Painted Desert Inn - Petrifiied Forest

The Painted Desert Inn is located on Painted Forest Road just north of Historic Route 66 in the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona.  The inn began life as a lodge, built in the early 1920's by entrepreneur Herb P. Lore, called the Stone Tree House.  It was named this due to the large amount of petrified wood included in its construction.  Lore sold the property to the National Park Service in 1935, and between 1937 and 1940 it was reconstructed in the Pueblo Revival Style under the guidance of architect Lyle Bennett.  The lodge re-opened as the Painted Desert Inn in 1940, named so because the structure sits on a mesa overlooking the Painted Desert.  It operated as a Harvey House until 1942, when World War II caused a decline in the travel and leisure market.  After sitting out the war years the Inn was once again redesigned, this time by architect Mary Jane Colter.  It opened once again as a Harvey House in 1947 and continued running until 1963.  By this time some of the buildings were falling into disrepair and the site sat vacant until 1975, when plans to demolish it were announced.  Public outcry saved the building and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.  The site was later declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.  After recent renovations to the structure it opened again, this time as a museum, in 2006, still part of the Petrified Forest National Park.

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