Mount Rainier National Park is a national park of the United States 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.
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.
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.
The Yakima Park Stockade Group, also known as North and South Blockhouses 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.
Rim Village is the main area for tourist services in Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon, United States. It is located on the southwest rim of the caldera overlooking Crater Lake. The National Park Service designed Rim Village to concentrate park services at a location that provided easy access to rim trails and view points. Because of the unique rustic architecture of the Rim Village structures and the surrounding park landscape, the area was listed as Rim Village Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
The historical buildings and structures of Zion National Park represent a variety of buildings, interpretive structures, signs and infrastructure associated with the National Park Service's operations in Zion National Park, Utah. Structures vary in size and scale from the Zion Lodge to road culverts and curbs, nearly all of which were designed using native materials and regional construction techniques in an adapted version of the National Park Service Rustic style. A number of the larger structures were designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, while many of the smaller structures were designed or coordinated with the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs. The bulk of the historic structures date to the 1920s and 1930s. Most of the structures of the 1930s were built using Civilian Conservation Corps labor.
The Sunrise Historic District, also known as the community of Sunrise, Washington, is located at approximately 6,400 feet (2,000 m) on a ridge overlooking the northeast side of Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park. The district comprises seven individual structures designed in accordance with the principles of the National Park Service Rustic style. The area is inhabited and open to the public only during a brief period in the summer season.
The White River Entrance to Mount Rainier National Park is a complex of buildings built between 1929 and 1931 to accommodate visitors arriving on the Yakima Park Highway, in the northeastern portion of the park. Like most of the structures in Mount Rainier, the buildings are designed in the National Park Service Rustic style, using natural stone and log materials. The historic district includes the 1933 Men's Mess Hall and Dormitory, believed to be the only surviving camp structure built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the park.
The Christine Falls Bridge is a reinforced concrete arch bridge in Mount Rainier National Park, spanning Van Trump Creek at Christine Falls. The bridge was built in 1927–1928 by contractor J. D. Tobin of Portland, Oregon, who built the Narada Falls Bridge at the same time. The arch has a three-centered profile and spans 56 feet (17 m). The bridge is 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. It was faced with rubble stonework and is an example of National Park Service Rustic design.
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.
Indian Henry's Patrol Cabin is an early National Park Service patrol cabin in Mount Rainier National Park. The cabin was built in 1915–1916 at an elevation of 5,300 feet (1,600 m) in an area of the park known as "Indian Henry's Hunting Ground," which had been used in the 19th century by the Cowlitz and Nisqually tribes. "Indian Henry" was an Indian guide who accompanied James Longmire in his explorations of the area. The Indian Henry's area became a tourist destination with the 1908 establishment of the "Wigwam Camp," a tent camp which was abandoned in 1918. The area remained as a headquarters for backcountry patrols; the cabin was the first such facility in the park.
The White River Bridge was built in 1929 in Mount Rainier National Park as part of the Yakima Park Road project. The new road was planned to open up access to the northeastern portion of the park. The bridge, spanning the White River, was built by contractor John D. Tobin of Portland, Oregon, who had previously built the Narada Falls Bridge and the Christine Falls Bridges, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Plans for the bridge were drawn by the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs in the National Park Service Rustic style, with construction supervision by NPS landscape architect Ernest A. Davidson. The three-centred arch spans 60 feet (18 m), with a stone-faced concrete structure.
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.
The Tipsoo Lake Comfort Station was designed by the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs in the National Park Service Rustic style and built in Mount Rainier National Park by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934. The design was supervised by Park Service Chief Architect Thomas Chalmers Vint, and is similar to the Sunrise Comfort Station in the central portion of the park. Located near the park's northern entrance, two comfort station were planned to be part of a developed area in the vicinity of Tipsoo and Chinook Pass, which was never developed beyond the toilet facilities and an entrance arch. One of these survives and remains in use. The public toilet facility features rough stonework to window sill level, with a framed wall above and a log-framed roof with cedar shingles.
The Tahoma Vista Comfort Station was designed by the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs in the National Park Service Rustic style and built in Mount Rainier National Park by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1931. The design was supervised by Park Service Chief Architect Thomas Chalmers Vint, and site selection and development were undertaken by Park Service landscape architect Ernest A. Davidson. The comfort station serves the Tahoma Vista Overlook, also designed by Davidson. The 14-foot (4.3 m) by 30-foot (9.1 m) public toilet facility features rough stonework to window sill level, with a framed wall above and a log-framed roof with cedar shingles.
The Nisqually Entrance Historic District comprises the first public entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. The district incorporates the log entrance arch typical of all Mount Rainier entrances, a log frame ranger station and checking station, a comfort station and miscellaneous service structures, all built around 1926, as well as the 1915 Superintendent's Residence and the 1908 Oscar Brown Cabin, the oldest remaining structure in the park. The buildings in the district conform to the principles of the National Park Service Rustic style that prevailed in park design of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Longmire Campground Comfort Stations were built in the early and mid-1930s in Mount Rainier National Park to provide public toilet facilities to automobile tourists camping in the park at Longmire. Essentially the same in design, the facilities were designed by the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs. Their construction was supervised by park landscape architect Ernest A. Davidson. The timber-frame buildings followed the tenets of the prevailing National Park Service Rustic style.
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.
