Crater Lake Lodge
Crater Lake Lodge was renovated in the 1990s but first opened in 1915. Located here is the Great Hall and history exhibits.
Crater Lake Lodge was built to encourage tourism to Crater Lake National Park and southwestern Oregon. It opened to guests during the summer of 1915. Its clientele has included people from all over the world. Most guests have fond remembrances of their stays, even though the lodge was often in an unfinished state. Throughout its history, the lodge lacked the expected hotel standards for comfort, privacy, and service, and suffered from neglect.
The National Park Service acquired ownership of Crater Lake Lodge in 1967, but the building continued to deteriorate. Despite being listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service felt that it was too expensive to fix and maintain. The agency failed to implement a proposal to demolish the building once it found strong public opinion to save the lodge.
The agency approved a plan to save Crater Lake Lodge as part of the comprehensive Rim Village Redevelopment Program in 1988.
In the spring of 1989, just before the lodge was to open for the summer, the engineers advised the park that the Great Hall wing was unsafe for occupants. They predicted this part of the building might collapse under its own weight, bringing down the rest of the lodge with it. This compelled the National Park Service to keep the lodge closed and begin a comprehensive rehabilitation project. The plan to rehabilitate Crater Lake Lodge called for returning the exterior appearance and interior public areas to that of the late 1920s.
After nearly two years of planning and design, construction work began in 1991. Some of the original materials, such as the masonry stones, were salvaged for reuse, but very little of the original building could be saved. The Great Hall wing was dismantled and rebuilt. Most of the rest was gutted. A steel structural support system, utilities, safety systems, and modern hotel standards were built into the new facility. The rehabilitation of Crater Lake Lodge was completed in the fall of 1994 at a cost of more than $15,000,000.
On May 20, 1995, Crater Lake Lodge reopened to the public. Patrons and visitors could again enjoy its accommodations and services safely, and in an atmosphere reminiscent of the 1920s. For the first time since its original opening eighty years before, Crater Lake Lodge was a project finally completed.
