PORT TOWNSEND — Tickets are limited to 100 for a holiday tour of four private Victorian homes next month.
The Northwest Chapter of the Victorian Society in America will host the Holiday Homes Tour from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4.
The tour “will feature four of Port Townsend’s grandest private Victorian homes bedecked in seasonal splendor and complemented by the traditional music of Christmas,” with visitors treated to light refreshments, said Pat Durbin, treasurer of the society.
Tickets are $20 per person if purchased before Sunday, Nov. 21, and will cost $25 after that until all are gone.
The limit on tickets is to ensure that the experience is memorable, Durbin said.
“Limiting the number of people in any one house at a time will enhance the experience for both the visitor and the homeowners,” she said.
The residences include two that have never been on any public tour.
Houses on tour
The Victorians on display will be:
• Benjamin F. Pettygrove House, 1000 G St., built circa 1891.
The Pettygrove House, which has never before been on a public tour, is undergoing a major renovation.
The two-story Queen Anne home was built at a cost of $10,000 on the family farm of Benjamin Stark Pettygrove, son of one of the founding fathers of Port Townsend, Francis W. Pettygrove, an early settler.
It is located in what early settlers called Happy Valley and has been through many renovations.
A staircase leads all the way to the finished third floor, which is spacious and open and remains untouched, with the original gas pipes still visible in the walls.
• Col. Henry Landes House, built circa 1871.
A restoration that took years has just been completed in this home, which now features high-quality woodworking, cabinetwork and tile work topped with Victorian decor.
After operating a trading store at Neah Bay for six years, Landes moved to Port Townsend, where he bought and sold furs and later established the First National Bank of Port Townsend.
In 1889, he was a member of the first state Legislature.
• J.W. Griffiths House, 2030 Monroe St., built circa 1890.
Because this Eastlake Victorian house on Morgan Hill was recently purchased by owners who won’t live there until early next year, only one or two rooms will be furnished and decorated with holiday finery.
All three floors will be open for viewing, however, including the former attic space where an illicit “growing operation” was curtailed.
Secret hiding places in the paneling also will be open for visitors to view.
The house, built for $5,500, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Griffiths — a seafaring entrepreneur and a partner in the Port Townsend firm of Griffiths, Bridges & Stetson — used oak for the flooring, carved marble for the front parlor mantel pieces and decorative pressed tin for many of the ceilings.
• The Francis Wilcox James House, corner of Washington and Harrison streets, built circa 1891.
After decades as a bed and breakfast inn that operated from 1973 until just recently, this house is now a private home.
All three floors will be open for viewing for the first time in several years.
The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The Queen Anne house commands views of Port Townsend Bay as well as the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges.
A three-story staircase is made of wild cherry from Virginia. Four of the nine original fireplaces remain and boast Minton tile frames and elaborately carved mantels.
English gardens are on the grounds.
Local merchants will contribute holiday decorations.
Order forms and information about each of the contributors will be included in the information packet given to each ticket holder.
Tickets are now on sale by mail or online through the Victorian Society in America-Northwest Chapter’s website, www.victoriansociety-northwest.org.
For more information, visit the website, phone 360-379-2847 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday or e-mail questions to inform@victoriansociety-northwest.org.
