OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Building History

Working with John Dolbeer (1827-1902), inventor of the Dolbeer donkey engines that, after 1881, industrialized the process of timber harvesting in the American Northwest, William McKendrie Carson (1825-1912) built a timber empire of four mills, log-carrying ships, and extensive forest acreage. The firm of Dolbeer and Carson rivaled the biggest lumber giants of the time, most specifically, San Francisco-based Pope and Talbot. William and wife, Sarah Wilson Carson (1833-1904), lived in the house into the twentieth century, until her death in 1904 and his in 1912. The Carson Family continued to occupy and maintain the house until 1944.

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence E. La Boyteaux lived here between 1944-1950. When they sold it, local businessmen pooled their funds, purchased the estate, and renovated it into the Carson Club, a men's club for the town's elite. It was later renamed the Ingomar Club.

Building Notes

William Carson wanted his residence to underscore his social position in Eureka, CA. It was sited on a parcel covering 2 city blocks on a hill overlooking town. Work began in 1884 and was completed two years later. The exterior was redwood, the interior composed of 97,000 board feet of exotic woods transported by Carson's ships from the Philippines and South America. Designed by the Oakland-based firm of Newsom and Newsom, the interior was crammed with turned and carved wood, stained glass, patterned wallpapers, and onyx fireplaces. It was a monument to conspicuous consumption. In its lavishness, it did provide employment for 100 of Carson's mill workers, temporarily idled during an economic slowdown in the mid-1880s.

PCAD id: 4404