National Park Service rustic
Years active | 1900s – present |
---|---|
Location | United States |
Major figures | National Park Service, Civilian Conservation Corps, Thomas Chalmers Vint, Herbert Maier |
Influences | Arts and Crafts movement, Adirondack Architecture |
National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the
Development 1872–1916
The first national parks were a response to the romanticism that restructured the American concept of wilderness in the nineteenth century. As seen in the artistry of
In 1883, because of extensive poaching and political scandal, the Army was authorized to protect Yellowstone although it was not called upon by the
In those early parks where the Interior Department retained administrative responsibility (including Crater Lake, Mount Rainier and Glacier), government buildings usually were limited to primitive, vernacular expressions of facility need. Crude frame shacks, log cabins, or tent frames usually sufficed. These early government facilities could be simple because responsibility for housing and transporting the park visitor was delegated to the park concessioners.
The early park concessioners received little supervision. Their structures were typical makeshift frontier efforts. The railroads brought the first major developments to the parks. Not until after the completion of the northern transcontinental railroads in the 1890s, did more advanced concessioner facilities appear in Yellowstone, for example. Among the first of these was the
Policy
As the Park Service became more organized in the 1920s, it established a policy of rustic design. Promulgated primarily by landscape architect Thomas Chalmers Vint, with support from architect Herbert Maier, rustic design became entrenched as standard practice in the Park Service. During the 1930s, the Park Service administered Civilian Conservation Corps projects in state parks, and used the opportunity to promote rustic design on a widespread scale. However, in the post-World War II period, it became apparent that facilities could not be built in sufficient quantity to contend with a huge increase in automobile-borne park visitation. In the Mission 66 program, Vint and Maier consciously abandoned the rustic style in favor of a leaner and more expeditious modern style.
Yosemite
In 1903, the
The Yosemite Valley Railroad had constructed a depot in 1910 at El Portal near the park boundary, and a stage depot in Yosemite Valley. Although the railroad's operations were on a much smaller scale than those at the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, its buildings were significant expressions of local park architecture. Both structures were built in a rustic stick style reminiscent of nineteenth century Adirondack camp architecture. The wood-frame buildings were covered with panels of decorative boughs. The diagonal brackets of the depot were small logs, complete with protruding knots. The Yosemite Valley Stage Depot, which also served as a telegraph office, had a steeply gabled roof, which comprised more than half the height of the building, and diamond-shaped window panes. Both structures were representative of a local movement of "rustic" architecture that developed in Yosemite after 1900. Several buildings at nearby Camp Curry shared the style.
Glacier Point received a new hotel in 1917. Erected by the Desmond Park Company, the 2- and 3-story, shingle-covered structure had a distinctly Swiss Chalet design emphasis. The steeply pitched roofs, numerous roof gables and intricate balconies added detail to this alpine structure. Although situated so that it had views of the Yosemite high country, the hotel was sufficiently removed from Glacier Point proper to reduce its visual impact.
Parsons Memorial Lodge was constructed by the Sierra Club in 1915 at Tuolumne Meadows. Parsons Lodge was a wide building of low profile, whose walls appeared to be granite dry stone masonry. Actually, the architect had experimented with a new construction technique so that the battered stone walls had concrete cores. This philosophy of using new building methods in visual imitation of pioneer building techniques matured in the 1920s in structures like Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel. A contemporary architect stated: "The building seems to grow out of the ground naturally and to belong there just as much as the neighboring trees and rocks."
Yellowstone
At
A series of four "trailside museums" were designed for Yellowstone by Herbert Maier in the late 1920s at Madison, Norris Geyser Basin, Fishing Bridge and Old Faithful. Maier designed many park structures in the western national parks during his tenure as an active Park Service architect, and went on to become an influential administrator in the Park Service regional office.
In 1927
Mount Rainier
At the Nisqually entrance, massive entrance gates mark the entry to the park. These were the result of a request from Secretary of the Interior Bollinger, who asked for them as part of a 1910 visit to the park. The pergola was finished in time for President
The best-known area of the National Park is the Paradise Historical District. Developed by the Rainier National Park Company in 1916–1917, the
Grand Canyon
In Arizona, the
About 1914 the Fred Harvey Company initiated a major expansion of its Grand Canyon facilities. One of the first new structures was the Lookout Studio, designed by Mary Colter. Built of native stone, the canyon-rim structure had an uneven parapet roofline that matched the form and color of the surrounding cliffs.
