Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preserving 236,381 acres including all of Mount Rainier, a 14,410-foot (4,390 m) stratovolcano. The mountain rises abruptly from the surrounding land with elevations in the park ranging from 1,600 feet to over 14,000 feet (490–4,300 m). The highest point in the Cascade Range, Mount Rainier is surrounded by valleys, waterfalls, subalpine meadows, and 91,000 acres of old-growth forest. More than 25 glaciers descend the flanks of the volcano, which is often shrouded in clouds that dump enormous amounts of rain and snow.
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located in the states of Washington and Oregon. The National Historic Site consists of two units, one located on the site of Fort Vancouver in modern-day Vancouver, Washington; the other being the former residence of John McLoughlin in Oregon City, Oregon. The two sites were separately given national historic designation in the 1940s. The Fort Vancouver unit was designated a National Historic Site in 1961, and was combined with the McLoughlin House into a unit in 2003.
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.
Thomas Chalmers Vint was a landscape architect credited for directing and shaping landscape planning and development during the early years of the United States National Park System. His work at Yosemite National Park and the development of the Mission 66 program are among his better known projects, although his influence can be seen in parks across America. Vint's true talents lay in his design elements. These can best be described as rustic, relating to how he was able to harmonize structures with their natural surroundings. Vint was awarded the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor conferred for meritorious service to the U.S. government. He was made a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and American Institute of Architects.
Paradise Inn is a historic hotel built in 1916 at 5,400-foot (1,600 m) on the south slope of Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, United States. The inn is named after Paradise, the area of the mountain in which it is located. The Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center and the 1920 Paradise Guide House are also at this location. The inn and guide house are where many climbers start their ascent of the mountain. The inn is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a major component of the Paradise Historic District. Additionally, it is part of the Mount Rainier National Historic Landmark District, which encompasses the entire park and which recognizes the park's inventory of National Park Service rustic architecture.
Longmire, which is effectively encompassed by the Longmire Historic District, is a visitor services center in Washington State's Mount Rainier National Park, located 6.5 miles (10.5 km) east of the Nisqually Entrance. The area is in the Nisqually River valley at an elevation of 2,761 feet (842 m) between The Ramparts Ridge and the Tatoosh Range. Longmire is surrounded by old-growth Douglas fir, western red cedar and western hemlock.
Paradise is the name of an area at approximately 5,400 feet (1,600 m) on the south slope of Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, United States. Southeast of Seattle, the area lies on the border of Pierce and Lewis counties and includes the Paradise Valley and the Paradise Glacier, the source of the Paradise River. Virinda Longmire named Paradise in the summer of 1885 while she viewed the wildflowers in the alpine meadows there. Paradise also offers views of Mount Rainier and the Tatoosh Range.
Mission 66 was a United States National Park Service ten-year program that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Park Service.
The Yakima Park Stockade Group, also known as North and South Blockhouses, Museum, and Stockade at Sunrise, is a building complex consisting of four log buildings at the Sunrise Visitors Center area in the northeast part of Mount Rainier National Park. The complex is architecturally significant as a particularly fine example of rustic frontier log architecture. The first of the blockhouses and the stockade were built in 1930, while the second blockhouse followed in 1943. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is in turn part of the Mount Rainier National Historic Landmark District, which encompasses the entire park and which recognizes the park's inventory of Park Service-designed rustic architecture.
The Longmire Buildings in Mount Rainier National Park comprise the park's former administrative headquarters, and are among the most prominent examples of the National Park Service Rustic style in the national park system. They comprise the Longmire Community Building of 1927, the Administration Building of 1928, and the Longmire Service Station of 1929. Together, these structures were designated National Historic Landmarks on May 28, 1987. The administration and community buildings were designed by National Park Service staff under the direction of Thomas Chalmers Vint.
The Sinnott Memorial Observation Station is a sheltered viewpoint built into the caldera cliff 900 feet above Crater Lake in southern Oregon, United States. It is located near the Rim Village Visitor Center in Crater Lake National Park. The structure includes a small natural history museum with exhibits that highlight the geologic history of Mount Mazama and the formation of Crater Lake. The building was officially dedicated as the Nicholas J. Sinnott Memorial Observation Station and Museum; however, it is commonly known as the Sinnott Memorial Overlook or Sinnott Viewing Area. It is architecturally significant because it was the first National Park Service building constructed specifically as a museum and the first structure built in Crater Lake National Park using rustic stone masonry construction. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Sinnott Memorial Building No. 67.
