentle slope covered by open ponderosa pine forest. Six of the buildings have walls of locally quarried, rock-faced, red sandstone ashlar with steeply pitched roofs clad in wood shingles. The area was first settled in the early 1860s and was known as Bergen Park. A resort hotel was established in 1873. Fire destroyed the hotel in 1887 and a second hotel was built on the same site in 1889, which also succumbed to fire ten years later. The property was deeded to Colorado College, and a portion of the land was eventually sold to private owners. This parcel was foreclosed in 1932, and title was acquired by the Resettlement Administration with management of the land turned over to the U.S. Forest Service. In 1934, the remaining holdings of Colorado College in Manitou Park were turned over to the Forest Service to be managed as a demonstration forest. In 1936, the entire 16,560-acre area was designated as the Manitou Experimental Forest. The following year plans were made to construct three major buildings (a six-room residence for the superintendent, an office, and a dormitory with kitchen facilities—the largest structure in the complex) followed by several smaller garage and storage buildings. Constructed between 1937 and 1939 and exhibiting excellent masonry craftsmanship, the six stone buildings exemplify the Forest Service’s philosophy of architecture at the time, stressing the use of local natural materials to create buildings that would gracefully blend into their surroundings. The eclectic style of architecture is an unusual expression for federally-sponsored, depression-era construction in Colorado. One of only two experimental forest stations in the state, numerous
research projects have taken place at the forest. These studies
have provided important results that have improved management
of forest lands along the Front Range for nearly 60 years. The
Manitou Experimental Forest Station, one of the best examples
of Depression-era construction in the state, is listed in the
National Register of Historic Places. |
