Parkitecture

0:15Hi, I'm Ryan Davis and I'm Kiernan Schmidt and this is Out of Office, a travel podcast. This seat taken. Hey, Kiernan.

0:25Kiernan:Hi, Ryan. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. It's, you know, we're recording this the morning after the USA went down to Belgium last night in the World Cup. And when this comes out, we'll be entering the final week of the World Cup. We'll be in the finals games, heading to the big one. You get tickets to the final show down there? No, I don't have tickets to anything. Mostly anytime I've been watching, it's just been out like in a bar, which has been limited. But I do enjoy, you know, I read a lot about it in the New york times that's really i know i know i know yeah um well tonight we've got the the uh columbia switzerland game so that'll be a big deal here and i even got a jersey no you you're sporting a sports jersey i have a columbia national team jersey oh and you know you know it's especially That stupid Panama hat.

1:23Kiernan:You know, this is just brutal. The cool thing about the jersey is it has yellow butterflies on it. And this is a reference to 100 Years of Solitude by the great Marquez. Oh, interesting. Wow. Yeah. So it's both litter. I can say, oh, I'm not wearing it for the sports value. I'm wearing it for the literary value. Well, that's beautiful, actually. Yeah. And do you like to carry around a big tome of his poetry while wearing it? you could bring one to a game. I, I, it would not be out of place. No, I'm actually sit on it. It'll prop you up. Yeah. I'm, I just got in the, in the mail, a massive Brazil, uh, one volume history that I'm, I saw, I have to admit that.

2:07Kiernan:So I saw you post that to Instagram. That looked like one of those books that I would like buy before I went to Brazil. And then I'd get a hundred pages in and be like, Ooh, this is denser than I had anticipated. Yeah. It's, it's not, It's not, it's thankfully, I just read like a Colombian history book, but basically like a textbook. So this is written for, you know, it's a more general audience. So it's not, it's, I think it's going to be, it's, it's, it's going to, the idea is called Brazil biography. And the idea is they're just going to cover a bunch of different things that happened in Brazil from like a, like a narrative nonfiction perspective.

2:41So hopefully it'll be, it'll be, you know, fun.

2:44Kiernan:That sounds okay. I have a guidebook series I like that fulfills this sort of, if you're not looking for the like 800 page history and like insanely in depth and narrative, but you want something more along the lines of kind of like a textbook, like a brief textbook to read you up on the major history. I've always liked the insight guides. That's been my go-to for countries I haven't been to, the insight guides. the insight guides well that's a lot of book recommendations for the for the top of the show and yeah that's that's last stop sort of stuff well i feel like we covered off the judy alert well wait i'm still in columbia have you gotten your uh uh tickets for the obama center it's okay so you know end of the summer we're taking the kids off to chicago um and uh this was because we had a bunch of jet blue points that were about to expire so we had to use them up and I am hugely disappointed to say it sold out.

3:41Kiernan:I didn't even think about these selling out. Would you have thought of that? I mean, I know it's new and I guess he's beloved, but I just kind of thought, well, it's a presidential center. I mean, it's not like a hit Broadway show. Yeah, so are you gonna like email your congressperson or something? Oh, that's a good idea. That's how I got into the African-American History Museum when it first opened. Oh, interesting. I have a couple of folks who are connected to the original campaign. So I think might be able to try to score four tickets. If not, I was thinking maybe I try to work the out of office angle.

4:20Kiernan:I mean, there is some perks that come with being travel influencers. Are you are you watching the new Obama Larry David show? I have not watched it. Have you? I've watched it. Yeah, it seems great. I think I'd enjoy it. I saw some. you got to get through the first episode is rough the second episode is really good moments it's you know it's very specific i mean it's made for like it's like he just got his friends together to like it's it's got a yeah it's shaggy it's a bit shaggy quality yeah but he's funny it's it seems like at this point larry david is just doing like a caricature of larry david yeah i mean i think he's doing whatever he wants he's he's he's done his he's got his major achievement yeah i would I agree.

