nearby landscapes, bermed exteriors, local materials, and passive and active solar at the rest stops are nowadays a common vernacular as one travels the state. Jeep maintained an avid interest in Italian-American architect Paulo Soleri, who was hugely innovative (albeit brutalist) in sustainability and communal living, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s astute adherence to allowing materials to speak for themselves in refined ways. An Episcopalian all his life, Dehnert’s Trinity Episcopal Church, situated on the banks of the Popo Agie River in Lander, is a striking example of his melding of both Soleri’s and Wright’s architectural “theologies.” Employing heavy flying buttresses of conglomerate concrete, the building is diamond shaped and puts to use beautiful stained-glass windows repurposed from the original church once located near Lander’s Main Street. Jeep and Charlotte’s friend, Casper/Santa Fe sculptor Gene Tobey, created the church’s large, vigorously carved wooden cross that hangs suspended over the altar. While the firm’s reputation and economy were built on large-scale projects, Jeep was passionate about designing homes for private clients. His and Charlotte’s homes in Billings and Lander offered the opportunity to play with materials, explore structural flourishes and display a personal brand of aesthetics gathered from voracious research, travels and influences. Both houses enjoy extraordinary views through banks of windows, sunken living rooms, heavy beams that span open spaces and unique outdoor entryways that embrace the natural surroundings while welcoming visitors to a unique design experience. The acclaimed Johnson House, designed to meander amongst red limestone cliffs near Sinks Canyon, offers a dynamic roofline that provides enough verticality for an impressive wall of windows looking out towards the valley below. Its reliance on natural materials and shape allows the dwelling to merge with the arid landscape. Perhaps Jeep’s favorite was the residence he designed for his and Charlotte’s pottery teacher, Mary MacDonald. The exquisite house is situated in the back of a tiny lot in Cedar City, Utah, and puts to use his talent for making special those limitations that he and the client were challenged by. The MacDonald house is, in a way, a master study in the sensitive use of local materials, lines that create a sense of space greater than that which exists and a sophisticated interior flow. Once, when asked to describe the foundation of his design philosophy, Dehnert stated that he tried to “focus on strategies inspired and informed by the nature of architecture and the architecture of nature.” Pretty simple stuff, indeed. Dehnert, 97, died peacefully in his sleep on Oct. 12, 2024, in the house that he and his beloved wife, Charlotte — with a young family in tow — built in Lander, Wyoming, in 1965. Charlotte was a journalist and predeceased Jeep in October 2023. 42 WYOMING ARCHITECTURE .24 | www.aia-wyoming.org
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