Building Description Eagle Mountain House Hotel, Jackson New Hampshire
The Eagle Mountain House is a large frame building constructed in the Colonial Revival style in 1916 and doubled in size with a matching addition in 1929. It is located on the west side of Carter Notch Road (NH Route 16B), approximately two-thirds of a mile north of the village of Jackson, New Hampshire. The hotel faces east and is sited laterally to the road with a setback of approximately ten feet. The hotel is virtually unaltered, the hotel retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. The nominated property comprises ten acres and includes three other contributing resources: a barn, an automobile service garage, and an automobile storage garage. All are located north of the main hotel building. The barn dates from the late nineteenth century and the two garage buildings from the early twentieth. Behind the hotel is a parking area, beyond which the wooded slopes of Eagle Mountain rise. The hotel is set in a valley defined by Eagle Mountain on the west; Black Mountain to the north; and North and South Doublehead and Tin Mountains to the east.
The Eagle Mountain House is a three-and-a-half story building with a fully exposed lower level at the southern end. The original building consisted on the northern half and was an L-plan; the addition expanded it into a U-plan, with a northern wing. The building is set on a stone foundation and clad with clapboards. It terminates in a gable roof broken by pedimented gables and shed dormers. The roof is clad with asbestos shingles on, the east side- and a mix of asbestos and metal sheet roofing on the west side and rear wings. There are five brick chimneys: one on the east roof slope and the remaining on the two rear wings. Fenestration is regularly spaced, and window sash is two-over-one. Windows are framed with wooden blinds and winterized with aluminum storms. On the upper two stories, smaller windows with diamond-pane sash are set at regular intervals. Major architectural features include deep roof dormer and gable eaves ornamented with modillion blocks.
The east (front) elevation is broken by two shallow pavilions that terminate in pedimented roof gables. Two stories of windows pierce the gables; the upper ones, which light the attic, have curved frames at the outer, upper corners. The division between the 1916 and 1929 addition occurs just north of the south pavilion, although there is no visual break in the wall surface. Between each roof gable a shed dormer with a continuous band of windows runs the length of the roof. The elevation is dominated by a one-and-two-story verandah which is supported by splayed square posts with a square-baluster railing running between. Its ceiling is matchboard. The verandah measures approximately 220 feet in length and ten feet in depth. The main entrance is located within the north pavilion and marked by a pedimented porte-cochere set on a fieldstone foundation and supported by larger, but similarly-designed posts, marks the front entrance. Double wood and glass paneled doors. Large plate glass windows on the ground floor light the dining rooms and main lobby. South of the porte-cochere the verandah is two-stories to accommodate the sloping site; the open space beneath is screened with lattice. A flight of steps near the southeast corner affords access to the lower level which is lit with a mix of standard windows with two-over-one sash and large plate glass windows. From the porte-cochere, steps lead up to the verandah which is ten feet deep.
The south elevation, which consists entirely of the 1929 addition, rises a full four-and-a-half stories above the ground. Although the verandah does not continue along the south elevation, a shallow roof, visually an extension of the verandah roof, separates the two lower floors from the upper. The gable end of the main building is balanced by a roof gable at the opposite end; both match the facade roof gables. Between the gables is a single pedimented dormer. Windows are regularly spaced along the elevation and match the standard-sized windows elsewhere on the building.
The west (rear) elevation consists of the main (front) section and two three-and-a-half story cross-gable rear wings. The main section has a shed roof dormer at the north end which matches those on the front elevation. Between the two wings is another lengthy dormer, the roof of which is raised to allow a full two-stories. The northern wing has two attached workshops, and several one and two-story frame add-ons. Each wing terminates in a pedimented gable at the west end. East of each cross-gable is a single dormer located just east of the roof gable. The roof north of the northern ell, including all the add-ons, is clad with sheet metal; the remaining roofs are covered with asbestos shingles. Three brick chimneys rise from the northern ell. A fourth chimney is located at the northwest corner of the south ell. Metal fire escapes are attached to the north end of each wing. The north wing has a two-story frame add-on with shed roof and small, one-over-one sash windows constructed in the 1980s. The add-on houses much of the kitchen mechanical equipment. A small one-story addition with shed roof is appended to its west end.. At the west end of the north wing is a three-story gabled projection that is original. A one-story frame shed links it to the laundry, a lengthy one-and-a-half story frame structure that is sided with shingles and contains six windows on the exposed south elevation. The west end of the laundry is built into the lower slope of Eagle Mountain. A squat brick chimney rises from the gable roof which is clad with sheet metal. Directly next to the laundry is a similarly-scaled frame structure, also sided with shingles, that originally served as a workshop. Two of the three visible elevations, the east and north, retain original door and window openings; an on-grade wooden deck built in the 1980s projects from the north wall. The west (rear) elevation has new windows in the gable that line up with the original openings below. Original sash is two-over-two; the new gable windows have single fixed panes. Both the laundry and workshop are contemporaneous with the 1916 hotel. Attached to the east elevation of the north wing is a one-story, shed roof, frame add-on (1980s) with larger window openings; it turns the corner to include a small section of the rear of the main building. None of the add-ons is visible from the road, and all use materials, that are found in the original building. Their exact dates are unknown; historic photographs to not depict the rear of the building, and no plans of the 1916 portion are known to exist. Because the rear has always been the service area, it likely that functional appendages have always been present. A small, enclosed entry on the rear of the main building is original.
The north elevation, like the front, is dominated by the verandah which wraps around from the front of the building and extends its entire width. Each floor has five windows; a wider one in the center flanked by two standard-sized openings. The gable end matches the roof gables on the front. A narrow metal fire escape extends from the attic windows to the verandah roof.
The main entrance leads into the lobby, which is finished in natural oak with cased ceiling beams, boxed cornice, five-panel doors and casings, staircase with ceiling-height posts and a connecting bracketed over-screen, and reception counter. Set diagonally at one end is a large brick fireplace with a corbeled mantle and overmantle of brick. An early telephone booth of oak is found near the rear entrance. In the northeast corner is a parlor whose focal point is a fireplace with oak surround and mirrored overmantle. The dining room features cased beams and square posts, unpainted in the 1926 section. Between the lobby and dining room is the still functioning 1926 elevator with its metal and pressed glass doors. Floors throughout the building are hardwood, covered with carpet. Upstairs, original five-paneled wooden doors with bronze hardware and wooden casings survive throughout.
