Bellingham Then: Elmheim

Every week I look at a new old building - sometimes commercial, sometimes residential. Some houses stand out to me right away - like the Gamwell House or the Black House - for their charm, beauty, or mystery. 

When I chanced upon a photo of the Henry Roeder House (also called the Charles Roth House), it was all three. I was immediately enchanted. The multi-dormered rooftop, the pillars and columns, the  detailed asymmetry, the angled four-story tower, the abundance of curves, triangles and rectangles. 

What artist designed this structure with so much detail? What social elite were entertained within its walls? What eyes peered down from the tower onto the streets of old Bellingham? What careful eye designed the dreamy flower garden? And who are the lucky people that live in this gem today?

Welcome to Elmheim, the palace built for one of Whatcom County’s first white settlers, Henry Roeder, who sailed into Bellingham Bay with Russell Peabody in search of a site for a lumber mill in 1853. Forty-five years later, his home was finished, designed by British architect Samuel Cox.

Sadly, this home is the Then with no Now. 

It was razed to the ground in 1956.

And thus, our second cover photo is from May of 1956, one month before demolition.

Elmheim’s story is tied into the saga of the creation of Elizabeth Park - Whatcom County’s earliest city park. Henry Roeder donated the land to the city, which was completed after his death, in 1905 (under Park Commissioner Roland Gamwell). It’s named Elizabeth Park after Henry’s wife. 

Fifty-some years later, the then-owners planned to demolish the structure and build apartment buildings in its place. They offered to sell it cheaply - if it could be moved to a new location. Elizabeth Park seemed to be the perfect location - just a block away, on land already owned by the city.

However, this was not to be. Neighbors feared that “their property would be devalued by having the house located in the park and submitted a petition supporting their stance” (source). An old clause in Roeder’s original gifting came back to seal the doom of his house: records stated “"that if the tract were converted to any other than city park purposes the title would automatically revert to the original owners or his heirs."” (source)

And so demolition proceeded. A gem of Bellingham history become rubble in the face of commercial development. 

In an ironic twist, that development halted due to lack of funding, and the lot sat empty for twenty years. (Ironically, the barren lot probably weighed down neighborhood home prices more than putting the house in Elizabeth Park would have).

I hoped to still find notes about the types of rooms in the house, the design details throughout the exterior, the flowerbeds in the back, and the guests that would have mingled in the grand ballroom and halls that I can only presume were inside. 

Unfortunately, this was not to be. The primary sources I use to learn the history of these homes are not applicable in this case: many of the houses we cover in this series were inducted into the National Register of Historic Places in the 1970s and 1980s, and it’s those lengthy typewritten documents that hold clues about the architecture, the owner, and the time period. 

Elmheim didn’t survive long enough to be part of this wave, and thus we have only scattered photographs and and tertiary articles to work from. Their cryptic descriptions often simply settle with the term “Victorian”, which is less of an architectural style and more an indicator of the general historical era.  

And so Elmheim, with its arches, moon windows, octagonal tower, carved pillars and balustrades, remains too much of a mystery.  

Previously on Bellingham Then & Now: the Alfred Black House belonged to the first mayor of Bellingham.

Next up on Bellingham Then & Now: The Victor Roeder House has a blend of Gothic elements and “Bracketed Gothic” (ie it kinda looks like a gingerbread house).

Sources

WWU MABEL Archives. Link & Link.

“Elizabeth Park Whatcom County’s First Official Park.” WhatcomWatch. Link.

Images

1920s: WhatcomWatch. Link.

1956: WhatcomWatch. Link.

Garden & back of building (unknown year): Western Libraries Heritage Resources, via their Tumblr. Link.