Mary Colter

A female architect in 1902 wasn't the most common phenomenon, but to break a glass ceiling, sometimes you have to design it yourself. Mary Colter was a visionary, a perfectionist, and an artist, who knew what she wanted and did what was necessary to achieve it. She wanted her buildings and rooms to tell a story for the ages, before anyone other than the contractors ever set foot inside them. She was a woman ahead of her time who used her opportunities to the fullest. When I first learned about Mary Colter three years ago through the Belen Harvey House Museum, I was hooked. And I hope you will be too. 

Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter was born on April 4, 1869 in Pennsylvania. Her family moved around the United States a bit during her childhood before finally landing in Minnesota. She had dreams to be an artist, and it was a friend of hers that introduced her to Sioux art, sparking a lifelong love of Native American culture. Three years after graduating high school at the age of 14, Colter enrolled in the California School of Design, which she attended for 5 years while interning at an architectural firm to help pay for her tuition. In 1891, Colter moved back to Minnesota, where she would teach for the next decade.

While Mary Colter was building her experience, the Fred Harvey Company was spreading its influence across the country. Frederick Henry Harvey was a railroad restaurant tychoon prominent in the late 1800s for his founding of a series of restaurants and hotels alongside the Atchinson, Topeka, and the Santa Fe Railroad. The Fred Harvey Company, in addition to offering exemplary dining service from Kansas to California, also heavily leaned into the Native American culture so prominent in America's Southwest. Fred Harvey's daughter, Minnie, and her husband, J.F. Huckel, were heavily responsible for their influence in bringing about the decision to expand what was known as the company's Indian Department. The Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico was decided to be the headquarters for this project and Mary Colter, through her supposed friendship with Minnie, was given charge of the design of the Indian Room in 1902.

The Alvarado's Indian Room gave Mary Colter the platform she needed to get her start in the architecture community. Colter's next project for the Fred Harvey Company was the Hopi House Gift Shop at the Grand Canyon. Completed in 1905, Colter wanted the structure to appear as if it had been there for generations, modeling it directly after an authentic Hopi pueblo. The Hopi House remains a tourist destination for visitors to the Grand Canyon today. Following this project, Colter left the company for five years, until they offered her a permanent position in 1910. It was then that she became the company's first and only female architect and moved to Kansas City to work. During the next 38 years, she would servee the company by designing 21 notable hotels and buildings for them.

Some of Colter's most famous architectural work can be found at the Grand Canyon National Park. Hermit's Rest was built in 1914 as a stagecoach rest stop. The building was modeled after a possible home for Louis Boucher, who was a well-known trail guide and "hermit" who once roamed the Grand Canyon. Intentionality went into every part of Colter's design, with the fireplace even boasting soot streaks to give the building more character. In Katrina Parks' documentary on the Fred Harvey Company's famous servers, "the Harvey Girls", one former Harvey Girl speaks about Colter: 

"When Mary Colter designed a building, she gave it a history before it ever opened."

While all of Mary Colter's buildings carry stories and natural beauty with them, one of my personal favorites of her designs is Phantom Ranch. Completed in 1922, Phantom Ranch is located at the very bottom of the canyon, only reachable to guests by hiking, mules, or by rafting the Colorado River. While the cabins that stand today carry two different designs, the older of two boasts noticably more stonework. This design choice was intentional by Colter to align with her philosophy that her buildings should look as though they were naturally rising out of the landscape. This new architectural development invited wealthier tourists to the area, as well as artists and authors. Colter's designs for the camp were immediately popular, but problems arose when the name "Roosevelt's Chalets" was proposed. In response, Mary Colter supposedly grabbed her blueprints and exclaimed "Not if you are going to be using my work." Colter had already picked out the name for her beautiful creation and it was something much more ethereal and romantic than a president's namesake.

In the years following the construction of Phantom Ranch, which only grew in popularity, Colter began experimenting with different architectural styles. The El Navajo in Gallup, New Mexico, was completed in 1923 in conjunction with the work of A.E. Harrision, a Santa Fe Railway architect, in a unique style that combined Native American design elements with the increasingly popular Art Deco style of the 1920s. Two years later, the La Fonda was completed in the heart of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The combination of Native American and Spanish stylistic choices made the hotel a popular destination, even into the modern day. 

It was in 1930 that Mary Colter designed what can be called her "crown jewel." La Posada in Winslow, Arizona, was a masterpiece that showcased Colter's talents in every inch of the property, from the furniture, to the gardens, right down to the workers' uniforms. Called "the last great railroad hotel built in America," La Posada was modeled after a Spanish Colonial Revival Style hacienda. The hotel unfortunately closed 27 years after its completion in 1957, right before Colter's death, to which Colter said "There is such a thing as living too long." The building served various purposes in the years following until 1996 when Allen Affeldt and Tina Mion restored and reopened La Posada. The hotel is now on the National Register of Historic Places and still serves as a popular tourist destination for travelers and Fred Harvey enthusiasts alike. Colter continued to build iconic architecture until her retirement, including Bright Angel Lodge and the Desert View Watchtower, both at the Grand Canyon, a beautiful restaurant in Los Angeles' Union Station in California, and more.

One of Colter's final lasting legacies was her design of the Mimbreño dishware pattern for use on the Atchinson, Topeka, and the Santa Fe's Super Chief dining cars. The Mimbres pots were some of the first bits of inspiration to come to Colter's mind when she was given the assignment to create a new China pattern. Mimbres designs were already featured on the walls of the Desert View Watchtower, boasting unique geometric designs of animals, both real and mythological. Sadie Rubins, Colter's secretary, found a variety of patterns for Colter to base her designs on. The initial sketches were then sent to ceramicist Guy Cowan who transformed the rough drafts into pottery then produced by the Syracuse China Company. The china designs came in either black or red and Colter wanted the simplicity of the patterns to emphasize the history on which she based them.

"Miss Colter knew what she wanted and she generally got it. She had the respect of the people she worked for as well as those who were serving her."

—MAX PALMER, EMPLOYEE WITH E.A. HINRICHS, CHINA DISTRIBUTOR AND DESIGNER IN 1936

Mary Colter retired as the Fred Harvey Company's architect in 1948, when she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was here that she would live out the remaining decade of her life until she passed in 1958 at the age of 88. She is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

A big thank you to my sources:

National Park Service

Grand Canyon National Park Archives

https://pioneeringwomen.bwaf.org/mary-elizabeth-jane-colter/

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mary-colter/

Northern Arizona University Cline Library Special Collections and Archives

The Newberry Library

Arizona Memory Project

https://www.lindareederwriter.com/blog/colters-mimbreno-china

The Harvey Girls Opportunity Bound by Katrina Parks, distributed by Assertion Films. 2014.

Belen Harvey House Photo Archives and Museum Collection