Bryce Canyon Lodge

Bryce Canyon Lodge and Deluxe Cabins
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Bryce Canyon Lodge
Location	Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Coordinates	37°37′37″N 112°10′2″W
Built	1925
Architect	Gilbert S. Underwood
Architectural style	National Park Service Rustic
MPS	Bryce Canyon National Park MPS
NRHP reference No.	87001339 (NHL), 95000434 (HD boundary increase)
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	May 28, 1987 (NHL), April 25, 1995 (HD boundary increase)
Designated NHL	May 28, 1987

Bryce Canyon Lodge is a lodge in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. It was built between 1924 and 1925 using local materials. Designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the lodge is an excellent example of National Park Service Rustic design. It is the only remaining completely original structure of the lodges designed by Underwood for Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Description

The two-story Lodge is built on a stone base with intentionally oversized log framing, creating a massive, rustic appearance. The central portion of the building dates to 1924, with the addition of the north and southeast wings taking place in 1926. The lodge is entered by a long porch fronting the entire lobby, whose roof rests on a 52-foot (16 m) long log beam supported by paired log columns. The lodge is capped by a heavy, steeply-pitched shingled roof with clipped gables and shed dormers.

The main floor of the lodge comprises the lobby, a dining room, a small auditorium, a gift shop, kitchen and administrative and utility spaces. The dining room and auditorium are open to the roof with exposed log trusses. The lobby features milled timbers with Arts and Crafts detailing. Fireplaces of rough rubble stone are found in the lobby, where the firebox is constructed in a pointed arch, and in the auditorium. A basement underlies much of the main level.

The lodge's roof is notable for its unusual shingling pattern, originally designed by Underwood, in which the lower edges of the horizontal shingle courses form irregular, undulating moiré or wave-like patterns across the roof. This gives an impression that the roof is warped, or in motion. This unique shingling pattern is on the original cabins as well as the main lodge buildings, and has been replicated with each re-roofing of the complex, using the original pattern, as a way to keep the craftsman's trademarks of the original builders and Underwood's design.

Deluxe cabins

The satellite cabins, called "deluxe cabins", are to the southeast of the lodge. Five buildings contain four lodging units, and ten contain two. The cabins have rubble stone chimneys and corner pilasters, with log slab siding on the main wall exposures, simulating full log construction, complete with chinking. The cabins have log-framed porches with log railings. On the interior the roof trusses are exposed. Original paneling complements the stone fireplaces. The area formerly included two other lines of cabins, the "budget cabins" and the "standard cabins," now removed.

History

The Bryce Canyon Lodge was built by the Utah Parks Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, as part of the railroad's project to develop tourist traffic to Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon by providing noteworthy destination hotels at each park. The Union Pacific was following in the footsteps of other railroads' efforts to promote the western parks of the United States and Canada. Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood was in charge of the design work for the Union Pacific hotels. Construction at the Bryce Lodge started in 1924 and was completed in the early summer of 1925. The guest wings were added in 1926 and the auditorium in 1927. The budget and economy cabins, also designed by Underwood, were mostly built in 1927, with five deluxe cabins. Ten more deluxe cabins were completed by 1929.

Bryce Canyon Lodge is operated by Forever Resorts, a park-management company selected and contracted by the National Park Service. The lodge and cabins were declared a National Historic Landmark on May 28, 1987 under the name "Bryce Canyon Lodge and Deluxe Cabins." The historic district was expanded on April 25, 1995, as the Bryce Canyon Lodge Historic District. It encompasses the National Historic Landmark District but is not itself an NHL.

References

• 
  Front entrance facing west, offset view showing doors
• 
  East exterior view showing dining room
• 
  Deluxe duplex cabin

External links

• Media related to Bryce Canyon Lodge and Deluxe Cabins at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Architecture in the Parks: A National Historic Landmark Theme Study: Bryce Canyon Lodge and Deluxe Cabins, by Laura Soullière Harrison, at National Park Service.
• Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. UT-121, "Bryce Canyon Lodge, Bryce Canyon, Garfield County, UT", 37 photos, 2 photo caption pages