| “ | Home, sweet home. | ” |
— Josh
|
The Washington Lodge (colloquially known as The Lodge) is a large chalet-styled mansion built on Blackwood Mountain. The mansion serves as the primary location in which most of the events in Until Dawn take place.
History[]
The Blackwood Pines Hotel operated atop Blackwood Mountain for many years as an alpine health resort, but eventually it ceased operation. In the late 1990s, movie mogul Bob Washington purchased the building and vast tracts of land surrounding the site to serve as a vacation home for his family; afterwards, the peak became known locally as "Mount Washington." The hotel was razed and on top of its foundation, the Washington Lodge was built.
The home itself, while having a log cabin/chalet exterior, was designed to be state of the art with a contemporary interior outfitted with modern fixtures and plenty of space. It was a symbol of the family's wealth and success perfect for entertaining guests, but it was most enjoyed by the Washingtons themselves. Bob and his wife Melinda would play outdoor sports with their children in the summer or relax in the interior during the "Annual Blackwood Winter Getaway."
However, the peace would not be maintained. As his children grew older, Bob found himself increasingly busy with work while Melinda was routinely unnerved by trespassers seen on the property. Eventually the teenage Washington children were the only ones using the Lodge for getaways with friends. That was until their tragic and mysterious disappearances in the mid 2010s.
Events of Until Dawn[]
The Lodge first appears during the 2014 prologue in which the prank occurs. After the disappearance of Hannah and Beth Washington, the house and extending property became a crime scene and a thorough police investigation was conducted in and around the mansion. At an unknown time the investigation ceased and the unsolved case was left open.
Sam finds the Lodge's floor plans.
Sometime after, Josh returned to the property to begin outfitting it with contraptions to aid him in his revenge prank against his friends. A year later, when everyone returns to the lodge, the front door is frozen shut, forcing Chris to break in via a rear window and melt the ice in the lock.
No sooner does the group arrive than tensions boil over. After the group part ways, Josh carries out his revenge prank. Once the presence of the Wendigos became known, the lodge served as a ostensible safe haven for the survivors. Eventually the place was breached by the Wendigos and the structure was destroyed in a fiery gas explosion ignited in a last ditch effort to kill the beasts. The lodge was last seen engulfed in flames as rescue workers arrived to the scene at dawn.
Floor Plan[]
Ground Floor[]
Ashley facing the door to the guest room, the path leading to the main hallway on her left, and the cinema room behind her.
The ground floor consists of a seating area and several hallways connecting various rooms. The ground floor is accessed via the main staircase taken from the first floor into a sitting area.
To the left of this sitting area is a door to a wide hallway with:
- A door on the left leading to an unknown area.
- A door on the right to a hallway leading to the guest room or the cinema room, used by Hannah in the Prologue, and Ashley and Chris in Chapter 6.
- A door at the end of the hallway to the right leading to more guest rooms and bathrooms, used by Sam in Chapter 5 during the chase.
- A door at the end of the hallway to the left providing access to the basement.
Sam in the hallway past the guest room heading to the basement.
Cinema Room[]
Straight ahead of the sitting area is the family cinema. In this tiered room one can find theatrical posters of all of Bob Washington's award-winning movies. The screen takes up a majority of the wall with multiple lounge recliners on the the first and second tier.
To the left of the cinema room is a hallway in which a person can turn left to a hallway leading to the main hallway, or straight ahead to a door leading to the guest room.
Guest Room[]
The guest room consists of two entrances across each other, with a bed in the center of the room, where Emily and Jessica hide under during the Prologue. The guest room also has a cupboard which Matt hides in the Prologue, and a partition where Ashley hides behind on the same occasion.
A year later, Sam encounters the guest room while running away from the Psycho, where she is given the choice to Jump over the bed or Hide under the bed, the latter increasing the risk of her being caught. She is the only person to have used both doors of the guest room to enter and exit.
On the other side of the guest room is another hallway with more guest rooms and bathrooms that eventually leads to the main hallway with a door providing access to the basement right across.
1st Floor[]
The first floor is the main floor of the mansion.
Access[]
This floor is accessed from:
- The main front Great Room doors which are never used.
- The rear doors used in the Prologue, Chris in Chapter 8, and Sam in Chapter 10.
- The foyer door which is used in Chapter 2 by all protagonists when entering the lodge.
- A side door which Chris uses in Chapter 4 and Chapter 8.
- A side door near a veranda used by Mike and Jess in Chapter 2.
- The veranda may connect both those doors in an octagon shape; Chris on one side and Mike and Jess on the other.
