Begun at the same time as the hotel at nearby Mountain Lake Resort (GI8), this seasonally occupied research center consists of laboratory buildings, cottages, and dormitories laid out in a roughly symmetrical scheme. A circuit road surrounds the core of the campus, which features two large laboratory buildings at each end of a central axis. Flanking the central axis are most of the smaller dormitory and auxiliary buildings. The early campus buildings, including the original laboratory and four eight-bed dormitories, were erected in 1934 of locally milled lumber with buff-colored sandstone foundations, creating a rustic aspect. Several similar one-story frame buildings, including a library, were built during a 1936 expansion of the station. A few cottages, privately financed, featured wormy-chestnut-paneled interiors or insect-repelling cedar. The most collegiate-looking building in the complex is Lewis Laboratory, a three-story, hipped-roof building veneered with native sandstone and incorporating multipane sash windows.