"Winter Panoramic" by National Park Service , public domain
Crater LakeCrater Lake Lodge |
Brochure about the Crater Lake Lodge at Crater Lake National Park (NP) in Oregon. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
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Crater Lake
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Crater Lake National Park
The Crater Lake Lodge
“A Project Finally
Complete”
Crater Lake Lodge was built to encourage tourism to Crater Lake National Park and
southwestern Oregon. It opened to guests during the summer of 1915. Its clientele has
included people from all over the world. Most guests have had fond remembrances of
their stays, even though the lodge was often in an unfinished state. Throughout its
history the lodge lacked expected hotel standards for comfort, privacy, and service, and
suffered from neglect.
Before construction of the lodge began in 1909,
William G. Steel and other supporters of a hotel
had a difficult time finding a developer that would
commit to the project. It was not an easy undertaking to build and operate a major lodging facility on
the edge of the caldera overlooking Crater Lake.
The harsh climate with severe winter weather for
more than eight months of the year was daunting.
At the time, the area was not very accessible. A trip
to the park was an arduous journey over many
miles of unpaved and poorly constructed roads.
park. These and other obstacles combined to cause
long delays, driving up the cost of the lodge.
Steel finally convinced Alfred Parkhurst, a Portland
developer, to take on the project. However,
Parkhurst had no experience constructing buildings that needed to withstand the weight of 15 foot
snow depths that accumulate during Crater Lake’s
long winters. Unlike at Portland, construction work
was limited to a short three month summer season.
Labor and materials had to be brought great distances into the remote and largely undeveloped
Although business profits lagged due to high operational costs, Crater Lake Lodge drew large crowds.
Early 20th century visitors probably accepted the
substandard accommodations because of the
rigorous trip needed to reach the park. Though the
lodge lacked amenities and atmosphere, visitors
were compensated by the magnificent views of
Crater Lake and the surrounding peaks of the
Cascade Range.
Spiraling costs forced Parkhurst to find savings
elsewhere in the project. When the lodge opened in
the summer of 1915, the furnishings seemed
spartan. Exterior walls were clad in tar paper.
Interior walls of the guest rooms were finished with
thin cardboard-like “beaver board.” There were no
private bathrooms, and a small generator provided
electricity.
When it was enlarged and upgraded from 1922
through 1924, the number of guest rooms more
than doubled. Plumbing was expanded, and as a
result most of the rooms in the new annex and
annex wing had private bathrooms. However, a
lack of investment capital plagued the expansion.
Many guest rooms were left unfinished. The lodge
suffered with the decline in visitation and business
during the early 1930s, the worst years of the Great
Depression. Little was spent to keep up the facility.
It was not until the mid 1930s that guest rooms on
the second and third floors of the annexes were
finished. The lodge was situated in a barren and
very dusty environment. Cars had destroyed most
of the surrounding vegetation.
One of the great improvements made during the
1930s was the development of a landscape for Rim
Village which included plantings around Crater
Lake Lodge. In contrast to the privately funded
hotel, this publicly funded project was accomplished by the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps. The new landscape included hundreds of indigenous trees and shrubs,
and helped to blend the structure into its surroundings. As part of the project, new paved parking areas and walkways were built adjacent to the
lodge. This significantly reduced the blowing dust
and erosion problems around the building and gave
the area a more “natural” appearance.
Both the park and Crater Lake Lodge were closed
for most of World War II. After the war, park visitation increased dramatically, as did business at the
lodge. However, age and many years of neglect
took a heavy toll on the building.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the National Park
Service continually prodded, with mixed results,
the lodge’s owners to upgrade utilities and fire
prevention measures. After fifty years of severe
winters on the caldera’s edge, the lodge’s inadequate structural system was showing signs of
advanced deterioration. Cables stretched between
the north and south walls to try to keep them from
bowing. Floors and ceilings were sagging, and
cracks appeared in the masonry. Only small
amounts of money were invested in piecemeal
fashion to keep the lodge open every summer. This
Band-Aid approach left utility systems and lifesafety measures lagging behind contemporary
codes and standards.
EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA
The National Park Service acquired ownership of
Crater Lake Lodge in 1967, but the building continued to deteriorate. Despite being listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, the National
Park Service felt that it was too expensive to fix and
maintain. The agency failed to implement a proposal to demolish the building once it found public
opinion to save the lodge too strong. Consequently,
the agency approved a plan to save Crater Lake
Lodge as part of the comprehensive Rim Village
Redevelopment Program in 1988.
Engineers contracted by the National Park Service
monitored the structural integrity of the lodge
through the 1980s. In the spring of 1989, just before
the lodge was to open for the summer season, the
engineers advised the park that the Great Hall wing
was unsafe for occupants. They predicted this part
of the building might collapse of its own weight,
bringing down the rest of the lodge with it. This
compelled the National Park Service to keep the
lodge closed and begin a comprehensive rehabilitation project.
The plan to rehabilitate Crater Lake Lodge called
for returning the exterior appearance and interior
public areas to that of the late 1920s. After nearly
two years of planning and design, construction
work began in 1991. Some original materials, such
as the masonry stones, were salvaged for reuse, but
very little of the original building could be saved.
The Great Hall wing was dismantled and rebuilt.
Most of the rest was gutted. A steel structural
support system, utilities, life-safety systems, and
modern hotel standards were built into the new
facility. The rehabilitation of Crater Lake Lodge
was completed in the fall of 1994 at a cost of more
than $15,000,000.
On May 20, 1995, Crater Lake Lodge reopened to
the public. Patrons and visitors could again enjoy
its accommodations and services safely, and in an
atmosphere reminiscent of the 1920s. For the first
time since its original opening eighty years before,
Crater Lake Lodge was a project finally completed.
Written by Kent J. Taylor. R e v . 8/2001 klb