<\/a>Executive Residence Manager Maxine Lucero opens the door to the Governor’s House as she and her staff prepare for the holidays. During the Dec. 10 annual open house the governor and lieutenant governor will welcome the community between 3-6 p.m. (Laurie Craig \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
In 1910, an act of Congress authorized spending $40,000 to build and furnish the District of Alaska’s “executive mansion.” U.S. Treasury Department supervisory architect John Knox Taylor designed the three-story building. It was constructed during 1912 on a site previously used for a school for Alaska Native children. The youthful population there had outgrown the building and a new school was built to accommodate more students, making the land available for the new residence.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The initial funding did not provide much more than basic construction and furnishings. Gov. Clark desired lavish items in the main floor rooms so some upstairs bedrooms were sparse or empty. He gave a contract to Seattle’s Frederick and Nelson Department Store for all the interior items with only a month to deliver them to the house.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Over the years as governors moved in and out of the house, and funding fluctuated, maintenance was deferred. At various times benign neglect led to problems of leaking pipes, overheated wiring and rotted woodwork. Both exterior and interior deterioration claimed portions of the building that had to be repaired. Major restorations were done in 1936, 1963 and 1967-68, according to documentation prepared in 1976 when the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/a>The executive mansion under construction in 1912. (ASL-P439-7\/34)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
In 1983, as newly-elected Gov. Bill Sheffield (1982-1986) prepared to move in, the house needed serious overhaul. He hired Juneau historical designer Phyllice Bradner, who had remodeled chambers in the Alaska State Capitol, to recreate the classic 1913 governor’s house while providing modern conveniences. Her previous work can be seen today in the Senate Finance Committee Room among other Capitol locations.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Gov. Sheffield wanted the house to be upgraded before he moved in, so Bradner was given a very brief time to work with construction personnel to repair damage — such as wet walls from a ruptured inside pipe — to stabilize the house and make it presentable as a proper official residence, she said in a Nov. 11 interview from her home in Oregon.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Other periodic upgrades have been done to the 111-year-old residence. First Lady Sandy Parnell oversaw a remodel of the dining room during her stay at the house during Gov. Sean Parnell’s tenure between 2009 and 2014. A coffered ceiling was added and elegant window treatments were created with handmade flower-shaped ornaments trimming the textile edges. The draperies frame a bay window that lets natural light into the dining room.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
When the original house was built in 1912, only $1,000 was designated by Gov. Clark for interior furnishings. That included beds and bedding, tables and chairs, sofas, lamps, china and silverware, pots and pans and kitchen utensils. His selection of items dedicated half of the budget for a $500 Hardman piano. It proved to be an expensive, but long-lived item. It remains today in fine playable condition in the ballroom, which is also known as the music room.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/a>The exterior of the Governor’s House on Wednesday, with decorations in place for the annual holiday open house on Dec. 10. (Laurie Craig \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
The Governor’s House was the site of then-President Warren G. Harding’s visit to Alaska<\/a> on a very rainy day in 1923. While his party did not stay overnight in the residence, the president addressed a crowd of citizens from the verandah as the people huddled under their umbrellas that sprouted like mushrooms on the house’s lawn. He called the building “The White House of the North.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t That name became the title of a well-documented book published in 2011 by the daughter of a former governor. Carol Murkowski Sturgulewski wrote a history of the house with stories about the governors and their families during the years they occupied the home. The book features images from many gubernatorial administrations and events.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t When President Harding spoke in 1923, the verandah was a smaller porch held up by four pillars. In 1936 the verandah was extended during the first significant upgrade and supported with a total of six pillars as it appears today. During that renovation the front entrance was enlarged to accommodate vehicles dropping off guests sheltered from the weather. The third-floor dormer windows were changed also.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t The residence benefitted from another federal program in 1939-1940 when the totem pole outside the house was added as part of the U.S. Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps’ New Deal effort to engage Alaska Native carvers and restore the art of the culture. A plaque near the entrance explains details of Klukwan carver Charlie Tagook’s design.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Portrait of then-Secretary of State William H. Seward, who brokered the transfer of Alaska from Russia to America in 1867, is displayed in the house library with holiday decorations adding a festive touch. (Laurie Craig \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Today the Governor’s House features many important works of art. Mahogany bookcases in the library display Alaska Native baskets, carvings and historical artifacts visible through the glass doors along with volumes of first-edition books. In the same room a portrait of Secretary of State William Henry Seward is illuminated by sconces above the hearth. Seward was responsible for the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States in 1867 shortly after the American Civil War. A remnant of the Russian period hangs on the wall of the second-floor landing leading to the private quarters: a six-foot-tall portrait of Peter the Great. The painting is thought to have been in Sitka’s Baranof Castle during Russian occupation of that city, according to Carol Sturgulewski’s book “White House of the North.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t The most revered item is the circular Seal of the District of Alaska, installed when the house first opened in 1913. It is affixed to the mantle of the hearth in the ballroom.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Alaska’s first governor after statehood in 1959 was William Egan. His son Dennis was a teenager then and began his radio career on the third floor of the governor’s house. Dennis Egan remained in Juneau after attending what was then Juneau-Douglas High School (renamed in 2019 to add the Tlingit-gifted “Yadaa.at Kalé”). He later served as mayor, state senator and KINY radio’s local voice for years before his death in 2022.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>