Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center Saved!
National Park Service press release supports preservation and interpretation of the Giurgola-designed Mission 66 visitor center in North Carolina but still no change on the decision for Neutra's Mission 66 building.
Link to photographs of Wright Brothers building

NEWS RELEASE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
OUTER BANKS GROUP

For Immediate Release Robert E. Woody (252)-473-2111x122

HISTORIC VALUE IS KEY IN PRESERVATION OF WRIGHT MEMORIAL VISITOR CENTER

The Outer Banks of North Carolina has claim to yet another valuable resource - the Wright Memorial Visitor Center. Outer Banks Group General Superintendent Francis Peltier announced that recent studies completed by the National Park Service of the architectural and historic value and significance of park facilities nationwide have revealed that the Wright Memorial Visitor Center is a unique structure worth preserving.

According to Randy Biallas, Chief Historic Architect in the National Park Service's Washington Office, "The Wright Memorial Visitor Center has been determined to be one of our country's original significant national park visitor centers. It is also a significant example of the post-WWII period in American architecture."

Jeffrey Crow, Historic Preservation Officer for the State of North Carolina stated, "We consider this building to be one of the most outstanding examples of modernist architecture built in North Carolina during the mid-twentieth century, and we applaud the National Park Service for its decision to preserve this building."

The recent development plan for the park, which called for removal of the current visitor center and construction of a new facility nearby, in preparation for the 2003 centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight, has been modified. To provide for preservation of the current visitor center and afford the desired visitor experience, the National Park Service will rehabilitate the existing facility and a new building will be constructed as an addition or in close proximity. This new approach will provide a holistic visitor experience integrating the orientational function of the existing visitor center and educational function of the new building.

The new structure will serve as a Learning Center for park visitors. Dick Howard, President of the First Flight Centennial Foundation, which is fundraising for and constructing the new facility, said, "Regardless of the location, the scope of our project remains the same. The new Learning Center will provide a high class 'first flight experience' for park visitors. We are still early in the design process and can incorporate change easily at this time." The First Flight Centennial Foundation, under directives from the North Carolina First Flight Centennial Commission, is working with the National Park Service to improve visitor facilities for the 2003 centennial.

National park visitor centers were first developed as part of the National Park Service's "Mission 66" program, a ten-year campaign beginning in 1956, to improve facilities in national parks. Mission 66 visitor centers, like the Wright Memorial building, were constructed to provide up-to-date facilities and interpretation to growing numbers of national park visitors. The concept of the "visitor center" as a location for public orientation has since spread to other park systems and national forests both in the United States and abroad.

In keeping with the Mission 66 program emphasis on high quality, original architecture design appropriate to the purpose and setting of each park, the National Park Service commissioned the newly formed Philadelphia architectural firm of Ehrman Mitchell and Romaldo Giurgola for design of the Wright Memorial Visitor Center. This structure was a key work in the emerging "Philadelphia School" movement of architecture that focused on the concept of expressive modernist architecture.

Mitchell/Giurgola sought a design that would both respond to the natural environment of the Outer Banks and symbolically portray the concept of flight in static form. The horizontal roof punctuated by a shallow concrete dome reflects the surrounding landscape of beach and dunes, while the curved overhang of the dome represents the soaring possibilities of flight. The visitor experience is marked by the building's large window walls, which were designed to introduce visitors to the memorial landscape of the site, including flight markers, reconstructed camp buildings, and the Wright Monument. After design of this visitor center, the architectural firm of Mitchell/Giurgola went on to become internationally famous, reorienting American design in the 1960s. Mitchell/Giurgola look back on the Wright Memorial Visitor Center as one of their earliest significant achievements. The design of the planned addition will, architecturally, be minimal to maintain the prominence of the Mitchell/Giurgola modernist elements.

"The current generation can not always appreciate the styles and choices of another era," said Wright Brothers Superintendent Mary Doll, "but we must have the foresight to recognize historic value. As a leader in the preservation of our nation's history, the National Park Service is responsible for ensuring that the best is left for future generations to judge and appreciate. We look forward to working with Dare County and the State of North Carolina in embracing another icon of our nation's heritage."

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February 9, 2000
Outer Banks Group Office Manteo, NC Telephone: (252) 473-2111 Fax: (252) 473-2595
Cape Hatteras NS - Fort Raleigh NHS - Cape Lookout NS - Wright Brothers NMEM

This site composed and administered by Christine Madrid French 2004.