Saturday, August 14, 2010

8/14/10 EUREKA CALIFORNIA

In Eureka, California there is a fabulously, outrageously huge and beautiful house, the Carson Mansion. It was designed by the famous architects, the Newsome Brothers, of San Francisco for lumber barron, William Carson in 1884. It is in the hands of a private organization, the Ingomar Club, and isn't open to the public. Oh Lord, how I would love to do a quick B&E some day to really get a good look at it. Here are some photos anyway to give you an idea of its awesomeness.



Gables, turrets, a megasize tower, porches, balconies and wrought iron trim lend to the grandious design.





The Foyer (yes, I capitalized it, it is that cool), has splendidly spooky and ancient looking stained glass windows that were new back in the late 1800s, but looked as if they were ripped out of a cathedral in Europe.




The wood is all original, and just like every extreme Victorian house, most of it had to be carved and embellished beyond all reason.



The Parlor and Drawing Room seem like a great place for one of those freaky Victorian seances. I have to confess that I've never lived in a home that had a parlor. Most apartments just don't feature them, go figure.







The Dining Room is also loaded down with much overly elaborate wood. I can just picture a dressed up skeleton propped up at the head of the table and some old psycho debutante talking to the corpse like its still alive.



At the first landing of the main staircase, each window represents one of the four ancient arts- painting, drama, music, and science. I love the dark purple walls.



The Second Floor Hallway is glorious. I also love the round hobbit-house type wood Moorish arches. They lend a certain Tolkien-esque quality to the decor.





The above three photos are from Sarah Carson's bedroom. What's missing from the pictures? Oh yeah, a bed. Sorry, there are no pictures available showing some awesome canopy bed. I know, I'm disappointed, too.





Servants' Quarters, all of the above three photographs. I know these rooms aren't as grand as the rest of the house and have simpler furnings, but they still are pretty nice. It would almost make up for back-breaking labor and hopeless physical toil. Hah! Just joking...




Ceiling Medallions are very ornate and pretty. These look like they would hold up pretty good. Sorry, no chandelier falling on anyone's head here.




These are some views going down two staircases. Now these would be some great places to drop that chandelier I was talking about...



The above room was originally a library, but the folks at the Ingomar Club put some period furniture pieces and clothing articles accurate to the time frame here instead. I'd rather have seen the library. Oh well, spooky libraries are a good idea for another blog post anyway.

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