Norris Geyser Basin Museum, Museum in Yellowstone National Park, Park County, United States
Norris Geyser Basin Museum is a trailside museum built in 1929–1930, designed by Herbert Maier in National Park Service Rustic style. It consists of two shingle-covered frame pavilions on a massive stone base, divided by a central breezeway with a jerkinhead gable framed in massive logs. The 94-foot by 20-foot building sits on a hill between Porcelain Basin and Back Basin, and its breezeway frames a view of Porcelain Basin for arriving visitors.
Built in 1929–1930, the Norris Museum is one of the trailside museums designed by architect Herbert Maier in the National Park Service Rustic style. It was funded by Laura Spelman Rockefeller's $118,000 grant, which also supported the Madison and Fishing Bridge Museums. The three were listed together as a National Historic Landmark on 28 May 1987, and the museum and its comfort station entered the National Register on 21 July 1983.
The structure represents National Park Service Rustic architecture, designed by Herbert Maier to integrate natural materials with the surrounding landscape of Yellowstone.
The museum sits on a hill between the Porcelain Basin and the Back Basin, and its central breezeway frames a view of the Porcelain Basin as you arrive. A nearby 1930s log comfort station now serves as a bookstore run by the Yellowstone Association. Boardwalks from the basin lead past the geysers and hot springs on foot.
The building sits between two different thermal basins that display different types of hot spring activity side by side. Standing here, visitors can see contrasting geothermal environments in a single location.
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