The prime significance of Oregon Caves’ Chateau lies in its designer’s extraordinarily creative use of the limited building site and how he allowed the site to dictate major architectural choices. Inseparable from that is the extremely high integrity of the building, the furnishings and the site. Of local significance is the importance of the development of Oregon Caves, fostered by local businessmen who formed the Oregon Caves Company- the monument’s concessionaire-to stimulate the depressed economy in the area.
Today’s visitor to the Chateau is still enchanted by the rustic sense of place that the builder and the landscape architects created. Entering the area is very much like traveling back into the 1930s. Trout still swim in the pools. The Chateau is more weathered, but the furnishings are entirely original. Even the smell of the aging fiberboard wall panels inside the Chateau contributes to that undeniably nostalgic feeling.
