Walk through the heavy wood front door, stomp your boots, and smell the pine, and even blindfolded you would know you’re in a lodge. Whether it’s a wilderness camp, a fishing lodge, or a ski chalet, Old World or New, the appeal of the decor is global because it’s organic; the look is of a piece with its surroundings, incorporating the materials at hand.
A lodge can nestle deep in the woods, or in the high mountains, or in a rain forest, but certain components are a given. Interiors and furniture are of local wood and stone. Metal fixtures tend to be old-fashioned wrought iron, even if they are forged by 21st-century blacksmiths. Decorations are nature-based and apt to include animals and sport. Above all, the sensation is that of bringing the outdoors inside.
In three different settings on these pages, the themes play out in a relaxed and familiar melody. After all, relaxation and familiarity are what the audience returns for, season after season.
NORWEGIAN WOOD l Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City, Utah
Rustic ambience cuts across international borders as easily as a slalomer cuts a turn.
Consider the resort whose namesake, Norwegian skier Stein Eriksen, won gold and silver medals at the 1952 Oslo Olympics. The hotel’s public areas underwent a complete renovation two years ago, in an intentional embrace of the dark side. Wood finishings were stained darker for a richer appearance, and while some of the lodge’s high ceilings were retained, others were dropped to create more intimate areas, as if to invite guests to poke around. Large windows bring in the outdoors, so après skiers can watch the falling snow as they sip a drink or collapse on overstuffed rough wood chairs by one of the large rock fireplaces.
Dark wood is a prominent feature in the Troll Hollen Lounge. Here, the geographic marriage of Rocky Mountain lodge to Scandinavian “Hall of the Mountain King” works easily. The bar showcases Norwegian folk art–style woodcarving created by Salt Lake City craftsman Ty Loyola. Loyola also built the concierge desk, gaming tables for guests’ amusement, and the display case for Eriksen’s extensive trophy collection.
“We brought in a more Nordic feel,” says CEO Russ Olsen. Though Olsen also suggests it could also be a Swiss feel, like Zermatt. At any rate, he says, “It gives the feel of a European mountain lodge.” Even if that European mountain lodge is in Utah.
HIGH CAMP l Whiteface Lodge, Lake Placid, New York
The Whiteface Lodge’s developer, Joe Barile, is a former Olympic luger and, more to the point, passionate about the Lake Placid region. Thus, his vision for the resort was to mirror the Adirondack Great Camps that wealthy city dwellers began building in the late 1800s, and which dotted the region’s remote lakes and dense forests. Barile’s result is a grand structure that epitomizes the look of a venerable mountain lodge, even though it opened in 2005.
The main building displays all the trappings of the lodge look: high ceilings with rough-hewn log beams, fireplaces of native stone, decorative fixtures of wrought iron—often accessorized with antlers, and furnishings crafted from local woods. Most of the timber used to build the lodge was milled from logs that were cleared on the property.
The blacksmiths at Chicken Coop Forge in Glens Falls, N.Y., which is just outside the Adirondack Park, were commissioned for most of the wrought ironwork, including chandeliers and other lighting, fire screens, and hardware. A prime example of their work can be seen in the Kanu dining room (above), where a chandelier illuminates the lofty space.
Tables in this room and others were designed and built by George Jacques, who makes rustic furniture in Keene Valley, about 15 minutes from Lake Placid. In the center of the hotel’s lobby (page 16, bottom), a hefty Jacques table serves as a carved stand for floral arrangements and also features in its gnarled tree-trunk base a tiny wooden raccoon to greet guests who happen to notice.
The total effect is a throwback to those classic Great Camps, albeit with modern conveniences such as a spa, an indoor pool, and fine dining. Modernity, however, does not extend to one area, notes general manager Phil Anderson. “The game room has no video games. There’s nothing digital, it’s all interactive,” he says. “And the bowling alley is from the sixties.”
HOOKED OFFSHORE l King Pacific Lodge, Princess Royal Island, British Columbia, Canada
Few sporting havens are more remote than King Pacific: It’s accessible only by floatplane. The lodge is on British Columbia’s north coast, hard by the Great Bear rain forest, the world’s largest remaining temperate rain forest. The site was chosen for its excellent fishing, but it also is ideal for heli-hiking, kayaking, whale watching, and wildlife viewing. Because Great Bear is a protected area, the resort operates under a foreshore lease, which prohibits a permanent building on land but allows a floating structure. Thus, the three-story lodge is moored offshore, built on what was formerly a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crane barge. Off-season, the lodge is towed to the port of Prince Rupert, a trip that takes 24 hours.
Despite its unconventional foundation and relatively recent (1999) construction, the lodge gives the appearance of heft and grandiosity one would expect of a comfortable wilderness hideaway. In the great hall, a concession to buoyancy was needed to accommodate a two-story, double-sided rock fireplace, which was built of manufactured composite stone to reduce weight. The walls and columns are of various British Columbia woods, including red cedar and other conifers. Wrought iron makes an appearance here in the chandelier and coffee table made by Mike Maca of Maca Studio in Vancouver. The sofa and chairs were custom made by Durante, another British Columbia firm.
The collection of indigenous art is another nod to the environs. Prominent in the dining room is a carved wood panel, Eagle and Frog, by the artist Heber Reece, a member of a nearby First Nations clan. A kayak made of wood and caribou hide hangs on a wall upstairs, and textiles on display include native blankets, embroidery, and a Gitga’at chief’s tribal vest.
The most important decorative component, however, is the view. “There are lots of windows; we want the outdoors to come in,” says general manager Robert Penman. “There are always things going on outside that you want to see: A pod of nine orcas was in the bay for a month. Their noises were our alarm clock.”