Adirondack Architecture
Adirondack Architecture (also: Great Camp Architecture) is an architectural style that is specific to the Great Camps in the Adirondack Mountains in New York State . The builders of the camps used local building materials and erected the buildings in an uneven forest landscape. These vacation homes for wealthy citizens should give a primitive, rustic appearance and at the same time offer comfort but avoid the expensive transport of building materials from a great distance.
materials
Elements such as whole, halved or peeled trunks, bark, roots and tubers were used together with the local granite and field stone for components of the exterior facade and the interior decoration. Massive fire pits and chimneys characterize the interior design. Local materials were also used in the heyday of Adirondack Architecture because it was sometimes not possible to deliver the materials from urban areas.
Style elements
The style went back to the design of the Swiss chalets introduced in America by Andrew Jackson Downing around 1850. Log building was popularized by Downing's protégé Calvert Vaux in his Villas and Cottages sample book in 1857. Downing's design principles emphasized utility, structural expression and adaptation to the natural environment. The shape of the building was influenced by the stick style , but used a frame construction made of logs rather than cut wood. Charles Eastlake's book Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery and other Details was another influential think tank for the Adirondack Rustic style . Rustic interiors based on Mission Style , hunting trophies, Japanese fans and walls, and American Indian artifacts were influenced by Eastlake's ideas.
Camp Santanoni in Newcomb, New York was built for Robert C. Pruyn of Albany . It was the first Adirondack camp designed as a whole by a professional architect ( Robert Henderson Robertson of New York).
Examples
The Adirondacks Buildings became famous for their rustic decor and excellent handicrafts. The Adirondacks Style was used for private buildings as well as for public buildings and for furniture. The best examples can be found in and around Adirondack Park .
Saint Regis Presbyterian Church by William L. Coulter .
The Jordan Cottage, Saranac Lake .
Camp Katia on Upper St. Regis Lake .
Brighton Town Hall by Benjamin A. Muncil , 1914.
Hotel Wawbeek, Upper Saranac Lake , 1890, Stoddard .
Wawbeek Lodge, 1900.
Raquette Lake Hotel, 1889, Stoddard.
Echo Camp, Upper Saranac Lake , 1916, Stoddard.
Cherokee Grove near Bunnell , Florida .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form : Great Camps of the Adirondacks Thematic Resources. September 24, 1986.
- ^ New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Camp Santanoni Historic Area
