Chapter 3 –
Architecture of Ryan

Ryan’s Corporate Vernacular Architecture

Ryan’s distinctive architectural style is best described as corporate vernacular: it reflects both a unified corporate style and utilitarian adaptations to local climatic and geographical conditions. Corporate vernacular architecture is commonly associated with company-sponsored towns, and especially those in the mining industry, as employers sought to control and manage workers to promote reliability, and in effect increase mine production.¹ This is especially true at Ryan, where the harsh environment and remote geographical location caused Pacific Coast Borax (PCB) much difficulty in finding and keeping a steady workforce. Thus, the district’s built environment embodies both the PCB corporate ethos along with the idiosyncrasies and constraints of mining in Death Valley. Its architecture, both surviving and demolished, also reflects the evolving values of the borax company and its ongoing efforts to ensure the longevity of the mining camp.

An overview of the Ryan Historic District, taken from the Upper Biddy McCarthy Mine, viewed northwest toward Death Valley. Not much has changed since 1930.

(Death Valley Conservancy)

PCB was the primary shaper of Ryan’s built environment, and initially assembled the town mostly from structures that came from its other properties. The tiny wood-framed, wood-sided cabins that housed most of Ryan’s employees between 1914 and 1920 came from the company’s defunct properties, like the Lila C. The store/post office also came from the Lila C, and it is likely that many of the small shops, offices, and outbuildings were moved as well. In fact, of the 30-plus structures depicted on the first known map of Ryan, the only ones that were of probable new construction were the ore bins and the large superintendent’s house that was later used as a hospital (and then significantly remodeled into the current hospital building).² Most of the larger buildings transported to Ryan were added onto, renovated, or adapted to the landscape of the burgeoning camp.

The Hotel Complex with the store, lobby, and kitchen (from left to right). Poison Rock is at left.

(Death Valley Conservancy)

Distinguishing Architectural Traits

Between 1914 and 1920, Ryan’s buildings shared several distinguishing traits, most of which were carried over to the newer buildings in the 1920s. The dominant, though far from exclusive, characteristics of Ryan architecture throughout its lifespan were the reuse of old buildings and building materials, post and pier foundations, corrugated metal and wood siding, and gabled roofs covered with corrugated galvanized iron.

The east façade of the store/post office. The post office door was the second from the left. One fuel pump platform and the Baby Gauge railroad rail are also visible. Note the slightly visible post and pier foundation, as well as galvanized siding over wood framing, galvanized roof, and wraparound porch–some architectural features seen throughout the district.

(Death Valley Conservancy)

The post and pier foundation, in which timber was set directly on the ground, is an architectural element found on almost all of Ryan’s buildings. It was a sensible adaptation to Ryan’s steeply sloping topography, since for many of the smaller buildings only a partial cut into the hillside was necessary, and the foundation extended to the height necessary to provide a level building surface beyond the cut. Even today, some of the town’s buildings are set partly on grade and partly on elevated wooden foundations. Some of the buildings’ pier foundations were clad with vertical fascia boards, effectively enclosing the open space underneath the structures.

All of Ryan’s buildings were wood-framed, and the early ones were sided with either wood siding or corrugated galvanized iron. Both horizontal and vertical wood siding were used, some in a board and batten configuration. Corrugated galvanized iron eclipsed wood siding by the 1920s, with the removal of the old wooden cabins, and today all of the buildings except the bunkhouses and the Rec Hall are fully sided and roofed with corrugated galvanized iron. This gave the town a unified industrial feel, with even the small schoolhouse fully clad in metal. Whether wood or metal, the siding material was generally left unpainted or painted a light color
(white/ivory) with a darker color (green) on the door and window frames. Windows and doors featured simple wood surrounds.

Many of Ryan’s residential and community buildings, even some small cabins, had a porch or a covered entrance and most of the porches were screened. The visible porch columns on the small cabins, store/post office, and boarding house were unornamented posts, while those on the superintendent’s house/old hospital were turned in a simple Victorian style. Most buildings were accessed by a short set of wooden steps, a necessity on the slopes of the town.

Ryan’s roofs were almost entirely gabled and most were front-gabled. Unpainted corrugated galvanized iron was commonly used as a roofing material on large buildings like the boarding house and store/post office as well as smaller buildings.

The screened front porch of the lobby portion of the Hotel Complex.

(Death Valley Conservancy)

One of Ryan’s most distinctive buildings, the Rec Hall arrived at Ryan by 1919. It was originally constructed as a church in Rhyolite, Nevada around 1906 and was brought to Ryan to provide residents with space for dances, movies, plays, and musical performances. The Rec Hall is the only ecclesiastical building in the Ryan Historic District, as well as the only clapboard-sided. Most of the Rec Hall’s windows have Gothic-style transoms over double-hung sashes, in a vernacular interpretation of a tall Gothic window.

The Rec Hall was originally a church in Rhyolite, NV, but was relocated to Ryan in 1919 to serve as a recreation hall and community center. Restoration work commenced on the building in 2019 and is ongoing.

(Death Valley Conservancy)

With its belfry removed, corrugated galvanized iron siding on the northern addition, and its exterior painted in the same two-tone color scheme as the town’s other buildings, the Rec Hall was made to fit in with the rest of the town’s architecture as much as possible. This building is an excellent illustration of PCB’s corporate vernacular approach to Ryan: an older building moved and repurposed to serve the needs of an isolated workforce, in as economical a manner as possible, with modifications to improve its functionality and to incorporate it into the town’s architectural style.

The Modernization Years

During the period from 1920-1925, PCB aimed to create a more visually integrated, physically compact community and so it began a series of modernizing improvements to Ryan’s core. Building on the architectural elements characterizing the early years, the company focused on the construction of new buildings, the renovation of old buildings, the addition of site unifying features, and the removal of most of the old wood-sided cabins.

Almost all of Ryan’s extant buildings were constructed during the modernization years. PCB continued its preference for industrial appearing wood-framing with metal siding and roofs, however it started to use concrete for foundations, wall structure, and exterior porches. The first and most prominent new buildings, the two bunkhouses built in 1920, are two-story structures with concrete foundations and second floors built of wood joists and concrete over expanded metal lathe, likely because they were economical and fire resistant.³ Concrete slab screened-porches on the buildings’ long sides have simple wooden columns embedded in them to support the overhanging gabled roofs, which have exposed rafter tails. Unlike Ryan’s other buildings, the bunkhouses have stucco facing, reflecting the popularity of that material in Southern California during the time period, as well as its suitability for an arid climate.

Aside from the exposed rafter tails, the bunkhouses do not have any real ornamentation or characteristics of a particular architectural style. They were designed to be streamlined and simple, with simple wooden door and window surrounds, in keeping with the efficient, utilitarian character of the rest of the camp’s buildings. A shower house with toilets sat between the two bunkhouses, combining the stand-alone nature of an outdoor privy with the modern conveniences of plumbing and steam heat. With the move of the bulk of the workforce into the “splendid steam heated concrete bunkhouses,”⁴ the company was able to boast it had the most modern accommodations of any mining camp in the area.

Bunkhouse 2 with the Rec Hall in the left background and the hospital in the right background.

(Death Valley Conservancy)

Concrete was also incorporated into the warehouse building: its foundation is a concrete slab poured on grade, with a small concrete-walled basement space, and its second story floor is concrete on expanded metal lathe. Completed in March 1924, it contained storage space on the first floor and living space for kitchen staff on the second floor. Like the other buildings, it was wood-framed, gable-roofed and corrugated-galvanized-iron-clad; it is definitely more warehouse than residence in style, with an exterior staircase, and a concrete loading ramp. The trim was painted green, however the metal siding was left unpainted.

Other primary buildings newly constructed during this era include the management residences (Houses 1-5), the schoolhouse, and the powerhouse. Like the bunkhouses and the warehouse and with the exception of the powerhouse, they all have the standard Ryan characteristics: post and pier foundation, wood framing, corrugated galvanized iron siding and roofing, and an overhanging gabled roof. The residences each have a screened porch with simple wooden columns (except for House 3), double-hung windows, two-tone color scheme, and post and pier foundations. The schoolhouse has the classic shape and configuration of a small one-room schoolhouse, even containing a small tower cupola with the iron bell that rang to signal the beginning of the day’s lessons. However, the entire building is sided and roofed with corrugated galvanized iron, giving it a distinctly industrial feel and tying it to the rest of Ryan’s corporate vernacular architecture. The powerhouse is strictly industrial for housing the source of the camp’s electrical system. It has a multi-gabled roof, perhaps reflecting different additions over the years, simple openings and a timber on grade foundation.

Renovations

PCB also renovated several buildings in the first half of the 1920s. Two of the most substantial renovations occurred with the original superintendent’s residence/old hospital and the store/post office and old boarding house (dining room and kitchen). The old hospital was renovated into a new two-story building with medical facilities, a laundry room, a kitchen, and rooms for staff and guests. Its style reflected that of the other buildings at Ryan, with the same characteristics listed above (but with a complete wrap around screened porch, and unornamented wooden porch columns).

The hospital is one of the oldest buildings in the district and has gone through several renovations; it was originally the superintendent’s residence, then became a hospital and staff quarters, until finally becoming tourist accommodations in 1927. A railroad-grade level shed and remnant DVRR track are pictured at left.

(Death Valley Conservancy)

Ryan’s store/post office and boarding house also went through major changes, including the store’s reorientation, placement on a lower post and pier foundation, and an addition to its northern end to make it longer. The boarding house received a large gabled addition to its west side, containing a modern kitchen, lunch counter, and storage areas. The boarding house’s western addition has the appearance of an independent building with its own roof (which, like the bunkhouses, warehouse, and powerhouse addition, has exposed rafter tails), but it is a true addition. This building consisted of two gable roofed buildings, one larger and one smaller. All of the new additions exhibited the same utilitarian style and corrugated galvanized iron siding/roofing material as seen on other structures.

