The subalpine district surrounds its primary structure, the Paradise Inn, a rustic-style hotel built in 1917 to accommodate visitors to the park.

The development of the area was undertaken by the Rainier National Park Company, which built the Paradise Inn in 1917 and added the annex in 1920, as well as the Guide House the same year.

[4] The 1917 Paradise Inn is a large hotel with a prominent dormered roof, built in an "alpine" variant of the National Park Service Rustic style.

Fourteen doors open off the lobby to the northeast, flanked by log buttresses that follow the slope of the roof to the ground, carrying the local snow loads.

Designed by Seattle architect Harlan Thomas, the version finally constructed was scaled down from the originally-proposed structure, which was to be 300 feet (91 m) long with a central stone pavilion and exposed log framing.

It was built by the Rainier National Park Company in 1920 features a distinctive gambrel roof to house mountain climbing guides.

The roof, supported on rubblestone walls, was designed to shed the heavy winter snowfall typical of the Paradise area.

The ski-tow house was built in 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps with a steeply pitched roof similar to that of the ranger station.