The Saint Mary Visitor Center in Glacier National Park, with the connected Saint Mary Checking Station and Entrance Station was constructed at the east entrance to the Going-to-the-Sun Road during the Mission 66 park facilities improvement program. It was designed by Burt L. Gewalt of the Kalispell, Montana architectural firm Brinkman and Lenon, and was completed in 1967. The complex uses common Mission 66 themes such as native stone, and glulam timber construction, combined with a dramatic roof structure that echoes the mountain peaks in the background. The stone in the walls came from the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The view of the "St. Mary" webcam on the Glacier National Park official website is broadcast from the center and shows the westward-facing view over St. Mary Lake, which includes a distant view of Logan's Pass. There is also an osprey nest about one hundred meters to the east of the building, which can be viewed from the visitor parking lot and from the park's osprey webcam.
The Old Faithful Museum of Thermal Activity was one of a series of four "trailside" museums built in Yellowstone National Park in 1929. Funded by a grant of $118,000 from Laura Spelman Rockefeller, the museums interpreted park features for visitors, and represented an early version of the visitor information center concept that became widespread throughout the National Park Service. The four museums were notable examples of the National Park Service Rustic style, and all were designed by Park Service architect Herbert Maier. The surviving Norris Museum, Fishing Bridge Museum and the Madison Museum are collectively listed as National Historic Landmarks.
The Wonderland Trail is an approximately 93-mile (150 km) hiking trail that circumnavigates Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, United States. The trail goes over many ridges of Mount Rainier for a cumulative 22,000 feet (6,700 m) of elevation gain. The trail was built in 1915.
The Narada Falls Comfort Station was built in Mount Rainier National Park by the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1941–42. The public toilet building is close to Narada Falls in the south central portion of the park. Initial work by the Park Service encountered substantial rock excavation, with the subsequent cost overrun requiring the Park Service to use CCC labor to complete the project. The building features stone masonry walls to window sill level, woor framed upper walls, and a timber framed roof. The interior comprises a waiting room and a toilet facility. The design was by the Western Region Landscape Engineering Division, with plan approval by Thomas Chalmers Vint, NPS Chief of Planning.
The Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout is one of four fire lookout stations built in Mount Rainier National Park by the United States National Park Service (NPS) between 1932 and 1934. The two-story structure houses a lookout station on the upper level and storage at ground level. The design was prepared under the supervision of Edwin A. Nickel of the NPS Branch of Plans and Designs. The newly completed structure lost its roof to a windstorm and had to be repaired. It is secured against strong winds by cables attached to deadmen. The wood-frame structure is used as a visitor contact point on weekends.
The Paradise Historic District comprises the historic portion of Paradise developed area of Mount Rainier National Park. The subalpine district surrounds its primary structure, the Paradise Inn, a rustic-style hotel built in 1917 to accommodate visitors to the park. The Paradise Inn is a National Historic Landmark. Five other buildings are included in the district. The district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 13, 1991. It is part of the Mount Rainier National Historic Landmark District, which encompasses the entire park and which recognizes the park's inventory of Park Service-designed rustic architecture.
Cecil John Doty (1907–1990) was an American architect, notable for planning a consistent architectural framework for the U.S. National Park Service's ambitious Mission 66 program in the 1950s and 1960s. Doty spent his childhood in May, Oklahoma, then attended Oklahoma A&M, and received a degree in architectural engineering in 1928. During the Great Depression that immediately followed Doty's graduation, Doty found intermittent work, but was unable to establish a business in Oklahoma City. In order to make a living, Doty signed up with the Civilian Conservation Corps, first as a file clerk, then as an architect in the state parks program.
Architects of the National Park Service are the architects and landscape architects who were employed by the National Park Service (NPS) starting in 1918 to design buildings, structures, roads, trails and other features in the United States National Parks. Many of their works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a number have also been designated as National Historic Landmarks.
The buildings of the Silver Creek Ranger Station typify Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Economic Recovery Act (ERA). These relief programs employed local youth and experienced craftsmen. Building materials and camp supplies were obtained locally. The U.S. Forest Service's was the host agency and the facility was the headquarters for field operation The design of the buildings is an example of the rustic architectural style used by the Forest Service. Building 1362 is rare. Only three log Depression-era offices are known in the Pacific Northwest Region.
