Adirondack Architecture

Last updated March 10, 2024

Adirondack Architecture refers to the rugged architectural style generally associated with the Great Camps within the Adirondack Mountains area in New York. The builders of these camps used native building materials and sited their buildings within an irregular wooded landscape. These camps for the wealthy were built to provide a primitive, rustic appearance while avoiding the problems of in-shipping materials from elsewhere.

Elements

Elements such as whole, split, or peeled logs, bark, roots, and burls, along with native granite fieldstone, were used to build interior and exterior components. Massive fireplaces and chimneys built of cut stone are also common within the Great Camp architecture. The use of native building materials was not only for promoting a natural appearance, but also to avoid the expense of transporting conventional building materials into a remote location.^[1]

Influences

The style drew upon Swiss chalet architecture, which had been introduced to America by Andrew Jackson Downing around 1850. Log construction was popularized by Downing's protégé, Calvert Vaux, in his pattern book Villas and Cottages in 1857. Downing's design principles emphasized utility, structural expression, and conformity to natural surroundings. The building form was influenced by Stick style, but using log framing instead of dimensional lumber to express the structural system of the buildings. Charles Eastlake's book Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery and other Details also influenced the Adirondack rustic style. Interior decorations such as rustic and Mission Style furniture, mounted trophies of fish and game, Japanese fans and screens, and American Indian artifacts were influenced by Eastlake's ideas.^[1]

Camp Santanoni, Newcomb, New York, built for Robert C. Pruyn of Albany, was the first Adirondack camp to be comprehensively designed as a unit by a professional architect, Robert Henderson Robertson of New York, who designed the Main Camp Complex.^[2]

Adirondack Camps

Source:^[3]^[4]

In Adirondack Architecture, many sites, buildings, and lodges are referred to as 'camps'. A camp can refer to any area in which people can find shelter and gather in one location for an extended period of time. The word 'camp' dates back to the early days of Adirondack exploration.

Hunters, homesteaders, explorers, and loggers in the area would establish temporary campsites as a place to meet, rest, and eat. These early camps initially featured temporary, scattered, open-air structures which later on evolved to semi-permanent canvas tents which sat atop a wooden platform. These tents were suited for resting, relaxing, and cooking, and were even heated by fireplaces.

As logging became more predominant in the area, large companies of loggers required larger camps with features such as dormitories, a mess hall, and even stables. The logging camps featured basic log buildings which were meant to last until the area had been logged, then were left to rot. By 1850, New York had become the most heavily logged state in the entire country. The rapid growth of the logging industry demanded larger inns for the loggers to stay at which created demand for logging camps to become more permanent.

The first permanent structures were constructed by Adirondack guides and early settlers using only logs from the area and hand tools. These early log cabins became popular with hunters and explorers in the area, as they would pay the cabin owners for a warm place to stay. Many travelers would come to the area to find a place to get away from everyday life and travel by foot to enjoy a comfortable stay in a simple log cabin, surrounded by nature. Tales of these Adirondack getaways started being published in books which became very popular with the general public. Demand for these permanent structures increased as more people migrated to the area, and soon, log camps featuring multiple buildings all in one area had been established and were known as 'commercial camps'.

By the 1890s commercial camps had grown so popular that some featured three-story hotel style buildings. Despite major growth, these sites were still referred to as 'camps' as they offered a rustic, outdoor experience unlike other resort hotels. Eventually, wealthy visitors purchased large lots of land and established private 'family camps' featuring a large central building or lodge called the 'main camp' which would often be surrounded by up to a dozen smaller, separate buildings used for sleeping, dining, laundry, cooking, etc. By the beginning of the 1900s, development of roads, railroads, and advanced building methods made it affordable for middle class families to purchase land and build a camp in the Adirondacks. As development in the Adirondacks continued, many of the new structures built were not entire compounds, but single structures for a single family, however the term 'camp' is still used to describe all buildings of this style in the region. Most camps to this day are still constructed of natural materials such as wood and stone, and have a predominant focus on the wild nature of the early exploration days of the Adirondacks.