Concessions at the Grand Canyon's relatively remote North Rim were built and operated by the Utah Parks Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad. Concession operations there are centered at Grand Canyon Lodge, constructed at the canyon's rim in 1927–1928. Designed by noted architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the massive, rustic-style lodge was built of timber, logs, and native limestone. A total of 120 rustic guest cabins spread outward from the main building. The original lodge structure burned in 1932, but was rebuilt in 1936–1937 on its original footprint. The rustic design ethic of the original lodge was retained in the 1937 building, and today the Grand Canyon Lodge complex is considered to be the best-preserved of the era's rustic National Park hotels.[7]
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park was established in 1910, immediately north of the main line of the Great Northern Railway. The railroad immediately began a massive concession development program in and near the park, which included the construction of two major hotels and nine smaller "chalet" complexes. The cornerstone of the project was Glacier Park Hotel (now Glacier Park Lodge), located just outside the park boundary at Glacier Park Station (East Glacier). The hotel had a capacity of 400 guests. The enormous log frame complex was four stories high, and 628 feet (191 m) long. Complete with music and writing rooms, sun parlor and emergency hospital, the hotel boasted unpeeled log pillars up to four feet in diameter. Used on both exterior and interior, the logs brought nature inside for the pleasure and comfort of the guests. As described in contemporary promotional literature, the "Forest" lobby included an "open camp fire on the Lobby's floor; here tourists and dignified Blackfeet chiefs and weatherbeaten guides cluster of evenings about a great bed of stones on which sticks of fragrant pine crackle merrily." The structure included on its 160-acre (0.6 km2) tract a Blackfeet Indian camp.
The railroad's other major Glacier development was Many Glacier Hotel, a huge and rambling Swiss Chalet–style property on the shore of Swiftcurrent Lake in the northeastern portion of the park. Glacier's third rustic-style hotel, now known as Lake McDonald Lodge, was constructed privately in 1913 and added to the Great Northern concession in 1930.
The chalet camps scattered throughout the park were log or stone structures, built "on the Swiss style of architecture. " Most were log cabin complexes while others, notably Sperry Chalet and Granite Park Chalet, were stone buildings. Each of the isolated facilities had a huge stone fireplace. Spaced within easy travelling distance of each other, the chalets were located in the most scenic portions of the park.
Crater Lake
Construction on the Crater Lake Lodge in Oregon began in 1914, although numerous additions were built later. The hotel was constructed directly on the crater rim approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) above the lake. The original plan was fairly symmetrical. The lower story which was constructed of stone, included handsome arched windows. The upper stories were shingled. The roof, interrupted by rows of dormer windows, had clipped gables at the ends. Although the hotel incorporated local materials into its design in an attempt to integrate with the site, the complex remained relatively prominent, a result of its siting.
- See also
- Munson Valley Historic District
- Rim Village Historic District
- Rim Drive Historic District
- Crater Lake Superintendent's Residence
- Sinnott Memorial Building No. 67
- Comfort Station No. 68
- Comfort Station No. 72
Other national parks
Other National Parks with structures in this style include:
- Bryce Canyon Lodge in Bryce Canyon National Park.
- Bandelier CCC Historic District, Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, New Mexico.
- Oregon Caves National Monument.
- Painted Desert Inn in Petrified Forest National Park.
- Shadow Mountain Lookout in Rocky Mountain National Park.
- Zion Lodge in Zion National Park.
