Sunrise Lodge: Is It History? -- Mount Rainier Park Building Candidate For Wrecking Ball

TACOMA - Is Mount Rainier National Park's Sunrise Lodge historic? Or is it just old?

Everyone involved agrees it's falling apart. The National Park Service has tentatively proposed demolishing the 63-year-old structure and building a new day-use lodge on the site.

No way, say historic-preservation groups. They want the Park Service to fix up the rustic old building, set amid spectacular alpine meadows on the mountain's northeast shoulder.

The Park Service has been wrestling with the issue for nearly a decade. It was the subject of a public meeting in Tacoma last night. Charles Odegaard, the agency's regional director, could make a decision next summer.

The entire Sunrise area - the lodge, the visitors center and other buildings - is a historic district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But that doesn't mean the lodge can't be torn down.

The keeper of the National Register of Historic Places is . . . the National Park Service. Historic-preservation advocates find that ironic.

"It's sort of outrageous to think the Park Service treats its own buildings this way," said Valerie Sivinski, president of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.

But the Park Service says it's slightly cheaper in the long run to replace the lodge than to renovate it. And several speakers at last night's meeting questioned the building's historic significance.

The Sunrise area was the first planned development in the park, intended to provide access in the summer to the mountain's east side. The lodge was supposed to be much larger, but the Depression interrupted construction in 1931 after just one wing had been built.

Today it houses a cafe, gift shop, ranger station and housing for concessionaire employees. You can't drive any higher on a paved road in Washington than Sunrise, elevation 6,300 feet. Age and the harsh environment have taken their toll on the lodge.

Groundwater intrusion has cracked foundation walls, causing structural stress. Cedar shingles must be replaced after each winter. Some kitchen equipment doesn't meet fire-safety codes. A window fell out last summer and nearly landed on a visitor.

The Park Service says mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems all must be replaced. The agency says the lodge's layout doesn't meet current needs.

It's time to tear it down and build something new, Bob Hammond of Tacoma said last night: "The old one looks like a barn to me."

David Berry, vice president of Mount Rainier National Park Associates, an environmental organization, said the group favors building a new lodge, provided it's architecturally compatible with nearby buildings.

"There's no historic significance to the existing structure," he said.

But Berry and Hammond were in the minority at last night's gathering. "I spent four very happy years working in that lodge, and I hate to see it torn down," said Yvonne Billdt.

She and several other speakers criticized the Park Service for allowing the lodge to deteriorate. They also expressed concern the lodge would be replaced with something like the visitor center at Paradise, on the other side of the mountain - Billdt called it a "flying saucer."

Sivinski, of the preservation trust, called the lodge a key component of the historic district, and urged the Park Service to consult an experienced preservation architect about restoring the building.

Tacoma's recently restored Union Station is "an example of making a silk purse out of a sow's ear," she said. "Sunrise Lodge could also be reborn this way."

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? ---------------------------------- Comments on Sunrise Lodge should be sent by Oct. 31 to Stephanie Toothman, chief, Cultural Resources Division, National Park Service, Pacific Northwest Region, 909 First Ave., Seattle, WA 98104.