Bellingham Then & Now: Wardner's Castle

A Haunted House?

A century-old castle on a hill is sure to have its stories, especially when someone commissions a painting called “Spirits of Wardner’s Castle” on the walls of the third floor. Here’s the scoop from Matt Benoit at Whatcom Talk:

“When it was finished, the artwork depicted Wardner and the castle, along with other relatives, the artist and several black cats, staring out from a foggy, moon-lit background. According to legend, Gospodinovich [the artist] died in a car accident the day after completing the artwork. She was 24. After her death, the mural remained until later owners covered it up with white paint. But some guests reported seeing apparitions in their rooms, and others had bizarre dreams after leaving. Eventually, the owners had the white paint stripped off the part of the mural depicting Gospodinovich’s face, at which point the odd occurrences mysteriously stopped.” (source)

The Story of Wardner’s Castle

Crowning the corner of 15th St and Knox St in Fairhaven, the house officially recorded on the Historic Register as the James F. Wardner House was constructed in 1890 in a flurry of development in the Fairhaven area in the late 1800s. It immediately became known as Wardner’s Castle, 

“due, no doubt, to its prominent siting, its corner octagonal tower topped by a crown-shaped finial, and the flamboyant personality of its aspiring owner.” (source).

While the National Register documents don’t include any grainy black-and-white pictures to show off the interior, we know there were twenty-three rooms, seven fireplaces, colored stain glass windows near the stairway, and an octagon-shaped library lit by windows on four sides. References to “finely carved garlands” and finishes in the “white and gold of the Louis XVI style” speak of a house that once truly lived up to its regal nickname.

Jim Wardner was among those championing Fairhaven to be the terminus of the Great Northern Railroad.  He bought up 135 lots in Fairhaven and built logging, milling, electric and financial enterprises. According to Register documents, Wardner enjoyed his reputation as an ostentatious, bold, and shrewd businessman, and was once one of the elite local investors.

“Wardner, an ambitious entrepreneur who acquired his wealth in lumber, mining and real estate, but who also dabbled in innumerable other ventures throughout the United States and abroad, is counted among a small group of men who were the creators and developers of the Fairhaven boom in the late 1880s and early 1890s.” (source)

The gamble paid off early, raking in high profits …

Until the cash flow dried up.

Fairhaven lost the bet for the Great Northern Railway, crushing the high hopes of local boosters. Development slowed further due to the the Depression of 1893. Hit with significant losses in his mining business, Jim Wardner dashed along to his next project in South Africa. He ended up living in his home for just a year, but his Castle on the hill stands to this day.

Next up on Bellingham Then & Now: A look back at the early economic boom in Whatcom County.

Previously on Bellingham Then & Now: The Herald Building has architectural details whose artistic origins stretch back centuries.

Sources

Benoit, Matt. “Bellingham’s Haunted History.” WhatcomTalk. Link. 

“Washington SP Wardner, James F., House.” National Historic Register. Link.

Images

Then: “Wardner’s ‘Castle’”. City of Bellingham. Link.

Now: Cooper Hansley

Blog copy by Tiffany Holden