Vista House
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Vista House
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Vista House
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Location of Vista House in Oregon
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| Location | 40700 E Historic Columbia River Highway Corbett, Oregon |
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| Coordinates | 45°32′22″N 122°14′40″W / 45.539579°N 122.244401°WCoordinates: 45°32′22″N 122°14′40″W / 45.539579°N 122.244401°W |
| Area | 3 acres (1.2 ha) |
| Built | 1918 |
| Architect | Edgar M. Lazarus |
| NRHP Reference # | 74001705 |
| Added to NRHP | November 5, 1974 |
Vista House is a museum at Crown Point in Multnomah County, Oregon, that also serves as a memorial to Oregon pioneers and as a comfort station for travelers on the Historic Columbia River Highway. The site, on a rocky promontory, is 733 feet (223 m) above the Columbia River on the south side of the Columbia River Gorge. The building shows great sensitivity to its site in the Columbia River Gorge near Corbett, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Crown Point Vista House was completed in 1918. It was designed by Edgar M. Lazarus. With its marble interior and brass fixtures, some Oregonians at the time derided it as the "$100,000 Outhouse". The original idea for an observatory at the site came from Samuel Lancaster, the consulting engineer for the Columbia River Highway. Lancaster proposed
"an observatory from which the view both up and down the Columbia could be viewed in silent communion with the infinite"
Lancaster also suggested the name "Vista House." The Vista House Association was established to raise money for the project, composed of 52 Portland-area leaders. Funding subscriptions failed to raise sufficient money, and most of the cost of construction was paid by Multnomah County. Construction was supervised by John B. Yeon.
Lazarus' design incorporates elements of the Jugendstil, the German interpretation of Art Nouveau which had been popular in Europe in the late 19th century up to 1910. The building is essentially a domed rotunda 44 feet (13 m) in diameter with an octagonal plan on a 64-foot (20 m) diameter base which houses toilets and a gift shop. The rotunda is 55 feet (17 m) high. Stairs lead from the rotunda to an elevated viewing platform at the base of the dome. The exterior is gray sandstone, with a green tile roof. The interior is extensively finished in marble, even in the toilets. The dome interior has bronze lining. The clerestory windows feature opalescent glass in a simple tracery pattern, with similar colored glass at the tops of the windows at the main level.
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