Misplaced Pages

Wallace E. Pratt House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Wallace E. Pratt House
Wallace E. Pratt HouseShow map of TexasWallace E. Pratt HouseShow map of the United States
Location	Pratt Dr. at McKittrick Rd., Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Nearest city	Salt Flat, Texas
Coordinates	31°57′29.2″N 104°45′32.4″W / 31.958111°N 104.759000°W / 31.958111; -104.759000
Area	20 acres (8.1 ha)
Built	1941 (1941)–1943 (1943)
Built by	Edward Birdsall
Architect	Elizabeth Hopkins Bevin and Newton P. Bevin, Milliken & Bevin
Architectural style	International Style
NRHP reference No.	11000927
Added to NRHP	December 15, 2011

The Wallace E. Pratt House, also known as Ship on the Desert (sometimes hyphenated), was the residence of Wallace Pratt in what is now Guadalupe Mountains National Park in far western Texas. Pratt, a petroleum geologist for the Humble Oil & Refining Company, had previously built the Wallace Pratt Lodge in McKittrick Canyon a couple of miles to the north in the Guadalupe Mountains. Finding the cabin site to be remote and prone to being cut off by flooding, Pratt started construction of a new, modern residence on the east slope of the mountains. Work on the residence started in 1941. The house was designed by Long Island architect Newton Bevin, who lived for a time at the site with his wife, and built by contractor Ed Birdsall. Work was stopped by World War II, but resumed in 1945 and was completed the same year. In contrast to Pratt's rustic canyon cabin, the house, which Pratt named the Ship On The Desert, is an International Style house with horizontal lines and extensive glazing. Only 16 feet (4.9 m) wide and 110 feet (34 m) long, the house provides broad views to the east over the plains and the west to the mountains. The majority of the house is on a single level, with a "captain's bridge" over the dining room giving access to a rooftop terrace. A detached garage contained a guest bedroom. Apart from glass, the predominant material was local limestone in several shades.

Pratt and his wife, Iris, lived at the Ship On The Desert until 1963, when Pratt's health dictated a move to Tucson, Arizona. The house was donated to the new park along with 5,632 acres (2,279 ha) of lands in the northern part of the proposed park by the Pratts between 1959 and 1961. It was used as a residence for National Park Service employees. The house is occasionally open for tours sponsored by the National Park Service.

The house was featured on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2018 list of most-endangered historic locations. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 15, 2011.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Culberson County, Texas
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Guadalupe Mountains National Park

References

1. ^ "Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 12/12/11 through 12/16/11". National Park Service. December 23, 2011. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
3. ^ "Chapter X; Cultural Resource Issues". Guadalupe Mountains: An Administrative History. National Park Service. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
4. ^ "Ship-On-The-Desert". National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 25, 2010. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
5. "Discover America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2018". National Trust for Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018.

External links

• Ship On The Desert at the National Park Service
• Ship On The Desert at Guadalupe Mountains National Park
• National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Texas
Lists by county	Anderson Andrews Angelina Aransas Archer Armstrong Atascosa Austin Bailey Bandera Bastrop Baylor Bee Bell Bexar Blanco Borden Bosque Bowie Brazoria Brazos Brewster Briscoe Brooks Brown Burleson Burnet Caldwell Calhoun Callahan Cameron Camp Carson Cass Castro Chambers Cherokee Childress Clay Cochran Coke Coleman Collin Collingsworth Colorado Comal Comanche Concho Cooke Coryell Cottle Crane Crockett Crosby Culberson Dallam Dallas Dawson Deaf Smith Delta Denton DeWitt Dickens Dimmit Donley Duval Eastland Ector Edwards El Paso Ellis Erath Falls Fannin Fayette Fisher Floyd Foard Fort Bend Franklin Freestone Frio Gaines Galveston Garza Gillespie Glasscock Goliad Gonzales Gray Grayson Gregg Grimes Guadalupe Hale Hall Hamilton Hansford Hardeman Hardin Harris Harrison Hartley Haskell Hays Hemphill Henderson Hidalgo Hill Hockley Hood Hopkins Houston Howard Hudspeth Hunt Hutchinson Irion Jack Jackson Jasper Jeff Davis Jefferson Jim Hogg Jim Wells Johnson Jones Karnes Kaufman Kendall Kenedy Kent Kerr Kimble King Kinney Kleberg Knox La Salle Lamar Lamb Lampasas Lavaca Lee Leon Liberty Limestone Lipscomb Live Oak Llano Loving Lubbock Lynn Madison Marion Martin Mason Matagorda Maverick McCulloch McLennan McMullen Medina Menard Midland Milam Mills Mitchell Montague Montgomery Moore Morris Motley Nacogdoches Navarro Newton Nolan Nueces Ochiltree Oldham Orange Palo Pinto Panola Parker Parmer Pecos Polk Potter Presidio Rains Randall Reagan Real Red River Reeves Refugio Roberts Robertson Rockwall Runnels Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto San Patricio San Saba Schleicher Scurry Shackelford Shelby Sherman Smith Somervell Starr Stephens Sterling Stonewall Sutton Swisher Tarrant Taylor Terrell Terry Throckmorton Titus Tom Green Travis Trinity Tyler Upshur Upton Uvalde Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Waller Ward Washington Webb Wharton Wheeler Wichita Wilbarger Willacy Williamson Wilson Winkler Wise Wood Yoakum Young Zapata Zavala
National parks	Big Bend National Park Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks National Natural Landmarks Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks
United States National Register of Historic Places listings Keeper of the Register History of the National Register of Historic Places Property types Historic district Contributing property

This article about a property in Texas on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Houses completed in 1945
• Houses in Culberson County, Texas
• National Register of Historic Places in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
• Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas
• National Register of Historic Places in Culberson County, Texas
• Texas Registered Historic Place stubs