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Gilbert Stanley Underwood

American architect From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gilbert Stanley Underwood
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Gilbert Stanley Underwood (June 5, 1890 – August 3, 1961) was an American architect best known for designing lodges within national parks of the United States, multiple of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Born in 1890 in New York state, Underwood received his B.A. from Yale in 1920 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1923. After opening an office in Los Angeles that year, he became associated with Daniel Ray Hull, a landscape architect of the National Park Service. This led to a commission with the Utah Parks Company of the Union Pacific Railroad, which was developing the parks in hopes of producing destinations for travelers. During this time, Underwood designed lodges for Cedar Breaks National Monument (now demolished), Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park.

Underwood's surviving Utah Parks Company buildings are considered exceptional examples of the Rustic style of architecture, and are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, Underwood was contracted to design Yosemite National Park's Ahwahnee Hotel, also on the National Register and probably his greatest triumph in the Rustic style.[according to whom?]

Underwood also designed railway stations for the Union Pacific, culminating in the magnificent Art Deco style station in Omaha in 1931. In 1932, Underwood joined the Federal Architects Project. While working for the federal government, Underwood produced the preliminary designs for the Timberline Lodge of Mount Hood, Oregon, and went on to design more than 20 post offices, two major federal buildings, and the Harry S Truman Building (headquarters of the U.S. Department of State). From 1947 to 1949, Underwood was appointed as federal supervisory architect.

Utilizing an association with John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Williamsburg Lodge project in Virginia, Underwood designed as his last major commission the Jackson Lake Lodge (1950–1954) in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Underwood retired to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1954, and died in Florida in 1961, aged 71.[3]

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