Arts & Culture
The Ahwahnee, opened in 1927 on the floor of Yosemite Valley, was created as Yosemite’s long-sought luxury hotel and became a leading example of National Park Service rustic architecture. Designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood below the Royal Arches, it combined grand scale, durable fire-resistant construction, and richly styled interiors shaped by Arthur Upham Pope and Phyllis Ackerman. The site had earlier been a Miwok village and later Kenneyville stables. Closely tied to the Curry family’s rise in Yosemite tourism, the hotel later served as a Navy convalescent hospital during World War II, was named a National Historic Landmark in 1987, and remains one of Yosemite’s signature buildings.
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Yosemite Valley, California · United States
