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A2 THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2022 The Bulletin LOCAL, STATE & REGION How to reach us Steiner log cabins were oriented toward the most scenic spot on the land. CIRCULATION Didn’t receive your paper? Start or stop subscription? 541-385-5800 PHONE HOURS Beth Nakamura/ The Oregonian 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday 7 a.m.-11 a.m. Saturday-Sunday and holidays GENERAL INFORMATION 541-382-1811 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. ONLINE www.bendbulletin.com EMAIL news@bendbulletin.com AFTER HOURS Newsroom ................................541-383-0348 Circulation ................................541-385-5800 NEWSROOM EMAIL Business ........business@bendbulletin.com City Desk .............news@bendbulletin.com Features.................................................................. communitylife@bendbulletin.com Sports ................. sports@bendbulletin.com NEWSROOM FAX 541-385-5804 OUR ADDRESS Street .............. 320 SW Upper Terrace Drive Suite 200 Bend, OR 97702 Mailing ........... P.O. 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The Bulletin retains ownership and copyright protection of all staff-prepared news copy, advertising copy and news or ad illustrations. They may not be reproduced without explicit prior approval. SAVING STORYBOOK STRUCTURES Restoring one-of-a-kind Steiner log cabins on Mount Hood takes time, talent and hand tools BY JANET EASTMAN • The Oregonian D epression-era log cab- ins handmade by the legendary Steiner family in Mount Hood are so prized that some original owners have passed them on to the next generation as they would other heirlooms. The durable homes, made almost entirely of hand-cut wood, shaped for function and flare, and nestled among rhododendrons and ferns, were designed and built by Henry Steiner with help by his wife, Mollie, and 11 of their children. The frugal Steiners had lit- tle money and no electricity, but plenty of resourcefulness. Douglas fir logs, manually cut with a crosscut saw, were hoisted into place with cranks and pulley systems. Stones, found on the land or in rivers, surround the fireplaces, and bent-wood handrails outline stairs to the bedrooms. As sturdy as the storybook structures were constructed, over the decades, snow has pounded the pitched roofs, moisture has destroyed unpro- tected log siding and cosmetic changes, like vinyl counters and veneer paneling, have left some of the 100 documented Steiner cabins almost un- recognizable. Others, boarded up and marketed for sale as tear- downs, have been rescued by people who appreciate the beauty of the craftsmanship, warmth of the old-growth wood and the Old World tech- niques Henry Steiner, who emigrated from Bavaria, used to shape natural materials to make everything fit together. ‘I did it exactly as Henry would’ Like anything handmade, however, proper restoration requires time, talent and hand tools. “I couldn’t just go to Home Depot and order two dozen handmade Steiner half logs to replace sections of walls that had completely rotted away,” said Ian McCluskey, who has spent two years restoring a 1930 Steiner cabin, from the foundation to the stone chim- ney. “So I did it exactly as Henry would.” McCluskey started by peeling bark off of logs and branches using a vintage draw knife to “give it a slightly scal- loped look and texture,” he ex- plained. Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian Fireplaces are surrounded by basalt rock. “Each cabin he built shares his common style, but each piece of each cabin is one of a kind,” said McCluskey. Henry Steiner, a self-taught designer and builder, worked in Government Camp, Welches, Brightwood and Rhododendron from 1927 to 1952. He died in 1953. In addition, Steiner and sons John and Fred contributed to the construction of the 1936 Timberline Lodge, two churches and eight U.S. Forest Service summer homes in the area. McCluskey, also a self- taught carpenter on a bud- get, let Steiner’s vision of the 92-year-old cabin guide the renovation. The young wood- worker’s goal: To make his contribution invisible. “The measure of my suc- cess in restoration, I decided, was in how little of my work could be noticed,” he said. After almost a century of private use, McCluskey’s cabin near the Salmon River is listed on Airbnb ( airbnb.com/h/ steinercabin) as a vacation rental and it was one of four dwellings open during the 2022 Steiner Cabins Tour on Aug. 13. Lloyd Musser, museum cu- rator and longtime tour orga- nizer, appreciates owners and volunteers who are helping to preserve historic cabins. “Ian is typical of recent buy- ers who are restoring Steiner cabins with integrity,” said Musser. Interest in the cabins and values have soared, Musser said, making “teardowns a thing of the past. The problem now is finding craftsmen to work with log structures.” Restoring a treasure Hands-on and hard work have always been the Steiner way. Tasks were divided among family members. Henry Steiner’s grandson and John’s son, Dick Steiner, said in 2016 that while the driving force for some of the features was a lack of money, the fam- ily had an ability to make the most of materials that other builders threw away. “It is great to see such an admiration for the work that they did,” he said. The pitched-roof log cabins were built during the Arts and Crafts movement in the Ore- gon Rustic style that continues to influence design today. McCluskey, who has appre- ciated cabins since childhood, said Steiner homes are part of a larger architectural move- ment in the rustic regionalism of Adirondack Camp of the early 20th Century, the Na- tional Parks in the 1920s and Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s. In 2019, McCluskey discov- ered the cabin, dark and hid- den by tall brush. Despite its cedar shingles camouflaged in green algae and moss, he could see signature Steiner features inside. The longtime owners agreed to sell to McCluskey, who promised to return it to its original condition as he had done during a years-long restoration of a nearby 1922 cabin. Called Cedarwood, McCluskey bought it from the grandson of the original builder, who was not a Steiner, and now offers it as a short- term rental. “I showed the owners the other cabin’s rough-sawn ce- dar walls, milled locally from storm-downed trees, and the river-rock hearth I hand built, just as Steiner and his sons had done in their cabins,” said McCluskey. “And, most im- portantly, I told them how I had made every decision along the way to honor the original intent of the builder ❝ and preserve the special rustic spirit.” In March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was forcing travel and unessential businesses to shut down, Mc- Cluskey started his painstak- ing restoration project. “The cabin became my quarantine and my refuge,” said McCluskey, whose ances- tors arrived . Friends, some with con- struction experience, and a professional mason, plumber and electrician helped Mc- Cluskey on the most technical parts of the restoration. He posted about his prog- ress on the “little log cabin with a gable roof and porch of crooked logs” on Instagram at steiner.cabin. He wrote about the home’s charm, its secret door and other “whimsical touches of the old cabin-mak- er’s personality.” In the spring of 2022, he had refinished damaged wood, reproduced missing pieces and restored the storied cabin’s “magic.” “I am very honored to be able to offer this home to folks who want to experience this endearing place, unplug from modern life and create their own wonderful memories,” said McCluskey. I have been working with The Bulletin for over 3 months and they continue to impress me with their hard work, innovative ads, and amazing reels. I look forward to continuing work with The Bulletin and Makenna Cervelli in particular. In my opinion every company that’s wanting to grow and take their marketing to the next level should use their amazing services. Makenna Cervelli C: 425-622-3186 P: 541-633-2184 mCervelli@bendbulletin.com ❞ — Sean McDonell Owner, C4K Coffee Roasters www.coffee4kids.org
