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Overview

The Starrett House is one of the most notable Queen Anne Style residences of Port Townsend, a city blessed with a large stash of survivors. Its nearly four-story, corner turret is especially impressive, crowning its section of the city's Morgan Hill neighborhood. The turret, composed of octagonal facets, housed a free-standing staircase, believed to be one of the last remaining of its type in the US.

Building History

The Starrett House was notable for its elaborate Queen Anne decoration, vertical proportions, complex forms and large scale, indicating the prosperity of its owner. Composed in an L-shape, the exterior featured a compound hipped roof, bay windows, decorative bargeboards, denticulated cornice, gabled dormers, and a slightly projecting, gabled entry porch. (Most first and second-story windows also possessed gables above them.) Its most remarkable feature, an octagonal corner turret, standing more than three stories high, contained the main entry and had a top resembling that of a lighthouse. This notable Queen Anne residence was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1970s. A listing of the National Register Properties published in 1976 stated: "Termed 'House of Four Seasons' due to frescoes on ceiling of domed entrance painted by George Chapman." (See The National Register of Historic Places 1976, Ronald M. Greenberg, ed., [Washington, DC: National Park Service, 1976], p. 825.)

George Starrett, a Maine-born building contractor, erected this grand Queen Anne Style house for his bride Ann Van Bokklen in 1889. Clearly, Starrett had particular skill as a stair builder, as this was a significant specialty among builders during the nineteenth century. The Starrett House's free-standing spiral stair remained in 2021, making it one of the last remaining 19th century examples to survive. Writing for the Society of Architectural Historians, Megan Ockerman said of the house: "The brick and wood Ann Starrett House was built for $6,000 with an interior featuring twelve-foot ceilings and interior moldings with lions, doves, and ferns. It also features a free-floating, spiral staircase with two complete turns, which the Smithsonian Institution believes to be the last of its kind in America. The architectural detail was fairly extensive: banisters and newel posts for the staircase alone were carved from five different types of wood. At the same time, Starrett, who had made a name for himself as a carpenter, builder, and contractor, was not unwilling to experiment with the latest technologies, and so the house was built with central heating—a novelty in 1885." (See Megan Ockerman, SAH Archipedia.org, "Ann Starrett House," accessed 05/01/2021.)

The Ann Starrett Residence, done in the Queen Anne Style, became a bed and breakfast, known as the "Ann Starrett Mansion Inn." This inn was in operation c. 2011. This bed and breakfast said of the house's history in 2021: "During its 130 year history this house has acted as a private residence, a French restaurant, boarding house, and for the last 30 years a B&B." (See Starrett House.com, "About Us," accessed 05/01/2021.)

Building Notes

Originally, the Starrett House contained notable murals and frescoes integrated into its woodwork. Artist Otto Chapman created a series of eight paintings depicting the four seasons in the dome of the house's turrett. Ann Van Bokklen may have been featured in the paintings, wearing seasonal outfits. Ockerman said of these frescoes: "The frescoes are intended to double as a solar calendar; the dormers are situated in such a way that on the first day of a new season, the sun shines through a window to a ruby-red glass in the center of the dome, which then reflects the sunbeam on the new season’s fresco." (See Megan Ockerman, SAH Archipedia.org, "Ann Starrett House," accessed 05/01/2021.) In 2021, the dining room and parlor still possessed original murals, as well.

Tel: 360.385.3205 (2011).

In 2021, the Starrett House contained 11 bedrooms, 4 full baths, 10 partial baths, library, parlor, sitting room and other spaces. The dwelling contained 5,796 square feet and occupied a 0.19-acre site. It had an asking price of $1.5 million in 04/2021.

PCAD id: 16264