5:05He and Obama, I would say, yeah, they've both done fairly well.

5:09Kiernan:I don't think we're at that point yet. You know, when we get to episode 250, I think it's like, all right, we've hit our achievement. Is that when it happens? No. So right now I'm on the search for Obama center ticks. Certainly if anybody out there in the listening audience has any leads, please reach out out of office pod at gmail.com. I'd super appreciate it. We're going at the end of August and we are just two days away for, no one day away today. They're releasing new tickets tomorrow, but it appears that it will be for only after our trip that I believe their tickets are going to be from September on.

5:45Kiernan:And we're going at the end of August. Gosh. So you gotta, you gotta work these connects. So I know, I know. Well, I hope so. Um, well, right today, uh, you got me all down to thinking about this stuff that I can't do, but I, I was I came in hot and up because we've got another national park centric episode. We're going to be all we're going to be talking about. I was curious if you even knew this phrase. Do you know about parkitecture? Well, the second I saw the word, I knew what it meant, but I don't know that I've seen it out in the. Is it a real word or is it just, you know, a cute podcast word?

6:22Kiernan:I mean, it's no, it is a real word. It's not. I mean, obviously, it's. Can I play it in Scrabble? It's a question. Oh, I don't know what rules you abide by for that, but surely you can check for me and let us know. Is there a way that you could quickly check? I am curious. I just checked the Scrabble word finder and it said that it's not playable. Oh, gosh, I'm surprised. OK, well, I guess it's apparently apparently there's a Scrabble National Parks edition. So look that up. Surely you'd be able. How does Scrabble have special editions? Maybe it doesn't. it might be an AI hallucination. Sure. Okay.

7:00Kiernan:Yeah, that does happen. Well, yeah, park architecture, as the name implies, is the specific style of architecture that is featured in national parks all across America. It's a distinct style that I absolutely love. So I can't wait to talk through the history and give you kind of a new view to take when you're visiting America's National Parks this summer. All right. Well, I'm excited. I love outdoor architecture, parkitecture. So I think we should jump in. I think you mean it's time to take off. I don't think this area is called the jump in. I think it's... Tell the cabin crew. Flight attendants, prepare for takeoff, please.

7:46Kiernan:Jump in, cabin crew. So all right, Ryan. Well, you know, a good place to start here is for me to ask you, have you ever stayed in a National Park Lodge? No, I never have. I've seen them. I know you are a big fan of the National Park Lodge, but I've never I've never stayed in one. I always imagine it's sort of the shiny Nesk, you know, in my mind. Well, they're an iconic style, and they have a mix of different influences, which we'll talk about. But when you see one, you definitely know it. And my very first exposure to them was when I went to Glacier National Park, and I stayed in a place called the Glacier Park Lodge.

8:35Kiernan:And this was one of the historic lodges that was built actually not by the Park Service, but by the Great Northern Railway. And this was the way that they were trying to draw people to come on the railroad and to come out west to explore the great natural wonders out there. And so that is one of the initial blueprints that was created in creating this architecture for the national parks was the railways actually trying to drive up business. You know, if you were building the railroad, you needed something to end that, to draw people out from the east to the west. Yeah, that totally makes sense.

9:15Kiernan:And the style itself, I think it'll sound familiar to you, even from just visiting national parks or seeing some imagery of it, which is it usually incorporates a very sort of rustic style. And in fact, the women architecture circles, as you said, architecture is kind of a silly, like colloquial name, but it is actually called National Park Service Rustic Style. And it's kind of a design philosophy that architects and designers take on when they're thinking about lots of elements that happen in a national park. And when you think of what it means to actually function in a national park, there's not just the lodges, there's small shelters, there's like bus stops, there's tons of signage, including the kind of iconic brown and yellow signs that greet you when you've reached a national park.

