Bellingham Then & Now: Roland G. Gamwell House

Located at 1001 16th St, in the heart of Fairhaven’s residential streets, the Gamwell house stands as a surviving piece of Victorian architectural design. 

Roland G. Gamwell, an MIT graduate and transplant to Seattle, moved to Bellingham and invested in the Fairhaven real estate boom. After amassing a small fortune, he brought in architects from his native Boston to design the house. Construction finished in 1892, making this home the contemporary of other Victorian-era buildings in the area, including Wardner’s Castle on 15th St (1890) and the Old Main building on WWU’s campus (1895).

The documents nominating this property for the National Register of Historic Places claims this home is one of the best Victorian homes designed in the area by Boston-based architectural firm Longstaff & Black. The Gamwell House was entered into the National Register in 1972. 

Those documents, available for perusal on the National Register, speak of cotillions and concerts, lawn tennis and rose gardens. The Gamwells served as host for dignitaries to the area, including William Howard Taft and Mark Twain. A member of the social elite, Roland Gamwell sponsored a champion whist team and was instrumental in founding both the Fairhaven and Bellingham public libraries. 

The Gamwell House was featured in an article in the January 1907 edition of the Bellingham Herald’s “Bellingham Beautiful Home Series”. The descriptions of the rooms and finishes tell a story of vintage grandeur and a design that spared no expense. 

“The home of Mr. and Mrs. Gamwell, at the corner of Douglas and Sixteenth streets, is the type of the modern French Rennaisance [sic] architecture. It is surrounded with a terraced lawn and three large and well arranged flower gardens in which may be found many of the choicest flowers grown in all parts of the world… .”

“The main drawing room is found in the front of the building with large doors opening from the hall. The room is in white and gold. A large bay window has an exposure upon the bay, and overlooks the city as well, making a pretty room for a living room… . A fireplace ten feet wide with the bevel plate mirrors in white panels, reaching to the ceiling, is the chief decoration in the room.”

The outstanding feature of this grand home -topping even the stained glass windows and the third-story balcony with views of the city and the bay - is the hand carved staircase.

Next up on Bellingham Then & Now: The Viking Union was designed by an award-winning architect who also had a hand in several other buildings on campus.

This post was the very first in a weekly series that has been going strong! Click here for the Best of 2019. Sources:

City of Bellingham Historic Buildings: Roland G. Gamwell House 

National Register of Historic Places

Photos:

Gamwell House: Gamwell Gamily Photography Album, WWU Archives

Gamwell House now: Cooper Hansley

Staircase: National Register of Historic Places

Architectural Renderings: National Register of Historic Places

Blog copy by Tiffany Holden