Style

The Adirondacks buildings were recognized for their rugged finish and outstanding craftsmanship especially by the wealthy locals. The Adirondacks style of architecture can be specialized into custom homes, rugged roofing, log cabins, boat houses, rustic furnishing, rustic kitchen, birch and cedar furniture, log and twig works.

This style of architecture is found most prominently in and around the area of Adirondack Park.

Saint Regis Presbyterian Church, designed by William L. Coulter
The Jordan Cottage, Saranac Lake
Camp Katia on Upper St. Regis Lake
Brighton Town Hall, by Benjamin A. Muncil, 1914
Hotel Wawbeek, Upper Saranac Lake (1890, Stoddard)
Wawbeek Lodge, 1900
Raquette Lake Hotel, (1889, Stoddard)
Echo Camp, Upper Saranac Lake (1916, Stoddard)
Cherokee Grove, near Bunnell, Florida

Related Research Articles

The Old Faithful Inn is a hotel in the western United States with a view of the Old Faithful Geyser, located in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The Inn has a multi-story log lobby, flanked by long frame wings containing guest rooms. In the western portion of the park, it sits at an approximate elevation of 7,350 feet (2,240 m) above sea level.

The Adirondack Park is a multi-use park in northeastern New York protecting the Adirondack Mountains. The park was established in 1892 for "the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure", and for watershed protection. At 6.1 million acres, it is the largest park in the contiguous United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific lodge</span>

The Pacific lodge style of architecture is based loosely on vague notions of cedar lodges and log cabin dwellings of early inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. This style can be seen in historic National Park hotels, such as the Lake Quinault Lodge, and in the houses of some wealthier Seattleites of the timber baron era. However, most early Seattleites preferred to mimic the accepted styles of the East; to this day, historical pastiches remain more popular throughout the region.

Seneca Ray Stoddard (1844–1917) was an American landscape photographer known for his photographs of New York's Adirondack Mountains. He was also a naturalist, a writer, a poet, an artist, and a cartographer. His writings and photographs helped to popularize the Adirondacks.

National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create buildings that harmonized with the natural environment. Since its founding in 1916, the NPS sought to design and build visitor facilities without visually interrupting the natural or historic surroundings. The early results were characterized by intensive use of hand labor and a rejection of the regularity and symmetry of the industrial world, reflecting connections with the Arts and Crafts movement and American Picturesque architecture.

The Santanoni Preserve was once a private estate of approximately 13,000 acres (53 km²) in the Adirondack Mountains, and now is the property of the State of New York, at Newcomb, New York.

The Great Camps of the Adirondack Mountains refers to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The camps were summer homes for the wealthy, where they could relax, host or attend parties, and enjoy the wilderness. In time, however, this was accomplished without leaving the comforts of civilization behind; some great camps even contained a bowling alley or movie theatre.

Jackson Lake Lodge is located near Moran in Grand Teton National Park, in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The lodge has 385 rooms, a restaurant, conference rooms, and offers numerous recreational opportunities. The lodge is owned by the National Park Service, and operated under contract by the Grand Teton Lodge Company. The Grand Teton Lodge Company also manages the Jenny Lake Lodge, as well as cabins, restaurants and other services at Colter Bay Village. The lodge is located east of Jackson Lake adjacent to prime moose habitat below the Jackson Lake Dam.

Camp Pine Knot, also known as Huntington Memorial Camp, on Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, was built by William West Durant. Begun in 1877, it was the first of the "Adirondack Great Camps" and epitomizes the "Great Camp" architectural style. Elements of that style include log and native stonework construction, decorative rustic items of branches and twigs, and layout as a compound of separated structures. It is located on the southwest tip of Long Point, a two-mile long point extending into Raquette Lake, in the Town of Long Lake in Hamilton County, New York.

Lower Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. With Middle Saranac Lake and Upper Saranac Lake, a 17-mile (27 km) paddle with only one portage is possible. The Saranac Lake Islands Public Campground provides 87 campsites on inlands in Lower and Middle Saranac Lake. In addition to the Saranac River, it is fed by nearby Lake Colby, Fish Creek, and Lilly Pad Pond. Lower Saranac Lake is located in the town of Harrietstown, New York. The lake, along with both Upper and Middle Saranac Lakes, is also part of the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail, which begins in Old Forge, NY and ends in Fort Kent, ME.

