The Oregon Caves Chateau, owned by the National Park Service
and operated by a local non-profit, is one of the “Great” lodges of the Pacific
Northwest. Built in 1934 by private
money and purchased by the Feds, it is need of significant upgrades, the
funding for which is currently pending at the Congressional level.
The Friends of the Oregon Caves & Chateau, a 501-c3
chartered to support the efforts of the NPS at the Caves, has undertaken a
series of projects over the past few years designed to help the Chateau, and
NPS, figure out some of the restoration issues.
We’ve written before about the “Nu-Wood” interior wall cladding.
The Friends’ current project is the rehabilitation of Little
D, the former staff dining area, located on the 2nd basement
level. Built to feed the original cave
guides, college students who worked here during the summer, Little D has never
been available to the public and, since the end of the cave guide program, has
essentially been unused. We’re rebuilding
the kitchen, upgrading the interior, and transforming Little D into a large
group meeting space that will be available for dining, educational
programs, and all sorts of other events that currently aren’t possible. The long term goal is that Little D can
operate independently, during the shoulder season, and extend food service and
programs at the Caves without having to open the full Chateau.
Little D was painted all white in 1964, following flood
damage. It is clad with Nu-Wood, and the
columns have been painted out. It’s
pretty functional. We’ve come up with a
plan to paint and spruce it up to create a more attractive space, with new
lighting, and some faux paint treatments (graining the columns, for example) that better capture the original lodge
character.
This includes the recreation
of a chair rail element to divide the upper and lower walls. Built from three pieces of wood, each painted to match the character-defining Monterey
Furniture of the chateau, it's not a complex detail, but a time-consuming one. Since nobody
else was available (willing?) to mill and build (and paint!) the chair-rail design, we offered to do it. It was fun to put the wood shop to good
use.
