Daniel Ray Hull sometimes stated Daniel P. Hull, was an American landscape architect

Landscape architect

A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....

 who was responsible for much of the early planning of the built environment the national park

National park

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

s of the United States during the 1920s. Hull planned town sites, designed landscapes, and designed individual buildings for the Park Service, in private practice, and later for the California State Parks.

Early life and education

Hull was born in Lincoln, Kansas on April 29, 1890, the son of O.U. Hull, and studied landscape architecture and city planning at the University of Illinois, receiving his degree in 1913. Hull was one of four students who studied intensively with civic planner Charles Mulford Robinson

Charles Mulford Robinson

Charles Mulford Robinson was a journalist and a writer who became famous as a pioneering Urban Planning theorist. He was the first Professor for Civic Design at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which was only one of two universities offering courses in Urban Planning at the time, the...

, who had published numerous texts on city planning. Hull received his Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Harvard University in 1914. Following a grand tour of Europe, Hull began to work in California. Hull had married Emma Dorothy Kammeger of Manhattan, Kansas

Manhattan, Kansas

Manhattan is a city located in the northeastern part of the state of Kansas in the United States, at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. It is the county seat of Riley County and the city extends into Pottawatomie County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 52,281...

., One of his first projects was the planning of the Montecito Country Estates subdivision in Montecito, California

Montecito, California

Montecito is an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County, California. As a census-designated place, it had a population of 8,965 in 2010. This does not include areas such as Coast Village Road, that, while usually considered part of Montecito, are actually within the city limits of Santa...

, working as well with Daniels, Osmont and Wilhelm in San Francisco. Daniels was at the time the Park Service's General Superintendent, and was in charge of a number of park improvement projects.

Early career

Hull was a U.S. Army officer during World War I, planning Army facilities in the Cantonment Division. From the Army, Hull moved to the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

, which had been established in 1916 to assist chief Park Service landscape architect Charles Punchard. Punchard died in 1920 and Hull took over his position at age 30. The largest project in the Park Service at the time was the re-planning of the Yosemite Valley

Yosemite Valley

Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of California, carved out by the Merced River. The valley is about long and up to a mile deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines...

, and Hull moved there to oversee the work, assisted by a friend from his studies at the University of Illinois, Paul P. Keissig. At the same time, Hull initiated overall master planning projects for Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...

, Sequoia

Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California, in the United States. It was established on September 25, 1890. The park spans . Encompassing a vertical relief of nearly , the park contains among its natural resources the highest point in the...

, Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon National Park is the United States' 15th oldest national park and is located in Arizona. Within the park lies the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, considered to be one of the Wonders of the World. The park covers of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties.Most...

, and Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. It was created in 1906 to protect some of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the world...

 national parks, as well as an overall plan for Yosemite

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...

. Hull's plans for Yosemite embodied the informal, natural principals promulgated by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. was an American landscape architect best known for his wildlife conservation efforts. He had a lifetime commitment to national parks, and worked on projects in Acadia, the Everglades and Yosemite National Park. Olmsted Point in Yosemite and Olmsted Island at Great Falls...

. In addition to master planning, Hull worked on specific projects such as the administrative district at Mesa Verde and the Ash Mountain headquarters complex at Sequoia. In 1920 Hull was assigned the planning effort for Grand Canyon Village

Grand Canyon Village Historic District

Grand Canyon Village Historic District comprises the historic center of Grand Canyon Village, on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. The district includes numerous landmark park structures, many of which are National Historic Landmarks themselves, or are...

, a large-scale town planning exercise that sought to establish order at the previously haphazard South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

National Park Service Rustic

At a smaller scale, Hull directed design efforts on new administrative structures at the Giant Forest in Sequoia, using local materials such as rubble stone, logs and wood shingles to achieve an intentionally rustic look, a style that quickly evolved into the National Park Service Rustic

National Park Service Rustic

National Park Service rustic, also colloquially known as Parkitecture, is a style of architecture that arose in the United States National Park System to create buildings that harmonized with their natural environment. Since its founding, the National Park Service consistently has sought to provide...

 style. Under the direction of Hull, the Landscape Engineering Division followed up by planning the rand Canyon Superintendent's Residence in 1921, where the style was more consciously rustic and less referential to the Swiss Chalet style that prevailed among park concession structures at Grand Canyon and elsewhere.In 1922 Hull designed three ranger stations for Yellowstone. Hull is specifically credited as architect on a number of buildings, indicating his versatility and technical ability.

As the volume of Park Service building grew, Hull directed architects who implemented rustic design principals, including Myron Hunt

Myron Hunt

Myron Hunt was an American architect whose numerous projects include many noted landmarks in Southern California...

 at Yosemite Village and Thomas Chalmers Vint

Thomas Chalmers Vint

Thomas Chalmers Vint was a landscape architect credited for directing and shaping landscape planning and development during the early years of the United States National Park System. His work at Yosemite National Park and the development of the Mission 66 program are among his better known...

, who would become Hull's deputy in 1923. Hull also worked with independent architects such as Gilbert Stanley Underwood

Gilbert Stanley Underwood

Gilbert Stanley Underwood was an American architect best known for his National Park lodges. Born in 1890, Underwood received his B.A. from Yale in 1920 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1923. After opening an office in Los Angeles that year, he became associated with Daniel Ray Hull of the National...

 and Herbert Maier

Herbert Maier

Herbert Maier was an American architect and public administrator, most notable as an architect for his work at Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Parks. Maier, as a consultant to the National Park Service, designed four trailside museums in Yellowstone, three of which survive as...

. Hull became close friends with Underwood, whom he had known from Illinois and Harvard, and moved the Landscape Division to Los Angeles, subletting space in the Underwood and Company offices in 1923. Hull continued in private practice during the winter months, with declining involvement through 1926, when he was described as a part-time employee. In 1926 Hull was investigated by the Department of the Interior, who found that his shared offices with Underwood, and his work arrangements in which Hull in his public capacity reviewed and approved his own work as a private contractor, amounted to a conflict of interest. Park Service Director Horace Albright recommended that Hull be dismissed, but then-Assistant Director Arno B. Cammerer

Arno B. Cammerer

Arno Berthold Cammerer was the third director of the U.S. National Park Service.Cammerer was born in Arapahoe, Nebraska in 1883. He was the son of a Lutheran pastor. He went to Washington, D.C in 1904 to work as a civil service bookkeeper, and earned a Bachelor of Law degree at Georgetown Law...

 supported Hull until 1927, when it became apparent that Hull was not meeting his Park Service obligations. In 1927 the Landscape Division moved to San Francisco. Hull resigned and Vint took over the director's position.

Later career

Following his departure from the Park Service, Hull kept up involvement in park design, working with architect Albert C. Martin on the 1927 Furnace Creek Inn in Death Valley

Death Valley

Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...

 and with Underwood on the Ahwahnee Hotel

Ahwahnee Hotel

The Ahwahnee Hotel is a destination hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley, constructed from stone, concrete, wood and glass, which opened in 1927...

 in Yosemite. Hull worked with Olmsted in 1927 on a survey of California for potential state park properties. During the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 Hull approached Albright about a return to the Park Service, but was rebuffed by Albright. In 1934 Hull became Chief Landscape Engineer for the California State Park

California Department of Parks and Recreation

The California Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 278 parks and 1.4 million acres , with over of coastline; of lake and river frontage; nearly 15,000 campsites; and of hiking, biking, and...

 system. Hull published a design guide in 1944 that established the principles of the National Park Service Rustic style as a standard in the California parks. Hull died in Alhambra, California

Alhambra, California

Alhambra is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, which is approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. As of the 2010 census, the population was 83,089, down from 85,804 at the 2000 census. The city's...

 in 1964.

Works

• Montecito Country Estates
• Administration Building at Giant Forest, Sequoia National Park
• Ash Mountain Administrative Complex, Sequoia National Park
• Yosemite Village, Yosemite National Park
• Lake Ranger Station, Yellowstone National Park
• Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent's Residence
  Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent's Residence
  The Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent's Residence is a National Park Service Rustic style building, designed in 1921 by Daniel Ray Hull of the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs as the park's first headquarters building. The visitor informatiojn room was financed by a...
  
   (1921), a National Historic Landmark
  National Historic Landmark
  A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
  
  
• Grand Canyon Village
  Grand Canyon Village Historic District
  Grand Canyon Village Historic District comprises the historic center of Grand Canyon Village, on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. The district includes numerous landmark park structures, many of which are National Historic Landmarks themselves, or are...
  
   (1924), a National Historic Landmark District, master plan
• Old Faithful Lodge
  Old Faithful Lodge
  Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone National Park is located opposite the more famous Old Faithful Inn, facing Old Faithful geyser. The Lodge was built as a series of detached buildings through 1923 and was consolidated into one complex by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood in 1926-27...
  
   (1927), Yellowstone National Park, assisted Gilbert Stanley Underwood
• Ahwahnee Hotel
  Ahwahnee Hotel
  The Ahwahnee Hotel is a destination hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley, constructed from stone, concrete, wood and glass, which opened in 1927...
  
  (1927), Yosemite National Park, assisted Gilbert Stanley Underwood

Hull was also responsible for a number of buildings and landscape planning projects in Yellowstone, Glacier, Mount Rainier, Sequoia, Carlsbad Caverns, Rocky Mountain and Mesa Verde National Parks.