If you know Colorado, you know that 303 was our state’s first area code, and it was our state’s only area code until I was about 10 years old (back when a “landline” house phone was still our only means of communicating over long distances).
To celebrate, I wanted to share one of my favorite modern buildings in the state, the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center at Rocky Mountain National Park, just outside of Estes Park, Colorado. Completed in 1967, the visitor center was built as part of the National Park Service’s “Mission 66” program, a $1-billion, 10 year program (yes, this building was a year late) to modernize national park infrastructure, with a particular focus on building grand visitor centers for interfacing with the public and providing places for information and interpretation. Beaver Meadows is one of three Mission 66 visitor centers in the park.
This building is also the closest thing you will find to Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in Colorado – while it’s not designed by him, it was designed by Taliesin Associated Architects, whose purpose was to carry on Wright’s work and philosophies after his passing.
If you love modern architecture and nature, make a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park this year, and be sure to stop and admire the beauty of the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center.
A few years ago, I wrote an article for Modern In Denver Magazine about the Mission 66 visitor centers in Colorado. Read the article here!