Ahwahnee Hotel
|
The Ahwahnee
|
|
The Ahwahnee Hotel in winter
|
|
 
|
|
| Location | Yosemite National Park, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°44′44.68″N 119°34′27.07″W / 37.7457444°N 119.5741861°WCoordinates: 37°44′44.68″N 119°34′27.07″W / 37.7457444°N 119.5741861°W |
| Built | August 1, 1926–July 1927 |
| Architect | Gilbert Stanley Underwood |
| Architectural style | National Park Service Rustic |
| NRHP Reference # | 77000149 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | February 15, 1977 |
| Designated NHL | May 28, 1987 |
The Ahwahnee Hotel is a grand hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley, constructed from steel, stone, concrete, wood and glass, which opened in 1927. It is a premiere example of National Park Service rustic architecture and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The hotel was built by two companies that were merged when the National Park Service began leasing concessions to a single concessionaire in 1925. The Curry Company, owned by David and Jennie Curry and the Yosemite Park Company, the owners of the Yosemite Lodge, became the new "Yosemite Park & Curry Company" headed by Donald Tressider. The structure originally served as both a luxury hotel and the company offices of YPC&CC. Despite financial struggles, the YPC&CC remained the concessioner for the Ahwahnee Hotel until 1993, before the National Park Service required a new concessioner to buy the YPC&CC, creating a new company, Delaware North. Delaware North's contract ended on March 1, 2016 when The National Park Service selected Aramark as the new concessionaire.
The Ahwahnee was renamed the Majestic Yosemite Hotel on March 1, 2016, due to a legal dispute between the US Government, which owns the property, and the outgoing concessionaire, Delaware North, which claims rights to the trademarked name.
David and Jennie Curry, owners and operators of Curry Village, were schoolteachers who arrived in Yosemite Valley in 1899. The couple offset some of their vacation costs by giving camping tours, having experimented early on in Yellowstone National Park. For three summers in a row, the Currys led teachers on camping outings to Yellowstone with horse and wagon; arriving in Yosemite with a cook and seven tents. Despite the two week, round trip travel period from Merced, California, the camp registered 292 guests its first year. The couple brought their three children with them. Foster, Mary and Marjorie (ages four through eleven) all helped out where they were able. The Curry Company came to dominate the politics of the park for decades. David wrote the Secretary of the Interior, Franklin Lane, in an effort extend the park's tourist season, hoping to expand his business. The Currys were adept at promotion and revived an old tradition started by James McCauley on the Fourth of July 1872. At sunset, piles of burning logs were pushed off Glacier Point creating what was known as the Fire Fall. The theory was, national parks were for recreational use. David Curry died in 1917 and left the management of Camp Curry to his widow Jennie, now known as "Mother Curry". She received help from her children, particularly Mary and Mary's husband Donald Tresidder.
...
Wikipedia