If you happen to visit the gorgeous Old Town of Eureka, California, you can’t help but notice the Carson Mansion.
The house was notably the home of William Carson, one of Northern California’s original timber barons. Carson Mansion is well-known for its unique architecture and colorful past. It is commonly recognized as the greatest Victorian residence in the United States and is considered a superb example of American Queen Anne Style architecture.
It is also the most photographed and written about Victorian structure in California, if not the whole country. Unlike many other structures from the same age, Carson Mansion is still in almost the same state as it was when it was erected.
William Carson came in San Francisco in 1849, having emigrated from New Brunswick, Canada, with a company of fellow woodsmen. Initially, the guys were interested in California’s gold and rolled out gold slugs in San Francisco; later, prospecting brought the men to Trinity Mountain in Humboldt Bay through the Eel River.
Carson and his men, on the other hand, left Trinity Mountain and chose to contract for the supply of logs to be processed at a small local sawmill. William Carson and his colleague Jerry Whitmore cut down the first tree utilized for commercial purposes in Humboldt Bay.
Carson and his men dragged as many logs as they could to the Pioneer Mill on the beaches of Humboldt Bay that winter. Carson decided to break away from the pack and start his own lumber business in August 1852, after laboring back and forth between logging and gold mine. Carson had enough business by 1854 to send the first cargoes of redwood lumber to San Francisco.
Carson worked relentlessly for over a decade to establish himself as a successful timber businessman. However, his big break came when he chose to start the Dolbeer and Carson Lumber Company with John Dolbeer.
Eighteen years later, Dolbeer and Carson Lumber Company started logging in the previously unspoiled regions with the aid of Dolbeer’s Steam Donkey Engine, which effectively changed the whole log removal industry and allowed logging in previously inaccessible locations.
Before authorizing the construction of his personal residence, William Carson had to plan meticulously. He famously stated that if he constructed a badly designed house, people would believe he was a terrible miser, and if his mansion turned out to be wonderful, people would think he was showing off his money. He eventually chose to build the house for himself rather than for the sake of others.
The mansion combines every modern Victorian architecture style, including but not limited to Italianate, Eastlake, Primary Queen Anne, and Stick. Excerpts from volumes of Carson Mansion references give further information on how writers and historians saw the Victorian mansion.