U.S. National Forests
The term has even been applied to some structures in a similar style located in
U.S. state parks
The style was adopted by a number of state parks in the United States. The work was often performed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Some examples are:
- Starved Rocklodge
- Millersylvania State Park near Olympia, Washington
- Sylvan Lake lodge, and other buildings in Custer State Park, South Dakota
- Mount Magazine State Park lodge in Arkansas
- Mather Lodge at Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas
- Silver Falls Lodge at the Silver Falls State Park in Oregon
- CCC Shelter at Pokagon State Park in Indiana
- CCC campground at Upton State Forest, in Upton, Massachusetts
- Longhorn Cavern State Park in Burnet County, Texas
- Three CCC-built cabins on the canyon rim at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Randall County, Texas
- Dolliver Memorial State Park near Fort Dodge, Iowa
- Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth, Minnesota
- Mill Valley, California, specifically trails, a fire lookout at the peak of the mountain, and the famous Mountain Theater/Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheater[8]
Influence in Canada
In Canada rustic architecture influenced the designs of several national park buildings such as the
See also
- Canada's grand railway hotels
- Châteauesque
- Daniel Ray Hull
- Mary Jane Colter
- Herbert Maier
- Robert Reamer
- Gilbert Stanley Underwood
- Thomas C. Vint
- Rustic furniture
References
- ^ Downing, Andrew Jackson (1856). Cottage Residences: Or, A Series of Designs for Rural Cottages and Cottage Villas, and Their Gardens and Grounds, Adapted to North America. Wiley & Halsted.
- ^ ISBN 978-0975919613.
- ^ "National Record of Historic Places Information Form: West Yellowstone, Montana". National Park Service. 24 February 1983. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
- ^ "Eagle Store, West Yellowstone, Montana". Department of Geology, University of Georgia. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
- ^ Flandro, Carly (June 20, 2011). "Explorer's heart: Eagle family has left a strong legacy in southwest Montana". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
- ISBN 0-8118-1854-3.
- ^ "Architecture in the Parks: A National Historic Landmark Theme Study". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ California, California State Parks, State of. "Mount Tamalpais State Park CCC Features". CA State Parks.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Parks Canada - Riding Mountain Park East Gate Registration Complex National Historic Site of Canada". Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- William C. Tweed, Laura E. Soullière, and Henry G. Law, Rustic Architecture: 1916 - 1942 (NPS, 1977)
- Harold L. Ickes, Arno B. Cammerer, A.E. Demaray, and Conrad I. Wirth, National Park Service, Park Structures and Facilities (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1935), 3.
- Merrill Ann Wilson, "Rustic Architecture: The National Park Style," Trends, (July August September, 1976), 4-5.
- Roderick Mash, Wilderness and the American Mind (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), 101.
- D. G. Battle and E. N. Thompson, Fort Yellowstone Historic Structure Report (Denver: National Park Service, 1972), 72.
- L. M. Freudenheim and E. Sussman, Building with Nature: Roots of the San Francisco Bay Region Tradition (Santa Barbara: Peregrine Smith, Inc., 1974), 3.
- W. E Colby, "The Completed LeConte Memorial Lodge," Sierra Club Bulletin 5:66-69 (January, 1094).
- Robert Shankland, Steve Mather of the National Parks (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954), 117.
- G. W. James, The Grand Canyon and How to See It (Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1910), 17.
- Great Northern Railway, "Glacier National Park, Hotels and Tours," (promotional pamphlet, circa 1915), 3.
- Sierra Club, "Report on Parsons Memorial Lodge," Sierra Club Bulletin, 10:84-85 (January 1916).
- Barnes, Christine (April 2002). Great Lodges of the National Parks: The Companion Book to the PBS Television Series. Pfulghoft, Fred (Photographer); Morris, David (Photographer). W W West. ISBN 0-9653924-5-7.
Further reading
- Landmarks in the Landscape: Historic Architecture in the National Parks of the West. Harvey Kaiser, 1997. ISBN 0-8118-1854-3
- "Great Lodges of the National Parks". Oregon Public Broadcasting. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- "Parkitecture in Western National Parks: Early Twentieth Century Rustic Design and Naturalism". National Park Service. September 1999. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- Haynes, Wesley. Adirondack Great Camp Theme Study
- Crater Lake Architecture
- Minnesota State Parks architecture
- Good, Albert. Park and Recreation Structures, Parts I-III (1938) Retrieved 2013-09-19.
External links
- Parkitecture in Western National Parks — Early Twentieth Century Rustic Design and Naturalism.
- "Architecture in the Parks: A National Historic Landmark Theme Study" — online book by Laura Soullière Harrison (1986).
- Great Lodges of the National Parks at IMDb