Mt Hood – Timberline Lodge

We were headed from Portland to Bend, Oregon, in the middle of the state. Jane had never seen Timberline Lodge so we stopped there on our way for lunch and a look around at this famous WPA building.

It wasn’t like this the day we arrived; but their brochure gives some dramatic winter flavor that we weren’t going to be able to enjoy.

Timberline Lodge was constructed in the 1930’s by the Works Progress Administration, built and furnished by local artisans, and dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1937. It sits at an elevation of 5,960 feet, within the Mount Hood National Forest, accessible through the Mount Hood Scenic Byway. It is publicly owned but privately operated. Our first view of the area was definitely more prosaic than the one above.

Timberline Lodge on a cloudy day

We did get a glimpse or two of the mountain; but it wasn’t easy. Here’s a view of the meadow that leads from the Lodge towards the peak.

And here’s just a brief look at the peak as seen above the clouds.

The Lodge, a mountain lodge and resort hotel, is a four-story structure of about 40,000 square feet. 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 entrance brings you in at a lower level.

There’s clearly an intention on the part of the designers to keep you aware of the massiveness of the construction. This is a secondary doorway; but it gives you the idea.

The entry level is firmly buried in the bowels of the building; but the central, hexagonal form is clearly articulated;

and here the heavy timbers are first introduced. Up one level the massive beams have an even larger presence; but daylight helps to enliven the space.

And – as you crane your neck – the verticality of the central core of the building takes over. It’s a lodge-atrium that helps orient you to the various functions of the building and guide you to your room. The central head house section is hexagonal and 60 feet in diameter, with a six-sided stone chimney stack, 92 feet high and 14 feet in diameter. Each of the six fireplace openings—three on the ground floor, three on the first floor—is five feet wide and seven feet high.

The main dining room is off this space, entered through wrought-iron gates.

We weren’t going to be there at meal time so we opted for a light lunch on the next level up, at the cafe near the bar.

Two wings, running west and southeast, flank the head house. Oregon woods used throughout the building include cedar, Douglas fir, hemlock, western juniper and ponderosa pine.

Timberline Lodge was constructed between 1936 and 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression. Eighty percent of the WPA’s $695,730 total expenditure on building costs went toward labor. Skilled building trade workers received 90 cents an hour; unskilled laborers received 55 cents an hour. Some of the skilled stonemasons on the project were Italian immigrants who had worked on the Historic Columbia River Highway and other roads in Oregon. About 100 construction workers were on site at a given time, and lived at a nearby tent city. Jobs were rotated to provide work to as many of the unemployed as possible. Materials costs were minimized by the skillful use of recycled materials. Women wove draperies, upholstery and bedspreads, and hooked rugs were made from strips of old Civilian Conservation Corps camp blankets. Discarded cedar utility poles became newel posts with their crowns hand-carved into birds, bears and seals. Fireplace screens were fashioned from tire chains. Andirons and other iron work was forged from old railroad tracks. WPA workers used large timbers and local stone from the site. Federal Art Project contributions to the project were directed by Margery Hoffman Smith, Oregon Arts Project administrator, who created many designs for textiles and rugs. She designed the iconic “snow goose”, the 750-pound bronze weather vane above the head house.

Wild Goose Weather Vane

Later in our visit we discovered a chart of native american moon symbols from which this design was taken. It’s the April Wild Goose moon.

The building contains both arts and crafts. We didn’t have time to see everything, nor to even begin to document it; but here are a few examples. They’re not particularly well lighted, so some of these images are dark.

We headed down the stairs towards the entrance –

including a brief stop at the gift shop

and a look at a room recognizing FDR from the time he stayed here for the dedication of the building in 1937. I’m not sure whether he actually used the typewriter.

Far too brief a visit – next time we’ll arrange to stay over.

Portland, Oregon – Japanese Garden

We had been by the Japanese garden before but had not explored it. I was also interested in seeing the recent cultural center addition. It’s a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres within Washington Park in the West Hills portion of the city. It operates as a private non-profit organization. The Japanese Garden is built into a forested hillside in Washington Park on land that was previously the site of Portland’s zoo until 1959. The garden was designed by Professor Takuma Tono of the Tokyo University of Agriculture. The garden was dedicated and design began in 1963; the garden opened to the public in 1967.

The entrance was not the low key approach that I had been expecting, mostly because of the upward trek through the hillside.

Portland Japanese Garden Overview Map

We paid our entrance fee at an appropriately modest modern building next to the parking lot (1 – on map).

From there, you pass through a traditional gate

and work your way, switchback style, up the hill towards the Cultural Crossing plaza at the top of the path. The path has been generally handled well, though it feels in places more like a hiking experience than the entrance to a garden. Along the way, landscape features, like these bamboo leaf retainers, have been added to the slopes.

Another nice, though very subtle, touch was the addition of markers recognizing donors who had made parts of the garden improvement possible.

donor markers

Near to the entrance plaza the trail resorts to stairs and a bridge in order to reach across a small ravine. I couldn’t tell whether water flows through the ravine or not.

This seems a bit jarring, especially with the metal and glass handrails; but it also serves as an introduction to the careful modern architecture of the crossing.

