{"nrhp_refnum":"11000927","name":"Pratt, Wallace E., House","other_names":["Ship on the Desert"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Pratt Dr. at McKittrick Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Salt Flat","county":"Culberson County","state":"TX","lat":31.96054465100005,"lon":-104.75965403328257,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-12-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Industry"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-story International Style residence known as \"Ship on the Desert,\" with attached garage and a 20-acre landscape of related features, in Guadalupe Mountains National Park near Salt Flat, Culberson County, Texas. It was designed in 1941 by the New York firm Milliken & Bevin and completed in 1943.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as a notable example of International Style design in a remote desert setting, built of local stone, steel and glass to frame long views. It is also tied to geologist Wallace E. Pratt, who lived there from 1941 to 1959 and donated the land that formed the nucleus of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The surrounding landscape features remain from his tenure and retain high integrity.","narrative":"Perched on a rise in the eastern foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains, this long, narrow house was designed in 1941 by the New York firm Milliken & Bevin for retired geologist Wallace E. Pratt and finished by 1943. It measures 16 feet wide and 110 feet long. Six transverse walls of locally quarried stone are tied together with steel trusses and infilled with stucco on metal lath and large glass panels. A small glassed-in room on the flat roof resembles a ship's bridge, giving the house its nickname, Ship on the Desert. The 20-acre tract also holds a stone entry gate, tack building and corral, stone water tanks, gardens, an incinerator and an irrigation system. Pratt lived here until 1959, when he donated land to the National Park Service, forming the core of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The house is valued as a modernist design set in the Chihuahuan Desert, with high integrity from the Pratt years.","period_of_significance":"1941-1959","architect_builder":"Milliken & Bevin (Henry O. Milliken and Newton P. Bevin), New York City; construction directed by contractor Edward Birdsall of Carlsbad, New Mexico","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: International Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"The house and most historic landscape features remain; the greenhouse and powerhouse are gone except for foundations, and only wood posts of the wildlife fence survive. Current functions are listed as park landscape and dwelling.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.678042-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/19/9716/40971619/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/11000927.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000927/c5e65e23e1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000927/c5e65e23e1-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"NPS","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ship_on_The_Desert_home_of_Wallice_Pratt,_landscape.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">NPS</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ship_on_The_Desert_home_of_Wallice_Pratt,_landscape.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971619","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_E._Pratt_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7497934"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/culberson-county/pratt-wallace-e-house-11000927/"}