Oregon Caves Historic Structures Report

PART V
Interior Assessment and Recommendations (continued)

Miscellaneous Elements

The Caves Creek diversion in the dining room.

There are two elements not covered elsewhere in this report that are significant either to the design or operation of the Chateau. These are the dumbwaiter from the second to third floors and the creek diversion through the dining room.

The dumbwaiter runs from near the top of the stairs to the first floor up to the kitchen area on the third floor. It is original to the structure, and is still used to move flatware and foodstuffs from the storage areas on the second floor up to the kitchen. A dimensional lumber box moves within a shaft in the structure. A series of pulleys and ropes propels the box, operated by hand from either level. The device operates smoothly and efficiently, except when an overanxious employee gets the ropes moving too fast over the pulleys. The ropes have a tendency to jump off of the pulleys, rendering the dumbwaiter inoperable.

The diversion of Caves Creek through the dining room is a signature element of the building. A culvert brings the water from the lower pond through the dining room, where it is seen as an open trickle of water flowing over rocks and around ferns. This aspect of the building brings the natural world into the structure, providing a link with the surrounding landscape. The link is reinforced by the enormous picture windows in the west wall of the space. The concept of running a small mountain stream through a building and bringing the outdoors inside was not unique, but it was unusual and noteworthy. Laura Soullière Harrison, in her National Historic Landmark nomination, notes that "considering that the Chateau predates Wright's house "Falling Water' by two years leads me to think that the use of the stream running through the building was an honest response to the site, and not a choice made because the designer saw it in an architectural magazine and felt it would work here." (389) The creek exits the building through a drain pipe in the west wall, running down below grade and emptying into Caves Creek below.

Recommendations for Treatment: Miscellaneous Elements

These two elements of the building are noteworthy, and are both in good operating condition. The routine maintenance performed on each element should be continued to keep them operating efficiently.

orca/hsr/hsr5k.htm
Last Updated: 22-Sep-2001