Timberline Lodge: A WPA project of heavy masonry and timber

Timberline Lodge is a mountain lodge on the south side of Mount Hood in Clackamas County, Oregon. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 by the Works Progress Administration, the four-story structure of about 40,000 square feet was built and furnished by local artisans during the Great Depression. The lodge was dedicated on September 28, 1937, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a monument to the skill and faithful performance of workers on the rolls of the Works Progress Administration.

The ground-level exterior walls are heavy rubble masonry, using boulders from the immediate area, and heavy timber is used from the first floor up. The central head house section is hexagonal and sixty feet in diameter, with a six-sided stone chimney stack ninety feet high and fourteen feet in diameter. Oregon woods used throughout the building include cedar, Douglas fir, hemlock, western juniper and ponderosa pine. To minimize material costs, workers used recycled items such as discarded cedar utility poles turned into newel-posts and railroad tracks forged into iron work.

Today, Timberline Lodge is a popular tourist attraction that draws two million visitors annually and hosts a ski resort with the longest skiing season in the U.S. It remains open for skiers and snowboarders all 12 months of the year. Visitors can engage in activities including skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, hiking, biking, and climbing, while the lodge continues to stand as a National Historic Landmark accessible through the Mount Hood Scenic Byway.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons