Bear Mountain Inn
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Bear Mountain Inn
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East elevation and south profile, after renovation project
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| Location | Seven Lakes Drive, Bear Mountain, New York |
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| Coordinates | 41°18′47″N 73°59′25″W / 41.31306°N 73.99028°WCoordinates: 41°18′47″N 73°59′25″W / 41.31306°N 73.99028°W |
| Built | 1915 |
| Architect | Tooker and Marsh |
| Architectural style | Rustic |
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| Added to NRHP | September 20, 2002 |
The Bear Mountain Inn is a 1915 hotel and restaurant owned by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission and located on Route 9W at the northern end of Seven Lakes Drive, just south of the Bear Mountain Bridge in Rockland County, New York. It is now called the Bear Mountain Inn & Conference Center. As of fall 2011, the first floor is now open and features the 1915 Cafe and Bear Mountain Trading Company gift store. Renovation of the upper levels was finished in April 2012.
It was added to The National Register of Historic Places on September 20, 2002.
The building has been called "among the earliest examples of a monumental rustic park lodge of a type that became common in state and national parks". Construction required two years at a cost variously reported as $100,000 and $150,000. It was designed by the New York City firm of Tooker & Marsh, in a style strongly influenced by the Adirondack Great Camps.
Stone used in the foundations, wall facades and the two remarkably large fireplaces, was obtained from old walls on the properties acquired for Bear Mountain State Park. Chestnut timber used for framing, certain trim, siding and floor-covering, was also obtained from local parklands and milled on site. Despite appearances to the contrary, the building's basic framework is constructed of steel.
The 1915 cellar contained an electric lighting plant that was also planned to furnish power for an escalator from the excursion boat landing to the plateau on which the inn stands. The ground floor included a “luncheon counter” while on the second floor veranda, “moderately priced Table d'hote” meals were sold. The main dining room offered “service equal to any metropolitan restaurant.” According to a New York Times article published in June 1915, “There are no windows or doors. When cool weather comes, the upper floor is to be inclosed [sic] in glass.” [1]
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