A collaboration of the Estate of Laurance S. Rockefeller, Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc., and D. R. Horne & Company has produced and published JY Ranch: Historic American Buildings Survey Documentation.  This 228-page large format book is an extraordinary collection of hand drawn, highly detailed architectural drawings, beautiful black and white photographs, and comprehensive architectural descriptions of the Lodge, Recreation Hall and 27 other cabins and structures that were on the JY Ranch.

The Ranch, acquired by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and located within the Grand Teton National Park in western Wyoming, served as a Rockefeller retreat for family and friends for nearly 70 years.  In 2001, Laurance S. Rockefeller, made the remarkable decision to donate the Ranch to the National Park Service.  With his guidance and support until his death in 2004, an interpretive center and a network of carefully designed trails were developed and conveyed to the National Park Service in 2007, at which point JY Ranch became the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve.

The plan for converting JY Ranch to public use included the relocation of all 29 buildings and the reclamation of existing trails and roads.  Before the buildings were moved and the property transformed for public use, a decision was made to thoroughly document the Ranch’s distinctive buildings and furnishings using the Historic American Buildings Survey format developed by the Heritage Documentation Program of the Library of Congress.  A team of architectural historians led by Burtch W. Beall and Jack Brady of Salt Lake City, UT was assembled that produced highly detailed drawings of the interiors and exteriors of all the buildings.  A Montana-based photographer, Kristi Hager, photographed landscape and buildings using a 4x5 large format view camera.  Edward A. Chappell, the Roberts Director of Architectural and Archaeological Research at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, wrote detailed architectural descriptions of the structures.  Professionals in the field and National Park Service leaders have told us that this is the last and best hand-drawn documentation of Western vernacular buildings. 

D. R. Horne & Company undertook the task of assembling the documentation, designing the book and overseeing the printing.  This publication includes a brief history of the JY Ranch and illustrations of the cabin relocation project.