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The Lodge at Timberline

© Patrick Larum

A massive structure located on the snow-crested slopes of 11,000 ft. Mt. Hood, Timberline Lodge is a grand example of Cascadian architecture. Constructed by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression era of the 1930's, the lodge employed the efforts of master craftspeople and artists. Every detail of the lodge was handmade in the arts and crafts tradition: hewn beams, wrought iron, carved linoleum, furniture, fixtures, mosaics, murals, and textiles. Inspired by pioneer, Native American, and wildlife themes indigenous to the region, the lodge and its furnishings utilized local materials in its construction as well. It is unique in America: the only twentieth-century public building of its size constructed and furnished entirely by hand with original craft work.

'the Timberline Lodge was distinctly an experiment, to get away from the leaf raking type of project... it was to be a monument to the skill, and industry of the unemployed, and it is a monument the world, will have to acknowledge'

Emerson J. Griffith, WPA Administrator

Timberline Lodge has been carefully restored and faithfully maintained in the spirit of its original design by the Friends of Timberline, a non-profit organization started in 1975. The lodge today is an inn, but it is also a museum in a sense, housing a permanant, catalogued exhibition of 1930's American design, painting, and regional crafts of the Pacific Northwest. It is a collection of work created under extraordinary circumstances for a special purpose: to furnish and decorate a mountain lodge for skiers, hikers, and lovers of the outdoors. The lodge is located at the 6,000 ft. level of Mt. Hood, east of Portland, Oregon U.S.A.

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More Resources...

Timberline Lodge
The official website for the Timberline Lodge provides additional information on the lodge and its history.

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