Swiss Family Indian? – HABS Photography Exposed

The next time we have out of town guests we're takin' them straight to Palmdale!

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The most amazing place to show off Hollywood, the American Dream, the desert landscape, and Native American Culture is the Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park. It may look like a Swiss chalet but the Swiss would never have imagined this – it's classic folk-art-Americana. I expected to see Charles Phoenix there with a Disneyland tour.

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Howard Arden Edwards, a Holywood set designer, self-taught artist, and avid collector of Native American artifacts, originally conceived of the 1928 building – a cross between a Hollywood set, a Swiss chalet, a rustic craftsman house and the Batcave. More info here: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=632

Schaf Photo was commissioned by architect John Lesak of Page & Turnbull to photograph the site and show the thoughtful stabilization of the building. After a four-year rehabilitation, the AVIM is open with a discrete new geothermal climate control and an intricate cable-stay system, designed to hold the flimsy, set-like building together and keep it from blowing away in the relentless Antelope Valley winds. This was a digital color documentation and not a HABS/HAER project but this place listed National Register of Historic Places is worthy of documentation in the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey collection. Perhaps in the future.

I hope our photos tell the story, but you have to

climb up the uneven stone stairs between the historic rooms

and see it yourself to believe it.

THIS JUST IN>>> Antelope Valley Indian Museum receives a prestigious 2011 Preservation Design Award by the California Preservation Foundation!

Category: Architectural Photography, Documentary Photography, HABS/HAER/HALS, Photography, Travel

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