The Travertine Nature Center in the Chickasaw National Recreation Area is an enduring icon of the historic Platt National Park. It clearly also is a survivor of the April 27 tornado last year.
The National Park Service website recently explained these facts, stating: “The Travertine Nature Center, constructed in 1969, was the last major addition to Platt National Park. It features rock work and architectural lines modeled after the style of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and retains its original character and styling.”
Later, the park enlarged to become the CNRA in 1976. A recent visit to the center located at the northeastern end of the park confirmed that the structure is still a lasting monument to the environmental emphasis that America was experiencing in the turbulent 1960s.
Park Rangers also confirmed that the building is the First Nature Center built by NPS west of the Mississippi when opened in 1969.
Serving as the park’s main visitor center, the TNC offers “a variety of exhibits, as well as live reptiles, amphibians, fish, and an interactive learning area for visitors of all ages,” according to the website.
The nature center was added to the National Register of Historic Places in early 2011. It is part of the Platt National Park Historic District that was included in the Register later that same year.
At that time, the register recognized the center’s efforts to educate the public and provide a “back-to-nature” environmental and recreational experience.
Frank Lloyd Wright The nature center building was designed by an architectural firm, but was intended to follow the modern “organic architecture” exemplifi ed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He is generally acknowledged to be among the most famous American architects of the last century.
The nature center building most closely resembles one of Wright’s iconic designs -- Fallingwater, which is a private home situated over an active waterfall in rural Pennsylvania.
Built in 1935, that design rocketed Wright to fame in America, when he was featured on the cover of Time magazine.
TNC’s design captures the architectural style of fitting a structure to its natural site in a harmonious way. It “blends” with nature rather than “intrudes” on it, and the design incorporates natural elements, such as rock and wood.
Nature Center
Wright’s use of cantilevered designs is incorporated in the nature center as a wide building with many horizontal elements made out of stone. It arches over the rippling waters of Travertine Creek.
The center’s modern architecture in the 1960s in no small way helped it achieve the designation as an historic site.
According to the website for the National Register of Historic Places, one of four criteria listed for such designation includes “Design and Construction.”
Specifically the criteria “concerns the distinctive characteristics of the building by its architecture and construction, including having great artistic value or being the work of a master.”
The nature center’s architecture certainly meets that criteria completely.
Sources include: “A History of Platt National Park -- A Century of Progress” by Dennis Muncrief.
Also government websites mentioned