The Garden unveiled its Cultural Crossing expansion project in 2017. This $33.5 million expansion added 3.4 acres to the Garden. The addition included three new garden spaces and a Cultural Village, designed by world-renowned architect Kengo Kuma. The Village is home to the Jordan Schnitzer Japanese Arts Learning Center, the Garden House, and the Umami Cafe by Ajinomoto. The new space is used for additional educational and artistic programming and to make room for the 350,000 guests the Garden sees each year.

Japanese Arts Learning Center (left) and Gift Shop (right)

The architecture presents a nice mix of traditional and modern materials. The planted roof softens the whole profile into the trees, while the lower metal roofs give a sharper, more contemporary definition to the stone terraces. The plaza seems oddly neither informal nor clearly defined. That may have resulted from a desire for flexibility of use.

I like incidentals, such as this tree island; but it also seems arbitrary and not enough of an island garden to carry the traditional Japanese garden island theme. From this Tateuchi courtyard, one can admire a 185-ft-long Zagunis Castle wall traditionally built by a 15th-generation Japanese master stonemason using hand tools.

This dry-laid wall, using granite from Baker City, Oregon exhibits a spectacular combination of cut and uncut stone pieces meticulously hand-fitted together.

And, the closer you get, the more impressive the wall gets.

Here is some of the technical detail about the wall.

Castle Wall Donors

The Learning Center was the site of a small musical performance while we were there.

The steepness of the seating seemed a challenge to me; but it did provide a dramatic overview of the performance. I was able to get a bit closer at the lower level.

I was not able to learn the name of the instruments; but the music was lovely.

From the terrace I briefly explored a couple more spaces, this one including bonsai plants and the entrance to a woodland path behind the Learning Center.

On the terrace itself, several free-standing pieces had been included.

And then, almost as a conscious ‘transition garden’, the Ellie M. Hill Bonsai Terrace presents a small collection of traditional bonsai plants along a casual walkway on raised platforms or tables.

It’s almost as if it were a ‘working’ bonsai space.

This part of the terrace then led to the more traditional garden, the one that had been built originally, before there was a cultural crossing. This is the entrance.

Gate to the traditional garden

The gate gave way to a series of paths, leading to different garden experiences, many of which seemed to have their own gates, in this case a trellis with wisteria.

From this point, a variety of paths led through different parts of the woods, offering experiences of ravine slopes, small pools, sitting areas and paving.

A sculpture acted as a focal point and guide post.

A smaller gate led to the next portion of the garden.

There, a small stream trickled along with our path.

Periodically, seating, placed in small spaces to the side of the paths, offered a chance to contemplate the variety and scale of the plantings. The paving of the paths was a challenge, for while the steps were clearly articulated by simple blocks, the in-between areas were paved with random shapes and textures that were not easy to walk.

Occasionally we came upon a non-Japanese anomaly

In this case, the path wound around to the raked stone garden.

It was perched on a built-up terrace that seemed unusual, and ironically seemed more contemplative from above.

This path also brought us to the Garden Pavilion Gallery and City Overlook (map-6).

Unfortunately, there was still too much cloud cover for a view of Mount Hood.

The Garden Pavilion was literally that, and not trying to be a tea house or scholar’s home as I have seen in other Japanese gardens.

Inside, the space was set up as a gallery / gift shop,

although many of the pieces on display would be expensive gifts.

From the other side of the pavilion we passed another raked stone garden,

exited back through the main gate,

and made our way to the real gift shop on our way back to the car.

There are several other garden spaces that we did not get to visit on this trip; and we would definitely go back again. It has been widely recognized. In a study conducted in 2013 by the Journal of Japanese Gardening, it was deemed the finest public Japanese garden in North America out of more than 300 such gardens surveyed by Japanese garden experts. The former Japanese ambassador to the U.S., Nobuo Matsunaga, said in 1988 that the garden was “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside Japan.” I’m glad we got to see it.

Portland, Oregon – Art Museum

We caught a rainy afternoon while walking downtown in Portland and decided that it would make sense to visit the city’s art museum then, and save the Japanese Garden for a better day. We also caught the Art Museum between major shows; so we spent some time with the permanent Northwest / Native American collection.

Here’s a brief sampler.

Frank Douglas, Sea Spires

Moody seascapes can be particularly effective in black and white; but the energy can also be expressed in a more dynamic way.

Louis Bunce, Seal Rock

Jim Lavadour combines four reactions to the landscape in this piece.

James Lavadour, Quatrain

Kaila Farrell-Smith makes a personal statement about the effect on native americans of the boarding school “education” they received from settlers.

Kaila Farrell-Smith, After Boarding School – In Mourning

A couple of examples show the way in with native american cultures used masks to express attitudes and/or different sides of themselves.

Lillian Pitt, Spiderwoman Mask

Nisga’a, Starving Man Mask

Inupiak Mask

Yu’pik Mask

Lillian Pitt, Coyote

Everyday objects also were used to express connection with culture and landscape.

Nan Macdonald, Basket

Ojibwa Artist, Moccasins

I’m always struck by the seemingly effortless way in which everyday objects are given such personal expression in indigenous cultures.

Here’s where you can plan a visit or learn more about the museum collection:

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Portland Art Museum Entrance