Virtual Tour of The Ahwahnee Hotel - Dining Room

The Dining Room is a must see and is radically different in style from the rest of the hotel. The Dining Room was designed to make an impression when you enter, and it does! The room is rectangular, has a 34 foot high ceiling, with huge windows along the full length of the left (west) and rear (north) walls. Massive curtains hang on either side of each of these floor-to-ceiling windows. The open-truss ceiling is constructed from sugar pine logs, cut outside the park and hauled in. (None of the hotel's building materials were taken from the park. All of the rock was quarried outside the park, from rock selected to match the color of the cliffs in Yosemite Valley.) Each of the trusses is supported by a sugar pine log column next to the perimeter wall. I´m guessing the columns are at least 24 inches in diameter, maybe more. Large black-iron straps with huge bolts tie the trusses together. Triangular shaped chandeliers, with 18 flame-shaped bulbs each, hang from the ceiling. Similar styled wall lamps, with 5 bulbs each, are located around the perimeter of the room on the roof support columns. A windowed alcove surrounded by stone columns is set into the far (north) side of the room, and can be used as a stage, however most of the time tables are set up in it. The room is furnished with white linen draped tables and comfortable, high-back wood chairs. The chairs are stained to match the log columns and trusses. The floor is polished, stained concrete with patterns scored into it. It looks much better than it sounds. The views from the windows of the meadows, trees and cliffs are simply spectacular.