10:08Kiernan:Many times I always think like you might be driving for three, four hours in the wilderness to get to these great places. And I always think that sign is such like a it's like a hug letting you know you're like in this very special place. And I always look forward to seeing those iconic signs. There's even right down to picnic tables. Each of these pieces, and especially in the early 20th century, was really thought through and incorporated this one harmonious, rustic style. And I think once we talk about what to look for today, you're really going to see a lot of this coming when you visit the national parks.

10:49Ah, I love this. Yeah, I'm excited to learn with you, Kieran.

10:55Kiernan:So let's talk about some of the defining traits. I'm just curious, you know, since you're not as conversant and haven't spent as much time, what do you think of when you think of these great national park lodges? I don't know. I would think like Teddy Roosevelt kind of rustic style, you know, probably. I can't even picture any of them in my head. I mean, I think my shining references was way off. It is. You're right that the shine. So I've actually stayed at that shining hotel in Estes Park. And that's not exactly what we're talking about. That's. Oh, wait, is that really? Is that really in a park?

11:34Kiernan:No, it's near Rocky Mountain National Park. So it's just outside. It's in the entrance city to Rocky Mountain National Park. Oh, very cool. So most people would think of something like a log cabin style. So kind of, you know, not very finished off logs, stone fireplaces and having a little bit of a like it's not exactly ramshackle, but like a undesigned look. It's not like a super modern, there aren't really sharp edges or parallel bars. Everything is just, it looks kind of rough and ready is how I would describe it. All right, Teddy Roosevelt, rough and ready. Oh, well, you're taking that from the Rough Riders, yeah.

12:23Kiernan:And that sort of like asymmetry and irregularity is a big part of this. So if you were to be looking, for example, at a railing or a post that's around a porch at one of these great lodges, oftentimes they are, you know, slightly off or maybe the railings have little nubs where you can see the imperfections that came from the original logs. And that is meant to signal this is made from native local materials, and it's supposed to be very harmonious with the nature around it. And I would contrast that with you do see a lot of modern architecture where they come in and they go into a big, beautiful area and then they put kind of stark glass, right angles, squares, rectiles.

13:13Kiernan:They look kind of like modern museums plopped in a bucolic landscape. The National Park architecture, the park architecture is really supposed to celebrate and be one with the nature. Right. That totally makes sense. I like that harmonious take. And I personally, one of the things that really sticks in my mind is at that Glacier Park Lodge, when you go in, it's four stories high and they had these enormous pillars. They were four feet across and they were what looked like unfinished logs that had been chopped down and then amazingly propped up to hold up the roof. And you had this just soaring view up to the ceiling.

13:54Kiernan:And that, these sort of exaggerated oversized structural elements, especially when it comes to giant stone fireplaces built from native boulders or exposed beams that really look like they just had the bark stripped off. This is a big part of sort of the grandeur of these lodges. It really makes you feel like you're entering someplace special, but yet it maintains that, you know, that kind of backwoods element that you pride yourself on as a Western American. Yeah, that sounds like a really good fit for these parks. Now, it's interesting, too, that you will often notice that beyond just those big architectural elements, the furniture itself picks up on that style, too.

14:45Kiernan:Like, it can look like it's made from twigs and rocks and stones that have just been found locally. I know there's a great, this example actually is not within a national park, but there's a wonderful lodge called Timberline Lodge. Timberline Lodge. It was built in 1938 and it's on Mount Hood, Oregon. Interesting fact about it is most years you can ski year round there. Catherine and I visited in June and it was skiing weather. We had a snowstorm while we were there. And this, it has the big trademark of Timberline Lodge is that it has this enormous chimney that has multiple fireplaces that come around it.

15:34Kiernan:So it's like a lobby that's a circle and the chimney rises straight from the middle of that circle. And then you can sit in this rustic furniture next to these open fireplaces. And to me, a night by the oversized fireplace with a roaring fire, that is perfect architecture. Yeah, I love that vibe. That sounds great. And skiing in June is unimaginable to me. One thing that I have found a little frustrating is that, again, a lot of this architecture was built in the early 20th century. So it's got to be kept up, but showing its age, keeping things a century old, livable and functional is as many people's full time jobs.

