Historical Homes
The Carson Mansion is a large Victorian house located in Old Town, Eureka, California. Considered one of the supreme executions of American Queen Anne style architecture, the house is “considered the grandest Victorian home in America.” It is one of the most written and photographed Victorian houses in California and perhaps even in the United States. Originally the home of William Carson, one of Northern California’s first great lumber barons, it has been a private club since 1950. The house and grounds are not open to the public.
William Carson (July 15, 1825 New Brunswick – February 20, 1912 Eureka), for whom the house was built, arrived in San Francisco from New Brunswick, Canada, with a group of other lumbermen in 1849. After rolling out gold snails in San Francisco, they joined to the Northern Gold Rush, arriving in the Trinity Mountains via the Eel River and Humboldt Bay. They left the Trinity Mountains to winter at Humboldt Bay and contracted to provide logs for a small sawmill. In November 1850, Carson and Jerry Whitmore felled a tree, the first for commercial purposes on Humboldt Bay. All winter Carson and his team hauled logs from Freshwater slough to Pioneer Mill on the shores of Humboldt Bay. In the spring the party went back to the mines where they had previously claimed the Big Bar by the Trinity. They built a dam and continued mining until they heard that a large sawmill was being built at Humboldt Bay. They went south through the Sacramento Valley, bought oxen, and returned to Humboldt Bay in August 1852, where Carson alone entered the lumber business permanently. In 1854 he shipped the first loads of redwood lumber to San Francisco. Previously, only spruce and fir had been felled.
The house is a blend of all the major styles of Victorian architecture, including but not limited to: Eastlake, Italianate, Queen Anne (primary), and Stick. A nationally known architectural historian described the house as “a redwood baronial castle…” and further stated that “The illusion of grandeur in the house is enhanced by the play of scale, the use of imaginative details and the handling of mass as separate volumes, topped by a lively roofscape .The style of the house has been described as “eclectic” and “distinctly American.” Unlike most other houses of the period, this property has always been maintained and is in almost the same condition as when it was built – Wikipedia
Interior via the Ingomar Club website:
