Rangers' Club

The Rangers' Club is a building in Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park that was donated by the independently wealthy first director of the National Park Service, Stephen Tyng Mather. He intended it to be used by the newly hired park rangers who were taking over from the departing army troops. He specifically intended it to blend into the natural environment. Its use of rustic stylings was part of a trend to the use of rustic design and natural materials in Park Service buildings until the 1940s.ConceptThe Rangers' Club was designed by San Francisco architect Charles K. Sumner. Construction was completed in August 1924, at a cost to Mather of $39,380. The Rangers' Club was intended to foster a sense of esprit de corps among the newly-create ranger service. Mather hoped that the example at Yosemite would encourage Congress to appropriate money to build similar facilities at other national parks, a vain hope. The Rangers' Club was the first significant structure on the north side of the Yosemite Valley, part of a Mather strategy to relocate park services.DescriptionThe Rangers' Club is a U-shaped wood frame structure, 2-1/2 stories high, centering on a massive stone chimney in the center of the U. The interior is clad in redwood shingles, with board-and-batten siding on the gable ends. The building rests on a granite rubblestone foundation. Peeled log pilasters emphasize the corners of the frame building, originally extending through the roof. The gable ends feature balconies at the second floor, with jigsaw-pattern railings. The wood shingle roof is steeply pitched with shed roof dormers in the main section and steeply pitched gable dormers on the outer side of the flanking wings.