16:19Kiernan:And the the the I have noticed some like modern conveniences and just trends creeping in. And for me, one of those just to compare it to the Timberline Lodge one was it was like a knife in my heart when I visited Crater Lake Lodge in Oregon. This lodge was built originally in 1915, has many of these stylistic elements. And it benefits too, from having just a gorgeous view back over crater lake itself, this icy blue, beautiful, uh, lake. And, uh, unfortunately they took the grand, uh, oversized, uh, fireplace and they have converted it into a gas fireplace, which I am completely against. I feel that having wood fires is the, the only appropriate, you know, it's harder.

17:09Kiernan:I know it's more work, that it's a little more dangerous. But to me, wood fires are an essential element. Yeah, I can see that. There's probably also an environmental argument against wood fires. But yeah, I mean, that's what you want when you're sitting in that kind of cabin. And Ryan, speaking of the furniture, there's one piece that I really want to call out, which is, if you ever make it to the Paradise Inn, which is in Mount Rainier National Park, it's right at the top of a mountain there. There, they've taken this to the extreme where there is actually a historic piano. I will link to it in the show notes.

17:52Kiernan:And I'll also put up a I'll put up a picture on the Instagram, which is at OOO podcast. It is a piano that is made in this rustic style right down to each of the corners has a big unfinished log that comes to this like very threatening looking point at the top. And these were designed, this decorative woodwork was designed by a German carpenter. It looks to me like it was forged in the black forest for sure. His name was Han Fraunke. And he also designed a beautiful 14-foot grandfather clock that is also in that lodge. And Ryan, my, I mean, talk about, God, this is like a, just a Kiernan fest today.

18:41Kiernan:That piano in Paradise Inn, it was played by Harry S. Truman when he visited the lodge. Wow. Truman played piano. That's cool. He entertained. It was a 1945, you know, the times were times were feeling good in 1945 and he tickled those ivories. Yeah. Well, that would have been something to see. So the other for those who are like deeply into architecture, I do just want to call out some of the different influences that came in to inform architecture. A few years ago, we did an we did a an episode that I'll link to here that was all about visiting the great camps of the Adirondacks. And so this, of course, is upstate New York kind of architecture.

19:26Kiernan:And these camps were wealthy individuals, usually from New York City, trying to create their country abode. And this style of the peeled logs, the stone chimneys, using bark, these were sort of pioneered within the Adirondacks great camps. And many of them have been turned into hotels or like conference areas that you can book today. I've gone to a couple of them and they definitely have that national park feel, sometimes at a slightly less grand scale than some of those big Western ones that I was talking about. And many of those came about in the 1870s to the 1890s. So this was just when national parks were starting to come to be.

20:12Kiernan:Yosemite, Yellowstone, their designers were taking the influence from these great camps in the East and bringing it West. That's cool. I like that. Similarly, a lot of these great lodges, and I'm going to end by listing some of the really spectacular ones to seek out. Many of them are in areas that get a lot of snow. They're high up in mountains. They have really tough winters. And so you will also see some elements of what you would almost consider Swiss chalet style architecture with those really steep gables, deep eaves. And that kind of alpine look is because you don't want the snow to be stacking up all winter long.

20:59Kiernan:And in fact, there was a great profile a few years ago in a national park magazine that was all about many of these lodges that are in like the deep country where they're going to get a ton of snow. Many of them do not take guests over the winter. Old Faithful Inn, by the way, is not one of those. That's a great one. And I've heard that it's wonderful to visit during the winter. I haven't done that, but it's on the bucket list. But that means that there are usually just one little family who stays behind and takes care of these giant, beautiful hotels throughout the winter to be sure the pipes don't freeze, to make sure the snow is falling off these alpine roofs.

