Major Architectural Styles

Architectural Terms

The Rustic, Carpenter Gothic and Great Camps

Discovery

Very little was known about the Adirondacks in upstate New York at the beginning of the 19th Century. In fact, it didn't even have a name until Professor Ebenezer Emmons, a remarkable geologist from Williams College, was appointed by the NYS Legislature to survey the area in 1836. When colonist began looking for land beyond New England and migrated through New York and on to the Ohio Valley, they bypassed the "North Woods" due to the rugged terrain, inaccessible routes and severe winters.

By 1892 when the Adirondack Park was established by law, the population within the 6 million acres had risen to 113,000 people. Most residents lived in hamlets along the rivers, lakes and railroad corridors. The towns sprang up wherever logging, mining and tannery operations existed. Although still sparsely settled late in the 19th Century, many New Yorkers felt that the land was "hunted out and timbered out." Following a great legislative battle in 1894, the State owned 2.7 million acres were set aside by Article XIV - the "forever wild" amendment - as a wilderness preserve to protect the forests and wetlands of the Park. The remaining 48% of Park lands are privately owned. About one-fourth of this is owned by the Forest Products Industry, another third is held by owners of large private estates and clubs in parcels larger than 500 acres. There are approximately 160,000 permanent residents in the Park today and the numbers have shown a steady increase since the 1960's. The Adirondack Park Agency, established in 1971 to plan and regulate both public and private land, estimated that some 21,000 single family homes were added to the Park between 1967 and 1987.

But - back to the history of Adirondack Architecture!

The Environmental Influence

As the first settlers cleared the land, crude log cabins were erected from the almost inexhaustible supply of timber. Chinks were filled with moss and clay and local stone was used for foundations and fireplaces. Oversized timbers support roofs and unpeeled logs were used for walls. Simple, colonial-style frame houses came later as soon as water-driven mills were built but with modifications more suited to the environment. Roofs were flattened and extended over porches - to insulate with snow during the long winters and to protect entryways from constant summer drizzle. To reduce heat loss, openings for doors and windows were smaller than those in urban dwellings. Window glass was difficult to obtain and transport over rough roads or by water. Nails and wrought iron hardware were sometimes available from local forges.

Natural Resources Discovered

The first to come were transient hunters and trappers who built temporary shelters of local natural materials. They penetrated the tributaries of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers for deer, bear, marten, mink and most of all - beaver. The fur traders in Albany alone bought 80,000 beaver pelts a year during the late 1790's. Tanneries were needed to process the pelts and tanneries needed Adirondack hemlock bark. Revolutionary soldiers established forts on the western shores of Lake Champlain and in the Mohawk Valley and many veterans returned to these areas to establish farms. The timber and iron ore needs during the Civil War prompted deeper penetration into the forests of the Adirondacks. Sawmills sprang up to meet the insatiable demand for timber and entire mountainsides were clearcut. But the most dramatic impact on development occurred in the later part of the 19th century.

Escaping to the Wilderness

Growing prosperity in the north following the Civil War led to the Gilded Age and the march of the wilderness tourists. Fueled by romantic tales such as Murray's "Adventures in Wilderness" (1869) and E. J. Wallace's "Descriptive Guide to the Adirondacks" (1872) as well as the sketches in "Adirondacks Illustrated" (1874) by Seneca Ray Stoddard, the region gained national exposure as a recreational resort. In 1873, Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau was carried into the Adirondacks on a stretcher and recovered shortly after from his bout with consumption. He soon established a health resort in Saranac Lake and went on to achieve international recognition as pioneer in tuberculosis treatment. Tourists arrived by stagecoach, steamboats and rail. In 1875 a railroad was completed along the entire west shore of Lake Champlain north from Albany. By 1889, a train connected Plattsburgh to Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and on to the Benson Mines in Tupper Lake. W. Seward Webb's Adirondack and St. Lawrence Railroad connected Utica to Malone and in 1892 - Herkimer to Old Forge and the steamboats of the Fulton Chain. Lavish guesthouses and hotels sprang up along these routes including the spectacular Prospect House (1879) at Blue Mountain Lake, built by Frederick Durant. He was the nephew of Thomas Durant, a Union Pacific railroad magnate and the largest private landowner in the Adirondacks by the 1870's. The Prospect House was six stories high, had three hundred rooms and was cloaked on three sides by twenty-five foot piazzas. Each room had running water, steam-heat and steam-powered electricity. But it was Thomas's son William West Durant who developed the architectural style known today as the "Great Camp." Schooled in Europe, Durant was brought back in 1874 to help develop his father's land investments in the central Adirondacks. Over the next twenty-five years he built entire townships beginning in Raquette Lake. His rustic-designed buildings at Camp Pine Knot in 1877-1878 transformed the feature-less typical cabins of the day into an artistic adaptation of the Swiss Chalets he had seen in Europe. The primary feature of his Great Camps was the use of building materials from the surrounding forests. The logs were corner notched for a tight fit and especially chosen for their shape and texture. Decorative "twigs" were used for porches, balconies and even furniture. Native stone used for foundations and chimneys added to the artistic appeal. To inhibit destruction by fire, clusters of buildings were built to separate sleeping quarters from kitchens and dining areas but were connected by decorative, covered walkways. Durant's designs were photographed by Stoddard and soon copied by other builders. The wealthy streamed in as guests and inevitability bought up huge tracts of land to build their own wilderness estates. Hundreds of local people found steady employment especially craftsmen, guides and caretakers - and they too built homes.

The Park Today

Tourism remains a vital industry in the Adirondack Park and continues to shape it's development. Many of the tax-burdened estates have been divided and sub-divided and the Forest Industry struggles with easements and "manage growth" issues. The forest has overtaken many of the 19th Century hamlets, but the surviving towns have shown steady growth since the 1960's. Today's urban dwellers, like their industrial revolutionary forebearers, are surging into the wilderness in search of the simple, nurturing benefits of the mountains, lakes and forests. Demolition and decay threaten the treasure trove of turn-of-the century Victorian dwellings on Main Streets. The craftsmanship of early builders is nearly extinct and virtually unaffordable when available. Maintenance-free concrete and metal-sided buildings or factory-built modular homes are replacing the Greek Revival, Italianate, Bungalow and Neoclassical styles of yesterday. The entire aesthetic appeal of the many quaint mountain villages is at stake. Will the tourists of the 21st Century find Adirondack communities enticing, nostalgic and in harmony with nature's beauty? It is up to the 160,000 residents of today's Park to decide.