Crane Flat Fire Lookout

Crane Flat Fire Lookout, built in 1931 as Yosemite National Park’s first lookout, is a two-story National Park Service Rustic structure designed to harmonize with its setting rather than stand apart like the metal towers often used by the U.S. Forest Service. Created by the National Park Service Landscape Division, it has a lower storage or garage level, an upper observation room, and a broad overhanging roof. One of only four similar buildings in California, it remained in use into the 1980s. Its design also gained wider influence through Thomas Chalmers Vint’s prototype portfolio of park structures.

Crane Creek, California · United States