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Photograph of Painted Desert Inn
Photograph by TheCatalyst31, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Painted Desert Inn

A National Historic Landmark. Built in 1937 (Pueblo Revival Style architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

From the record

“Painted Desert Inn is a historic complex in Petrified Forest National Park, in Apache County, eastern Arizona. It is located off Interstate 40 and near the original alignment of historic U.S.”

Wikipedia article Painted Desert Inn, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 24 National Register listings published here for Apache County · listed in 1987 · category: Building · built in 1937, Pueblo Revival Style architecture, by Lyle E. Bennett · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • National Historic Landmark. The highest federal designation, held by about 2,600 places in the country against roughly 100,000 Register listings.
  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Off US 40, Petrified Forest National Park, 86502
  • When was it listed? May 1987
  • Category. building
  • Census division. Puerco
  • When was it built? 1937
  • Architectural style. Pueblo Revival Style architecture
  • Architect. Lyle E. Bennett
  • National Register reference number. 87001421 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

11 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Painted Desert Inn between 1993 and 2018, burning about 7 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Equipment and vehicle use2
Fireworks1
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 July 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePuerco Valley Fire Districtnot named
4 June 2001Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePetrified Forest National ParkGRASS FIRE #2
31 May 1993Railroad operations and maintenance3.0 acresPetrified Forest National ParkSANTA FE
30 May 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresPuerco Valley Fire Districtnot named
28 May 2014Equipment and vehicle useunder an acrePetrified Forest National ParkMILE 313 FIRE
5 March 2001Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePetrified Forest National ParkGRASS FIRE
24 March 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acrePetrified Forest National ParkTIRE
20 March 2007Debris and open burningunder an acrePetrified Forest National ParkVEG BURN

Every fire recorded in Apache County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

3 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Painted Desert Inn0.2 miles1975
Painted Desert Community Complex1.4 miles2005
Thirty-Fifth Parallel Route1.7 miles1977

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 87001421 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Apache CountyAll 24 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.