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"Rustic Architecture. Period Design in the Columbia River Gorge"
by E. Gail Thorpe
Beacon Rock State Park is a Depression-era complex composing the state park administrative headquarters, a large comfort station at the
Beacon Rock Trailhead, and a community kitchen in the picnic area djacent to the Hamilton Mountain Trailhead.
The park is located in Washington, on State Highway 14, west of Bonneville Dam. Created by Washington State Parks, perhaps with the design assistance of the National Park Service, the Beacon Rock complex offers an interesting comparison in the expression of the rustic style of architecture.
The three major structural components of the Beacon Rock complex are spatially organized by function and separately located within the park
boundaries. The small administrative buildings are simply-detailed frame construction with random rubble veneer. The comfort station is of horizontal log and stone, and the community kitchen is log post and beam construction, with low solid railings and large “window” openings. The structures differ substantially in materials and textures, and thus do not reveal a cohesive architectural character.
However, they all clearly relate to a single design theme, and each connects to its individual setting and the requirements of the site. The architectural interpretation is very responsive to the environment
of the Columbia River Gorge, but the point of view shows a subtle difference from that of the Forest Service designers. Both expressions are sensitive and articulate and present appropriate solutions to the problems posed by the landscape.
The rustic style represents an early-20th-century movement in American architecture. Based on a philosophy of nonintrusiveness, it was particularly particularly appropriate to rural environments. It was picturesque, romantic architecture that recalled the American past, was wholly integrated with the landscape and responsive to the environment. The idiom was developed as a solution to the problem
of providing facilities for the public, in national parks and forests, and in state parks, that did not compete with natural or scenic values. Rustic helped to create an image, and to convey an ethic of conservation. It strongly influenced public expectations about the appropriate character and appearance of recreational and administrative buildings in parks and forests. In the eloquence of
its expression and in its divergence from the trend toward functionalism in urban architecture, rustic made an important contribution to 20th-century American architectural thought."
Throop, Elizabeth Gail. 1979. Utterly Visionary and
Chimerical: A Federal Response to the Depression. An
Examination of Civilian Conservation Corps
Construction on National Forest System Lands in the
Pacific Northwest. M.A. Thesis. Portland State
University, Portland, OR.