21:40Kiernan:I'm going to see if I can dig up that profile of somebody who actually does this and talks about what it's like to see through four months, you know, buried in snow, just you in the hotel. That is, that would be very cool. Get some real reading done. Yeah, that's true. I also think a lot of this develops out of that sort of arts and crafts movement. And, you know, the use of, so that arts and crafts movement really elevated, it wanted you to see the materials that they were working with, like the visible construction, the wood itself. And that is, of course, brought in a huge part of the movement here.

22:22Kiernan:You know, I would say that sort of frontier log cabin look. So that's, you know, every president running for office in the 19th century wanted to claim they were born in a log cabin. And there is something about that that's just built into the American character. It says that we can go out and build our own buildings from our natural materials and the beauty and wealth of the land. And that's definitely part of this tradition. And then finally, those great railroad hotels. So many of them aren't tied to national parks, or they're just the entrance into national parks. But there were railroads like the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, the Santa Fe railroads that drove tourism by investing in creating these destinations.

23:13Kiernan:And then they would run tours from those hotels and people would go for a week or two weeks. And that really set the template for when the National Park Service really came up and running. And, you know, a lot of this work, as you would guess, was really kicked into high gear under FDR's CCC program and even the WPPA, which was putting artists to work. They were shipped out to these parks to build, you know, the thousands and thousands of structures that I was describing. And this park architecture was the template. And in fact, Ryan, one of the things that I learned about in putting this episode together was that there is actually an amazing template book.

23:59Kiernan:It's a book called Park and Recreation Structures. Park and Recreation Structures. And it was published in 1938 by the Department of the Interior and the National Park, primarily overseen by this man named Albert Good. And what's really cool about it is that it takes all of these elements right down to the picnic tables and it shows them, it gives the blueprints, it gives the designs, and it describes the philosophy behind them like I'm doing right now. And it's a three volume set that incorporates, you know, it's broken down into like your basic facilities, your cultural and recreational facilities, and then overnight and lodging.

24:42Kiernan:and uh it's it's in the end it's it's about 600 pages uh of material and it's beautifully illustrated so what i'm going to do is uh you really can't i when i read about this i was like i gotta get one of these like i gotta get a set i'm not getting a set because they run about 500 dollars um they're like a great the original set is greatly sought after but in in the beautiful world that we live in, you can actually see it online for free and you can explore every page of it. It's all been scanned. And so I will put a link in the show notes to, I believe it's the internet archive that has it and really do take the time to explore it.

25:22Kiernan:I'll throw some of those up on the Instagram as well, because just super fun to see the care that is taken with every single one of these elements. Yeah, I'm excited for this Instagram post. It's going to be a lot of good parkitecture. So the final thing I want to do, Ryan, is just if this has sort of gotten you interested, many of these lodges do book nine months a year out, especially if you're looking to go during summertime. Shoulder seasons are a little easier. And so I thought I'd just run through some of the best examples of parkitecture. And I would also give this recommendation that even if you can't book yourself into one of these lodges because you're planning your trip late.

26:05Kiernan:That's something that I've suffered from in the past. I remember particularly I went to Bryce Canyon and Bryce Canyon Lodge was all booked up much to my disappointment. But what I did was I stayed at a hotel just outside. It was like a 10 minute drive to the lodge. And then my friend and I who were visiting, we could go, we would have our meals in the lodge. We would hang out in the lobby after the meals, get a beer, hang out by the fireplace. And then we would drive 10 minutes to our hotel down the street. So if you enjoy this type of architecture, even if you can't get to the lodge, but you want to like sit and enjoy the ambiance, you know, feel free to stop in.

26:39Kiernan:They still want your tourist dollars inside, especially with the restaurants. Yeah. I mean, that's a good tip for any hotel you want to see, but for whatever reason, you can't get in there. So probably the most classic, the most famous is the Old Faithful Inn, which I mentioned at Yellowstone, built in 1904. This is like the archetype. If you're looking for the massive lobby, like the one I described in Galatian National Park, Old Faithful Inn is it. And at Yosemite, built in 1927, the Awani, which is similar, but one little factoid to give you about these is they've actually used concrete and disguised it as timber and stone.