Upper Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, in the towns of Santa Clara and Harrietstown, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. Upper Saranac Lake is the sixth largest lake in the Adirondacks. With Middle Saranac Lake and Lower Saranac Lake, a 17-mile (27 km) paddle with only one carry is possible. There are 20 primitive campsites accessible by boat available on a first-come basis. Upper Saranac Lake is also known as Sin-ha-lo-nen-ne-pus.

Moss Ledge is an Adirondack Great Camp designed by William L. Coulter in 1898 for Isabel Ballantine of New York City. Ballantine was the granddaughter of Newark beer baron, John Holmes Ballantine.

Prospect Point Camp is an Adirondack Great Camp notable for its unusual chalets inspired by hunting lodges. William L. Coulter's design is a significant example of the Adirondack Rustic style. It is located on a bluff overlooking the northern reaches of Upper Saranac Lake, near Eagle Island Camp and Moss Ledge, two other Coulter designs. Its grand scale is typical of the opulent camps of the area in the great camp era. The camp was built for New York copper magnate and financier Adolph Lewisohn.

William Lincoln Coulter (1865–1907) was an American architect who came to Saranac Lake, New York, in the spring of 1896 in an effort to cure his tuberculosis, and stayed to design some of the finest Adirondack Great Camps and Cure Cottages in the area. Among the camps he designed were Knollwood Club, Camp Eagle Island and Prospect Point Camp; Camp Eagle Island has been designated a US National Historic Landmark. In Saranac Lake, in 1903, he designed a house at 147 Park Avenue for Thomas Bailey Aldrich, editor of the Atlantic Monthly, that wits dubbed "The Porcupine" because it had so many fine points and belonged to a "quill pusher". He also designed the Coulter Cottage, built between 1897 and 1899.

Adirondack Experience, located on NY-30 in the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake in Hamilton County, New York, is a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Adirondacks. The museum is located on the site of an historic summer resort hotel, the Blue Mountain House, built high above Blue Mountain Lake in 1876 by Miles Tyler Merwin, that operated until the late 1940s. The museum consists of 23 buildings, 121 acres, and 60,000 square feet of exhibition space. The opening of a brand new 19,000 square foot exhibition, Life in the Adirondacks, took place July 2017.

Rustic furniture is furniture employing sticks, twigs or logs for a natural look. The term “rustic” is derived from Latin “rusticus”. The style is rooted in Romantic tradition. In the US it is almost synonymous with the National Park Service rustic style of architecture. Many companies, artists and craftspeople make rustic furniture in a variety of styles and with a variety of historical and contemporary influences.

Rustic architecture is a style of architecture in the United States, used in rural government and private structures and their landscape interior design. It was influenced by the American craftsman style.

Loon Lake is a hamlet and a lake in the northeastern region of Adirondack Park in the U.S. state of New York. The community is located on the east side of Loon Lake and 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Saranac Lake and 27 miles (43 km) north of Lake Placid.

Sprucewold Lodge is a historic summer tourist accommodation at 4-9 Nahanada Road in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Its main lodge built in 1927, it was the centerpiece of an extensive rustic retreat on the Spruce Point peninsula southeast of downtown Boothbay Harbor. The lodge is one of the state's finest examples of rustic Adirondack architecture, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. In 2016, the lodge was listed for sale.

The Lincoln Lodge, on Stemple Pass Rd. in Lincoln, Montana, was built in 1929. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

References

1 2 "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Great Camps of the Adirondacks Thematic Resources". September 24, 1986. Retrieved 2007-04-25.
↑ "(New York State Department of Environmental Conservation) Camp Santanoni Historic Area". Archived from the original on 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
↑ Null, Janet A. (2017-06-01). The Adirondack Architecture Guide, Southern-Central Region. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-6668-2.
↑ Kaiser, Harvey H. (1982). Great Camps of the Adirondacks (7th ed.). David R. Godine Publisher. ISBN 978-1-56792-073-4.

External links

Adirondack Architectural Heritage