Disneyland designer dies at 83

Molly Shore

John Vance Cowles Jr. died Oct. 1, 2001, in his sleep at his Burbank

home.

He was 83.

Cowles was born May 22, 1918, in Kansas City, Mo. to Dr. John V. and

Minnie Lee Cowles. He attended the University of Missouri at Columbia,

where he received a degree in architecture.

In 1940, Cowles married Marie Peterson, and the following year they

moved to California.

During World War II, Cowles was employed at Howard Hughes Aircraft,

where he worked on the famous Hughes “flying boat,” the Spruce Goose

airplane.

Cowles, whose friendship with legendary filmmaker Walt Disney extended

back to the 1920s in Kansas City when Disney lived with the Cowles

family, worked for Disney on different projects. Among them were various

buildings he designed for Disneyland and two sound stages on the Burbank

lot.

When Disney and his wife Lillian built their home in Holmby Hills,

Disney wanted a train barn for his miniature train collection and hired

Cowles to design the structure.

Several years ago when Disney’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller, sold

her parents’ estate, she had the barn dismantled and moved to Griffith

Park, where it was reassembled next to Travel Town.

Cowles’ father, who was the Disney family physician in Kansas City,

provided financial backing for the young Disney in his first live

action/animation film venture, “Alice in Cartoon Land,” produced by

Disney’s Laugh-O-Gram Studio.

Cowles is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Virginia and Dennis

Weaver; son John Vance Cowles III; granddaughters Kimberly Beckmann,

Beverly Hartley and Christina Stanton; grandsons John V. Cowles IV,

Matthew Cowles and Jestin Cowles; and great-grandchildren Jacqueline T.M.

Molina, Harrison H. Hartley and Thomas J. Stanton.

A private memorial service for Cowles will be Nov. 4.