The Paradise Historic District comprises the historic portion of

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

developed area of

Mount Rainier National Park 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, preservi ...

. The subalpine district surrounds its primary structure, the

Paradise Inn Paradise Inn is a historic hotel built in 1916 at 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. J ...

, a rustic-style hotel built in 1917 to accommodate visitors to the park. The Paradise Inn is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. Five other buildings are included in the district. The district was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on March 13, 1991. It is part of the Mount Rainier

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, which encompasses the entire park and which recognizes the park's inventory of Park Service-designed rustic architecture.

District

The Paradise area had been burned by an 1885 forest fire that left a great deal of standing timber in a "silver forest", primarily Alaska Cedar. Much of this timber was harvested to build park structures, particularly the Paradise Inn. The area's chief attractions are the wildflower meadows above the built-up area. The development of the area was undertaken by the Rainier National Park Company, which built the Paradise Inn in 1917 and added the annex in 1920, as well as the Guide House the same year. Three other buildings were built by the National Park Service. The Paradise area formerly included a group of 215 frame cabins built in 1930, served by the Paradise Lodge of 1931, which were open year-round. The cabins were sold in 1942 to be used to house defense workers. As part of the

Mission 66 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. When the National P ...

program, the Paradise area was proposed as a day-use area, with the inn to be demolished. Public pressure resulted in the preservation of the inn and its renovation. The Paradise Lodge was intentionally burned on June 3, 1965 to make room for parking for the new

Paradise Visitor Center In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

Buildings

The 1917

is a large hotel with a prominent dormered roof, built in an "alpine" variant of the

National Park Service Rustic 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 ...

style. The inn's interior features exposed log structure, with a high lobby housing handcrafted

log furniture Log furniture is a type of rustic furniture made by incorporating the use of whole logs. It is often designed to have a "pioneer" look. Log furniture is often very durable and long-lasting, depending on the manufacturing methods used. Descr ...

. Fourteen doors open off the lobby to the northeast, flanked by log buttresses that follow the slope of the roof to the ground, carrying the local snow loads. The inn was designed by Heath, Grove and Bell, of Tacoma. Twenty-eight guest rooms were in an attached wing above the dining room, with a further wing housing suites and rooms. The Paradise Inn Annex was built in 1920, slightly downhill from and parallel to the main inn's lobby. The -story timber-frame building is connected to the main inn by a multi-story bridge. Designed by Seattle architect

Harlan Thomas Harlan Thomas (January 10, 1870 – September 4, 1953) was an American architect in the first half of the twentieth century. From 1926 to the early 1940s he served as Chair of the University of Washington Department of Architecture. He was al ...

, the version finally constructed was scaled down from the originally-proposed structure, which was to be long with a central stone pavilion and exposed log framing. The portion that was built was to have been the south wing, and construction was simplified to plain framed construction, measuring by . The Guide Service Building is a -story timber-frame structure opposite the Paradise Inn. It was built by the Rainier National Park Company in 1920 features a distinctive

gambrel roof A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. (The usual architectural term in eighteenth-century England and North America was "Dutch roof".) The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, w ...

to house mountain climbing guides. The basement contains a small auditorium and stage, while the ground floor houses offices. The upper levels are dormitory spaces. The Paradise Ranger Station is a small -story building with a steeply pitched cedar-shingle roof. The ranger station was completed in 1922 to a design by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

Landscape Engineering Division. The roof, supported on rubblestone walls, was designed to shed the heavy winter snowfall typical of the Paradise area. A system of cables anchored to the hillside resists the downhill pressure of the snow load. The Paradise Comfort Station is a public toilet facility. It was built in 1928 to a design by the Park Service Western Region Branch of Plans and Designs, supervised by

Thomas Chalmers Vint Thomas Chalmers Vint (August 15, 1894 – October 26, 1967) 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 ...

. In contrast to the ranger station, the comfort station features a strongly built low-pitched roof built in reinforced concrete. The walls were clad in stone veneer. The roof was designed to resist a snow load weighing 35 pounds per cubic foot, for a 1225-pound-per-square-foot loading. The Paradise Ski-Tow Powerhouse was built to house a portable ski-tow system. Paradise was a significant skiing venue during the 1930s, but the Park Service did not permit a permanent ski lift facility. The ski-tow house was built in 1937 by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

with a steeply pitched roof similar to that of the ranger station.

References

External links

Paradise
at the National Park Service {{National Register of Historic Places Park buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Geography of Pierce County, Washington Rustic architecture in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Mount Rainier National Park Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Mount Rainier National Park