“Every year, the National Park Service tells millions of visitors to Grand Canyon National Park that Mary Colter (1869-1958) designed landmark structures there. Two movies, two plays, two biographies, and countless magazine and newspaper articles have lauded her architectural legend. If only it was true.”
So begins the book description for False Architect: The Mary Colter Hoax which is available on Amazon.com as an eBook. I recently finished the book which is by necessity lengthy due to both the monumental audacity of Colter and the exhaustive research which went into documenting her fraud.
Ironically, author Fred Shaw never intended to write about Mary Colter; he started out writing a book about the mysterious Kansas City architect Louis Curtiss whose story has not yet been fully told. However, a funny thing happened to Shaw while researching Curtiss; he kept running into Colter, whose actual career as an interior decorator for the Fred Harvey Company overlapped the period when Louis Curtiss was designing buildings for both Harvey and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. His research veered when mention of buildings attributed to Colter piqued his interest; he began to research Colter with the same intensity he was giving to the background of Curtiss.
Digital archives on the Internet – which were not available when previous research about Colter had been published – made it possible for Shaw to prove the Colter legend does not stand up under scrutiny. So, in order to pave the way for his book about Curtiss, it was necessary for him first to address Colter’s fraudulent claims in order to pry buildings designed by Curtiss and other architects from her highly fictionalized legend.
The book is filled with delicious archival images that flesh out the research; photographs, documents and blueprints all play a role. I was fascinated with Shaw’s examination of the architectural lettering styles of the various architects (Curtiss wasn’t the only one!) whose work was usurped by Colter. When compared with Colter’s own less refined printing, it is clear that she added her initials to work done by others in order to steal their credit. That’s just one example of the numerous methods Colter used to exaggerate her role. It’s a fascinating story that is at times sad; I felt a range of emotions when reading the book including anger, disgust, loathing and a slight bit of pity for someone so discontent with her own respectable and admirable skills as an accomplished interior decorator that she had to steal glory from others.
Despite Shaw’s voluminous proof, Colter’s most rabid devotees still cling to the decades-old fabrications; to this day many refuse to accept that they have been duped. Her falsehoods are today promoted as truth ad nauseam. A glance at Colter’s Wikipedia page still leaves one with the impression that she was an architect and that she designed numerous Grand Canyon National Park landmarks, in addition to other buildings. Here are just a few of them:
Hopi House, 1905. Architect: NOT Mary Colter!
Hermit’s Rest, 1914. Architect: NOT Mary Colter!
Desert View Watchtower, 1932. Architect: NOT Mary Colter!
Bright Angel Lodge, 1935. Architect: NOT Mary Colter!
At this point it’s a matter of justice; the true creators of various works usurped by Colter deserve recognition for their talents. Colter pulled off a huge hoax for a long time, but those duped shouldn’t be embarrassed; they should now work to give credit where credit is due. I urge everyone interested in history, architecture and truth to read this book (yes, it’s long, but a good chunk is comprised of citations). Read it, get angry, and insist that history be told correctly! What good is history if it isn’t told correctly? Why glorify dishonesty? We have enough of that these days anyway… let’s not let that mindset permeate our architectural heritage as well! The author even offers a refund if you don’t find his research factual and compelling… I won’t be asking for my money back!
9/20/18 UPDATE: The author is now offering a $10,000.00 reward to “the first person who can document authentic independent contemporaneous primary sources proving that Mary Colter designed all seven of these buildings.” The reward is posted on his Facebook page which will no doubt be getting more traffic! A copy of his reward offer follows:
yes but, yes but ……..
so, don’t leave us (without a book) hanging over the edge of the Grand Canyon. who did design all those fabulous structures.
LOL! The Watchtower at Desert View was designed by architect Robert J. Raney – Fred Harvey’s true chief architect from 1923 to 1942. He had previously worked for Louis Curtiss in Kansas City. The idea for the Watchtower originated with J. F. Huckel, Vice President of the Fred Harvey system. According to the book, Colter’s actual role in the project “was to ensure the cosmetics of the structure as envisioned by Huckel and designed by Raney came together in a manner worthy of a Fred Harvey tourist attraction.”
The answers you seek are all in the the eBook which is a bargain; the documentation is astounding… do yourself a favor and buy it. It will keep you up late at night! It will be interesting to see how this information will be acknowledged as it becomes better-known. I can’t wait for the new book about Louis Curtiss to come out!
I don’t get it. So legitimate architect designs building. Building is constructed. During this process or afterwards, Colter, as the designer on the project, puts her name/initials on the blueprints.
What did that accomplish? Everyone **at the time** knew she didn’t design the buildings, although that information was lost as time went by. When did she publicly come out and say she was the architect of those structures and why was she never called out on it? People involved in those projects were also alive then.
That Wikipedia article is funny. She “moved” from interior designer to licensed architect. Where was the apprenticeship? What firms did she work for in her early career? Why does her name never appear on the AIA directories or anywhere else? I can’t believe this didn’t raise anyone’s suspicions earlier–especially the researchers from the National Parks.