Hillside Terraces

To further unify the property, PCB constructed the large, stepped terraces that dominate Ryan’s built environment today, reinforcing them with walls of dry-laid, faced native volcanic rock and adding stairways connecting them. Concrete walkways linked buildings on the residential level and were laid on lower terraces to connect the DVRR line to the ascending and descending stairways.

Dry-laid rock wall terraces and concrete staircases with wooden railings are character-defining features of Ryan. This concrete staircase is located south of the hospital. The railing pictured is not original—a project to restore historically-accurate railing using original and period-appropriate materials is ongoing.

(Death Valley Conservancy)

Wooden railings sat atop each terrace: one painted green and white, was placed at the residential level running the whole length of the terrace, a green one with an X pattern ran along the southern edge of the DVRR level, and a 3-railed green one started on the terrace above the schoolhouse, continued down the slope on the north side of Ryan Road, and ended just north of the schoolhouse. The railings have been repaired and replaced over the years with different configurations but are now being restored to their original designs.

Transformation Complete

By 1925, PCB had completed Ryan’s transformation from an almost completely recycled settlement into a mainly new one, boasting fine accommodations for management and convenient, clean rooms for employees. It was nowhere near as grand and unified as Death Valley Junction, with its Alexander McCulloch-designed, Spanish Colonial Revival style civic center, but it did not have to be—Ryan may have reflected PCB’s ideals of order, but it was not the public face of the company, as was Death Valley Junction. The mill town sat at the intersection of the railroad and one of the few automobile routes into the increasingly tourism-oriented Death Valley, and the borax company saw it both as the base for its continuing operations in the area and as a point of corporate and civic pride. Ryan, as modern as it was, still had just one function: housing mine workers. It now had the capability to house more mine workers than the town had ever seen, reflecting PCB’s intent to keep mining in Death Valley.

Ryan in 1925 when it was nearing the end of the improvements and consolidation phase (and after PCB finished construction of all district buildings), view north. The backs of the store/post office, dining room/boarding house, and kitchen buildings (from right to left) after they were joined are center.

(LS_4391, James R. Parks Library and Archives)

By 1927, though, Ryan’s stint as a model borax mining town was at its end as PCB was readying for the move to the Kramer deposit in Boron, CA. The Death Valley Hotel company that managed all of PCB’s tourist facilities began to shift Ryan from a mining camp to a tourist facility. Because of the recent consolidation and improvements, the only new structure the hotel company built to attract tourists was the tennis court. The majority of the changes to the existing buildings were to the interiors, with the upgrading of the old boarding house dining rooms into a hotel lobby (including the addition of a large fireplace and chimney), and modifications to the houses and hospital that would be used for guest accommodations. The hospital’s kitchen was removed and the infirmary rooms were redecorated into hotel rooms.

The most significant changes were inside the bunkhouses, both of which saw interior reconfigurations to create a small lobby area and indoor bathroom facilities, providing indoor plumbing for the first time. In the southern bunkhouse (Bunkhouse 1), bathrooms were added to each end of the halls and sinks were installed in the guest rooms. The northern bunkhouse (Bunkhouse 2) rooms were reconfigured into mini-suites with full bathrooms, and its furnishings were upgraded. Both bunkhouses’ exteriors were painted an ochre color with green trim, matching the paint scheme at the Furnace Creek Inn and the Amargosa Hotel at Death Valley Junction. Their exterior stairs were reconfigured, and landings were added for fire exits. With the addition of indoor plumbing, the shower house between the two bunkhouses was demolished.

An interior view of Death Valley View Hotel Room 1, located on the upper floor, southeast corner of the hospital. All finishes, fixtures, furniture, and flooring (linoleum rugs over tongue and groove) are original.

(Death Valley Conservancy)

Overall, the character and feeling of Ryan did not change much with its conversion into a hotel, and that was intentional on the part of PCB—after all, it had put a lot of work into modernizing its mining camp. Of course, what the company saw as a state-of-the-art mining camp ingeniously adapted to a challenging topography and climate, tourists saw as a romantic remnant of the Wild West in a rugged and beautiful setting.

Today, the Ryan Historic District is unparalleled in terms of its unique architectural character. Its built environment reflects a mix of influences affecting this character, starting with the ad hoc placement of both site-built buildings and those moved via the DVRR from elsewhere in the 1910s, continuing with PCB’s modernization and creation of a synchronous landscape in the early 1920s, and culminating in the company’s conversion of Ryan into the Death Valley View Hotel in the late 1920s. The subsequent years of private ownership and regular maintenance ensured Ryan’s survival at a challenging geographical location in an unforgiving climate.

Additional Chapters Coming Soon – Stay Tuned!

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References