Soil replacement was necessary for all areas in the district slated for revegetation. After removal of the top 8 to 12 inches of pumice, crews loaded it to be hauled away on trucks. In place of the pumice, a layer of manure was added and on top of that, peat from a site below Park Headquarters in Munson Valley. Above the peat, a layer of top soil was spread and graded before the actual planting and sodding. Crews also transported large trees, which were selected and prepared for moving one to two years in advance. All of them came from other areas in the park and, once selected, were root pruned and boxed. After allowing for the excavated tree to adjust to new soil, the box was hoisted onto trucks and subsequently placed at desired sites in Rim Village. The transplanting program had a short life (1931 to 1933), but NPS landscape architects reported a high success rate for the endeavor. One of them stating that none of the trees had been lost through root pruning or transplanting, and all had put on new growth. [2]
Among the trees used as plant material, the mountain hemlock was by far the most commonly transplanted. These specimens were complemented by almost 20 types of shrubs, of which mountain ash (Sorbus sitchensis). waxy current (Ribes cereum), red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), and subalpine spirea (Spiraea densiflora) have proven to be the hardiest survivors. The herbaceous materials consisted mainly of several sedge species (Carex spp.) and rushes (Juncus spp.), along with some perennial wildflowers such as Sitka columbine (Aquilegia formosa), bleeding heart (Dicentra spp.), and spreading phlox (Phlox diffusa) which often appear in association with the foundations of buildings.
Structures include buildings and features that have engineered qualities. Seven buildings and one rock wall (which is connected to three observation bays) are located within the district; all but one building (the cafeteria) are considered to be contributing structures within the context of Rim Village as a cultural landscape. All of the structures in the district were erected with predominately native materials, with the most conspicuous being a volcanic rock known as andesite. It was most often collected in a quarry at the Watchman, a peak located three miles northwest of the district.
At the east end of the Rim Village is Crater Lake Lodge, a hotel whose irregular shape forms a slight crescent. Its exterior appearance features stone masonry on the ground floor’s outer walls and a roof punctuated by numerous shed dormers which give visual interest to the wood shingled jerkin head configuration. Massive stone masonry in chimneys on the east and south facades draw the eye, as do overhanging and bracketed eaves. Multipaned windows, which are arched with stone lintels on the ground floor, are another character-defining feature of the original hotel that was reconstructed in a NPS rehabilitation project that took place between 1991 and 1994. Much of the historic fabric in the lodge was lost during this project, something which also brought about drastic changes in the building’s plan, mass, and structural character. Consequently, the National Register documentation that supported listing of Crater Lake Lodge in 1981 is in need of a detailed update. Although such an update may involve a reassessment of the lodge’s National Register status, this structure remains a contributing feature to the cultural landscape at Rim Village. This is because designers confined the rehabilitation project to the same footprint left by the historic lodge, and specified reuse of historic masonry units, the in-kind replacement of other native materials to face exterior elevations, and the preservation of adjacent designed landscape features such as parking islands and plantings.
Approximately 600 feet west of the lodge is a visitor contact station operated by the NPS. Built in 1921, it was originally constructed as a studio by Fred Kiser, a well known scenic photographer. As an important link in the use of stone masonry as a conspicuous example of the park’s rustic architecture, this structure has uncoursed rock walls which are load-bearing and support a gable roof covered by wood shingles. Although a far smaller structure than Crater Lake Lodge, the Kiser Studio is similarly situated next to the rim and has a small terrace on its north side where a multipaned picture window frames views of the lake. An addition, built as a darkroom in 1926, is situated perpendicular to the original building. The studio’s proximity to the most popular viewpoint in the park, a rock outcrop called Victor Rock, made it a focal point in naturalization efforts especially after the NPS assumed ownership of the building in 1932.
