{"nrhp_refnum":"86002930","name":"Camp Wild Air","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Upper St. Regis Lake","address_restricted":false,"city":"Upper St. Regis","county":"Franklin County","state":"NY","lat":44.40890488000005,"lon":-74.27420821045422,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Camp Wild Air is an Adirondack Great Camp on the north shore of Upper St. Regis Lake in the town of Brighton, Franklin County, New York. Begun in 1882, it now has 12 buildings on a 29-acre parcel, 10 of them historic, built between about 1890 and 1931.","why_significant":"It is described as the first permanent camp in the Upper St. Regis Lake area and introduced the polygonal lakeside pavilion to the Adirondack rustic style. The post-fire rebuilding of 1917-1920 is attributed to McKim, Mead and White, its only known rustic camp work. The camp was developed by publisher and diplomat Whitelaw Reid and has stayed in his family, and it shows the self-sufficient Great Camp layout.","narrative":"Camp Wild Air sits on a small point on the north shore of Upper St. Regis Lake in Franklin County, reachable only by boat. Begun in 1882, it is considered the earliest permanent camp in the Upper St. Regis area. Of its 12 buildings, 10 date from about 1890 to 1931 and contribute to its character. Small, polygonal log-veneered pavilions extend over the water, including a sitting room, a billiard room and the guest house known as the Bishop's Palace. A fire in 1916 destroyed the main lodge and a bedroom building. Replacements built in 1917-1920, including a cruciform log living room with a vaulted ceiling, were overseen by William Rutherford Mead of McKim, Mead and White. Service buildings such as boathouses, a carpenter shop and a guide house show how self-sufficient these camps were. Newspaper publisher and diplomat Whitelaw Reid developed the camp, and his family has kept it since.","period_of_significance":"1890-1930","architect_builder":"Architect William Rutherford Mead of McKim, Mead and White supervised the 1917-1920 rebuilding; the form's builder/architect field says unknown.","architectural_style":"Adirondack rustic (Great Camp); the bedroom cottage is described as Shingle style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied private residence in good condition; accessible only by water. Altered by a 1961 dining room addition and a 1974 winter cabin.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.861262-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/86002930.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002930/27912ed89e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002930/27912ed89e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Mwanner","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Image-Bishops_Palace,_Camp_Wild_Air,_Upper_St_Regis_Lake.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Mwanner</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Image-Bishops_Palace,_Camp_Wild_Air,_Upper_St_Regis_Lake.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75312960","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Wild_Air","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5027685"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/franklin-county/camp-wild-air-86002930/"}