The Old Faithful Inn

This the Old Faithful Inn, one of the grand old lodges of the "Golden Age" of rustic resort architecture, a style which is also known as National Park Service Rustic. It is one of the few log hotels still standing in the United States, and was the first of the great park lodges of the American west.  Initial construction was carried out over the winter of 1903–1904, largely using locally obtained materials including lodgepole pine and rhyolite stone. When the Old Faithful Inn first opened in the spring of 1904, it boasted electric lights and steam heat.  The structure is the largest log hotel in the world; possibly even the largest log building in the world.

It is an astounding building and the architecture is like nothing else you have ever seen.  It was designed by a 29 year old architect - Robert Reamer, an architect for the Yellowstone Park Company., Reamer was hired by Harry W. Child, the president of the Yellowstone Park Company, who had met Reamer in San Diego through mutual acquaintances.  Reamer designed the lobby and the initial phase of guest rooms, known as the Old House, which was built in 1903-1904, much of it in the long winter. The east wing was extended in 1913-14, and the west wing in 1927, creating a single structure almost 700 feet long.

A display on the second floor balcony explains that the wood for the Inn was cut in an area four miles south of the Inn.  What is astounding is all the "elbows" they had to cut to construct the building.  This photo shows just two of the elbows that it takes to make one joint.

And this is more of a detail showing showing several levels of beams above the third floor balcony.  It is such a joy to visit this building and drink it all in!