Built into the face of a canyon and standing six stories tall, Oregon Caves Chateau is a feat of construction. Its distinctive architectural style—known as National Park Service rustic or “Parkitecture”—earned the lodge a National Historic Landmark designation, and its 25 guest rooms have hosted thousands of people during their visits to the Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve.

But for the last eight years, the building’s future has been in limbo. After the National Park Service discovered a crack in the foundation in 2018, Oregon Caves Chateau was temporarily closed to address that issue, as well as other deferred maintenance needs. Insufficient funding and other limited resources have stalled progress for years, leading to the chateau’s inclusion on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2025.

“It’s not good for a building to sit vacant,” said Sue Densmore, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Oregon Caves and Chateau, which is currently strategizing ways to fund the work. “It will be more expensive the longer we wait.”

Designed by Gust Lium, a self-taught architect from the nearby community of Grants Pass, Oregon, the chateau first welcomed guests in 1934. Its shaggy Port Orford cedar bark siding blends in with the surrounding woods, resulting in “a style that looks like it just grew up out of the ground, like it was naturally created,” said Densmore. A water feature in the main dining room added to the effect of being one with the landscape.

“Part of the problem in building the lodge where it is, is there was a creek running down the canyon,” said Densmore. “So they piped the creek through the dining room. You have running water flowing in a little creek through the dining room.” This unique feature of the chateau continues to evoke fond memories from visitors and the Oregon community of their experiences at this iconic historic structure and inspire its supporters to seek a pathway to reopening the lodge.

“It is probably the most critical economic contributor to the whole region,” Densmore said of the lodge and surrounding national monument. “The cave tours are just remarkable. Everybody comes out of the [tour], and they look at this beautiful lodge, and they go, ‘Why can’t we go in?’”

Advocating for Preservation

Since the 11 Most listing, Densmore said, visibility for the chateau’s needs has increased.

“We got a huge amount of publicity, which was wonderful,” she said. “We are now poised to do everything we can to let people know that we are [endangered]. ... When we got the designation, we had an event in the governor’s office with all of our supporters there to announce it. [Gov. Tina Kotek] is in support [and] will be coming to visit this summer.”

Now, Densmore and other advocates are meeting regularly to find a way forward for the lodge’s restoration and eventual reopening. She hopes to secure financial support from the state of Oregon in the next budget cycle, from the National Park Foundation, from a capital campaign the Friends group plans to launch later this year, and perhaps most critically, from the America the Beautiful Act, if it passes.

The bipartisan America the Beautiful Act introduced in the Senate seeks, among other things, reauthorization of the Legacy Restoration Fund created in 2020 as part of the Great American Outdoors Act. The Fund would help to address billions of dollars in deferred maintenance across the National Park System and other federal agencies. Preservationists for many years have advocated to address NPS deferred maintenance due to the risk that some of our nation’s most significant historic sites were at risk of permanent damage or loss. The National Trust and its partners advocated for the bill’s passage, including support for the Oregon Caves Chateau, on Capitol Hill during Preservation Advocacy Week in March 2026.