The book does a good job of documenting Colter’s lifelong habit of stretching the truth, going back to her claims of graduating from high school at age 14 when she was actually 19 at graduation. She was called out on her false claims in several instances; there are examples of newspapers which later published retractions regarding information she had fed them about her work. The book notes that the school she attended in California was an art school; it had no courses in mechanical drawing, drafting or architecture. Before the internet, it was easier for people to fib and get away with it.
She appears to have been a very talented interior designer and was well-paid for her services by the Fred Harvey company, but apparently that wasn’t enough for her and she habitually claimed a larger role in the projects she worked on than she actually had.
The National Park Service is no doubt very aware of the information unearthed in this book, but has obviously invested a lot of effort into building Colter up as great architect. In a video produced about the Desert View Watchtower, at the 4:18 mark an NPS ranger falsely states that “at that period of time, women weren’t allowed to be licensed architects – so she always had to have a man working for the Santa Fe Railroad sign off on her drawings.” Oh, please! That’s just silly.
In his book, Fred Shaw devotes an entire chapter to female architects of the period and notes the numerous schools teaching architecture which had opened their doors to women by 1913; the claim is just absurd that in the 1930’s women would have to get a man to sign off on drawings!
In another amusing part of the video, starting at the 2:12 mark, it is stated, “When Mary Colter decided to build the Watchtower here at Desert View she was challenged by trying to come up with what is the right form, what is the right thing to have here that was really meaningful, that meant something to the land, that had this great view” as if Colter called the shots! The book makes perfectly clear how the idea for the Watchtower came about and who designed it.
Here’s another gem – starting at the 9:33mark: “Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter was a master architect. And this building is probably one of the greatest of her works.” Master architect, hmmm?
I can’t answer for the Park Service, but you can see how they themselves perpetuate the exaggerated claims of Colter and act like the Watchtower was her own idea and vision. Her work as a stylist for the building was very good, but the idea for the building did not originate with her and she didn’t create the construction documents (blueprints) from which it was built.
It’s never fun to admit one’s mistakes, but the NPS really needs to just get over it and tell history as it actually took place rather than how they wish it had taken place.
No women architects in the 1930’s?! That would have taken two minutes on Google to disprove that claim. You’re right–NPS evidently has no interest in espousing the truth. Man, misrepresentations like this make me furious.
I don’t like e-books as a rule, but I might have to make an exception for this one.
Things just got a LOT more interesting! The author is now offering a $10,000.00 reward to the first person who can prove that Colter designed all the buildings that she claimed to have designed at Grand Canyon National Park! I’ve added information about it to the end of this post.
I agree that e-books are not as desirable as printed books, but for now it’s the only format available. I’m guessing that this will be popular enough that a printed version will appear at some point. I sure hope so; it’s one of the few times that the subject of architecture has been made as riveting as a detective novel! Hopefully it will one day be available in the Grand Canyon National Park bookstore, but I won’t be holding my breath waiting for that to happen!
My mother, nee Mariana Lanford, Graduated in architecture from The University of Texas at Austin in the mid 1930’s and worked for the US Government as a draftsman during WWII. She married Jesse B. Thomas, an engineer for the Aitchison ,Topeka, and the Santa Fe. There were at least three other women at The University with her. She was busy mothering three boys and running a household until her divorce in 1936. After her divorce we moved to Ft. Worth, Texas where she emerged as a sought after early designer of Modern/Contemporary homes and had a distinguished career there. My younger brother Brian Chalk Thomas is a decorated veteran of the Viet Nam conflict and came home to finish his schooling in architecture at U.T. Austin and still practices in our family/home office in Ft. Worth.
Just read. Great post and info. I have worked in residential construction all most all my life (and still am). I was bidding on some work on the Fred Harvey museum (which was his home in the latter part of his life) and was reading up on his life and the Fred Harvey company’s accomplishments and of-course Mary Colter’s name came up. Was also reading what I could find on Louis Curtiss, which have always admired his work, before I even knew who he was (I live in Kansas City where many examples are.). Never read an eBook but your article makes it tempting to try out, but the thought of staring at a screen for 942 pages of it’s length is well…. not something that draws me in. Hopefully a print version will come around.
I share your hope that a print version will be out eventually. Fortunately, the information that Fred Shaw has thoroughly researched and presented for us is so fascinating and riveting that you will barely notice the shortcomings of the eBook format. He’s an excellent researcher and writer; you won’t regret the effort. Lots of good historic images are included as well!
Glad you enjoyed the post!
Trying to understand how the actual architects of the Grand Canyon buildings didn’t rise up in anger and stop Coulter’s subterfuge, and even the other employees who surely were aware of what she was doing kept silent. After studying the photo on the front of Fred Shaw’s book, you see a cranky, hard edged woman in front of a group of chuckling men. I think they all knew and thought it was funny! AND that they were scared to death of her, with her foul language and aggressive and intimidating personality! They must have felt it wasn’t worth the risk of being humiliated by her! and just let it go.
But history is the loser. Maybe justice will finally win, if this book eventually becomes well known. Fred Shaw has done a great service if History is eventually corrected.
I highly recommend the book, it has mesmerized me this whole week.
Mesmerizing, indeed! Great book, hard to stop reading. Much of our history is distorted… much more than is generally understood! This needs to change.