- The ground and second floors via the staircase.
Great Room[]
This floor features a Great Room containing a large fireplace, chandelier, formal furniture and a large wall mounted flat screen television above it as well as a staircase leading to the ground and second floors. This room which serves as the heart of the house is adjacent to the foyer. To the front of this room is a sitting area and a formal dining room in the room next to it.
Kitchen[]
Josh passed out in the kitchen.
The great room is connected via a pair of double doors that leads to a chef's kitchen with a smaller family room located behind a fireplace. Past this room is a hallway connecting to a door to an unknown room, and an exit.
To the right of the Great Room is the foyer which has two perpendicular doors leading to two small hallways adjacent to each other:
Garage[]
One of the primary utility rooms in the lodge, the garage housed and stored snow mobiles, bicycles, other vehicles, sports and leisure equipment, tools, cleaning supplies, and various boxes and cans. Two shuttered garage doors lead to the outside. The garage has a set of work benches, a lawn mower, and side storage room where the Newspaper Fragment can be found. Chris enters the garage at the beginning of Chapter 2 looking for an alternate entrance when the front door lock is iced shut.
- One "inner", longer hallway leads to the foyer. The Family Portrait is found in this hallway.
The Library[]
- The other "outer", shorter hallway leading to the middle of three library and office rooms. The room across the middle room has a staircase leading to the upper story of the library where the seance occurs. The room adjacent to the hallway has the secret room explored in Chapter 3. The Native American Letter is found in this hallway in a space near the door to the foyer.
Behind the Great Room are the stairs leading to the third floor, then stairs leading to the first floor, then another sitting area.
2nd Floor[]
Sam on the second floor overlooking the Great Room.
The 2nd floor is the uppermost floor of the mansion. It is accessed by the main staircase and features a loft area overlooking the great room. Two sets of doors on either side of the loft lead to the upstairs bedrooms, although only one is able to be explored in the game.
Inside the door is a small hallway with a clock, connecting a loft area which overlooks the kitchen, as well as two doors leading to Hannah's Bedroom and the bathroom.
Hannah's Bedroom[]
Sam can explore Hannah's Bedroom in Chapter 2, where she can find clues such as a Tattoo Card on a desk, a Compatibility Test inside a walk-in closet, and a Postcard on Hannah's bedside table. She can also open a music box given by Josh to Hannah.
Bathroom[]
The Psycho watching Sam in the bathroom.
The bathroom contains a large bathtub which Sam bathes in for two hours. The Psycho briefly enters the bathroom to take Sam's clothes and lure her out of the room. The bathroom also has a hidden camera in which the Psycho watches from in his workshop. The bathroom is also visible for a second on the cable car station security moniter when Chris inspects it, before being quickly replaced with a view of the station exterior. It is currently unknown why this is the case.
Basement[]
The basement is accessed by using a door from the ground floor and descending a staircase. The basement contains the mansion's water heater and power units. Old items and furniture can be found stored in here such as the dollhouse. There is also a wine cellar with a handle-less door leading to the laundry room. Inside the laundry room is a door leading to the old hotel.
Trivia[]
- By looking at the exterior windows, the mansion appears to have all of its interior lights on. However, the lights aren't on when inside the house.
- The mansion was constructed and designed out of nearby timber harvested from trees, and stone cut from rocks on the mountain.
- The movie posters in the cinema room all resemble real movies, connected to director Larry Fessenden, who played the role of The Stranger in-game.
- According to Josh, the mansion has a large yard big enough to play baseball in.
- Emily, Josh, Mike and Jessica are the only protagonists who cannot be controlled inside the lodge.
- Sam finds a set of floor plan for the lodge on top of the Death Machine Plans. It closely resembles the lodge's first floor, but it's not exact. The bifurcated grand staircase is facing the wrong direction, the counter in the kitchen is an island instead of a peninsula design, and there appears to be a door directly connecting the kitchen with the dining room.
- One interpretation is that the lodge's layout was inspired from a real-world floor plan which was scanned into the game as a prop. Alternatively, an in-universe explanation could be that the blueprints Sam finds are an earlier set when the mansion was under construction and Bob or Melinda Washington ordered changes for the final design.
Gallery[]
Locations
| |
|---|---|
| Major |
Blackwood Mountain · Blackwood Pines · Blackwood Pines Hotel · Blackwood Sanatorium · North West Mines · Washington Estate · Washington Lodge |
| Minor |
Cable Car Station · Washington Cabin · Clifftop · Fire Tower · Old Shack · Park Ranger Service · Radio from the Pines · Shed |