The Underlounge is a space adjacent to the Ahwahnee Hotel’s Great Lounge. An extension of the Great Lounge, it’s a room with a large fireplace that serves as a hub between The Winter Club Room, The Mural Room, and The Solarium.
During the hotel’s Period of Significance (1927-1942, as defined by National Park Service), The Underlounge was a destination of its own: photographs discovered in the NPS archive revealed a room filled with seating clusters grouped on layered rugs, with native basketry and weavings displayed as décor. The room was so full then it nearly appear crowded, and yet over time, the space had become emptied of its seating and textiles, becoming an expanse of polished concrete floor with a large, empty fireplace and no reason or place for a guest to linger.
Some years earlier, the Underlounge – once really a part of the Great Lounge — had been set adrift, so to speak, with the addition of heavy draperies in the tall archways dividing it from the main room — drapes that closed off the space for private events. Even when those large panels were drawn back, they still created a sense of separation and isolation from the main lounge, framing an empty space where visitors glanced left and right on their way through but rarely ever paused.
We removed those draperies, and replaced a row of outdated encyclopedias and other dusty, inappropriate props placed the wide mantelpiece with a group of authentic native baskets – the kinds of baskets pictured in the archive photos and referenced in other historic documents. We helped restore the Underlounge as a more welcoming and functional space by adding a large Persian rug, a pair of reconditioned and reupholstered wooden framed sofas, and a few club chairs and tables. A couple of quirky antique copper table lamps purchased from an online auction lent this new/old arrangement of furnishings an additional air of authenticity and personality – resulting in a space that might still seem familiar to a time traveler returning after eighty years.
PHOTO GALLERY PENDING
