Every year, Port Townsend hosts a Victorian Festival. For the Friday kick off, the Jefferson County Historical Society waived admission fees (though my donation was happily accepted) for several of their historical buildings. Grabbing my camera and my sister, we toured the 1868 Rothschild House. 

Victorian costumes at the Rothschild House really added to the experience!

The view from the front of the Rothschild House.

Built in 1868 for D.C.H. Rothschild (David Charles Henry Rothschild, 1824-1886), an immigrant from Bavaria, this Greek-revival style house is simple and lovely, filled with much of the original furnishings, photos and items of everyday living used by the Rothschild family.

You enter the house through the kitchen, which like any proper kitchen in the 1800s, was in a separate section to avoid overheating the house.

The kitchen, with a glimpse of the pantry. The wallpaper here is not original to house, but very similar to what would have been in a kitchen of the time.

How I wanted to reach over the velvet rope divider and rifle through this cookbook!

Dining room.

The front parlor/living room. The wallpaper here is original to the house, and like much of the wallpaper of the era, has metalic threads in the wallpaper to reflect light and make the room brighter.

At times a master bedroom, and at others, a sewing room. The gown shown here is a 2003 reproduction of the original ballgown worn in 1873 by Dorette (Mrs. D.C.H. Rothschild) when her husband was elected as the Grand Master Mason of the Washington Territory.  The original gown is in the Jefferson County Historical Society collection.

Upstairs are four bedrooms, three of which are below.

After Dorette passed away in 1918, their unmarried daughter, Emilie (the first librarian in Port Townsend) lived in the house for 78 years until her death in 1954. The house then went to her younger brother, Eugene, who donated the house to the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission in 1959. It opened to the public as a historic site in 1962, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Rotchschild House, shortly after it was built. Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society.

The Rotchschild House, circa 1933. Note the dormer windows that were added after the house was built, and removed when the roof was redone to return the roofline to its original state. Photo from the Library of Congress.

This small but beautifully presented museum evokes the history of Port Townsend and the Rothschild family. The staff is knowledgeable and friently, and parking is no problem. Definitely worth a visit.

Links of Interest:

• National Register of Historic Places, nomination form
• Virtual tour of the Rothschild House
• Port Townsend Victorian Festival

Location:

418 Taylor Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368