Gaffney's Lake Wilderness Lodge is a building on
Lake Wilderness in
Maple Valley, Washington
Maple Valley is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 28,013 at the 2020 census. The city functions as a commuter town for residents, though there is an increasing amount of commercial activity in the area.
Hist ...
. The lodge was built in 1950 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Originally built for a destination resort on the lake, the lodge is currently operated by the City of Maple Valley.
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History
In the early 1900s, a homesteader whose property was on the shore of Lake Wilderness offered a few rental cabins on his farm to fishermen and hunters. The Gaffney brothers, Tom and Kane, bought the land and began developing a resort in 1926. They later bought two adjacent resort properties and combined them all into a complex of about sixty rental cabins that offered indoor and outdoor recreation, including boat rentals, a golf course, a bowling alley, a dance hall, a roller rink, and a restaurant. The resort was a popular destination for locals and visitors during World War II.
As part of their modernization effort after the end of the war, the Gaffneys hired the architecture firm of Young, Richardson, Carleton & Detlie to design the new lodge.
The architecture firm won first honor awards from American Institute of Architects in 1952 for Gaffney's Lake Wilderness Lodge.
The lodge is a 3-story wood-frame structure, clad in white cement
stucco. The walls are primarily glass panes framed in fir. The architects designed the lodge to be viewed from both the lake and entry sides. A long canopy provides shelter for arriving guests on the entry side. Natural
fir is used extensively inside through support columns and exposed beams. The north wing contains 10 guest rooms with small balconies and private bathrooms. On the lake side, the lodge is wrapped by a concrete deck, supported on two rows of concrete columns and concrete beams.
The lodge contains a 33-foot
Thunderbird
Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to:
* Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture
* Ford Thunderbird, a car
Birds
* Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds ...
sculpture, carved from a -foot diameter cedar log by
Dudley C. Carter
Dudley Christopher Carter (May 6, 1891 – April 7, 1992) was an artist and woodcarver from the Pacific Northwest. His works are on display in the U.S. states of Washington (U.S. state), Washington, Oregon and California. There are also works of h ...
.
A free-standing staircase spirals around the sculpture which serves as the centerpiece of the
mezzanine.
The Gaffneys added a 2,400-foot airstrip to encourage visitors to take
air taxi
An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand.
In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...
s to the resort. In 1952, the air taxi fee from
Bellevue Airfield was $10 for one person.
King County, Washington
King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the ...
purchased the lake property in 1966 and leased it out as a convention center.
In 2003, the property was transferred to the City of Maple Valley.
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
External links
Lake Wilderness Lodge official site
National Register of Historic Places in King County, Washington
Buildings and structures completed in 1950