This large storage shed is the easternmost of two long and large equipment storage sheds which define the southern edge of the utility area. Both are in poor condition, with siding boards curling and loosening and both buildings showing signs of sagging or settling. Each has five pairs of large swinging doors held closed with a simple 2X4. Four of the doors in each building are original, built of wide vertical boards with horizontal and diagonal cross braces. The fifth, at the eastern end of each building, is of plywood panelling, also with horizontal and diagonal cross braces. Both buildings remain in use.
Built in 1936, these two buildings were constructed simultaneously by the CCC.
Buildings #445 and #446 were constructed simultaneously by CCC work crews during the 1936 season. Each was built as a single-room building with five garage entries. Cost of each shed was approximately $2,300. The buildings have received constant use as equipment sheds since then* construction and remain relatively unmodified.
From the NRHP Registration Form
Equipment Shed (#446)
Buildings 445 and 446 have been little modified through the years, continue to convey their association with CCC-era development of NPS administrative areas, and therefore contribute to the St. Mary Utility Area Historic District.
These one-story, long, rectangular buildings form the south wing of the building complex and are thus critical to the historic site plan. The sheds are constructed of pre-fabricated tongue-and-groove panels with vertical joining members, many of which have been removed or have fallen off. Green modern metal panels cover the shallow gable roofs. The buildings rest on concrete footings. Four of the five garage doors that line each front façade are constructed of vertical and horizontal wood siding with horizontal and diagonal cross braces. One garage door is constructed of plywood with horizontal and diagonal cross braces. Wood-framed loft windows, within the east and west gable ends, are six-light arranged in groups of two. The buildings are painted dark brown and are in fair to poor condition, with some cracking and settling apparent.
The interior of building #446 consists of one unfinished room, with dirt floors, exposed framing, and an open truss ceiling that reveals pole purlins and pole wall supports. Building #445 is similarly finished, with one exception: the westernmost stall has been walled off with dimensional lumber planks. The stall floor is concrete. An unglazed five panel door separates the stall from the central garage space. Within the central garage space, all floors remain dirt, exterior walls remain unfinished ~ exposing the dimensional-lumber framing system --, and the ceiling is open ~ exposing the pole roof supports.
Construction of four equipment storage buildings at St. Mary defined the location and layout of the St. Mary Utility Area as it basically remains today, and marked the real beginning of the site as the hub of east-side maintenance activity. The relatively unmodified interiors remain consistent with the buildings' utilitarian function and contribute to the buildings' significance.
From the NRHP Registration Form