New Items of Interest

We've added a new chapter to our popular Handbook of Anacortes House Styles.  Enjoy reading about Queen Anne style houses and wandering about town to see the examples we have selected.  More chapters are in the works!

As you pass by Anacortes’s old houses, do you ever wonder about the former occupants or want to learn more about the building? Then check out our House History Program. There is much more than meets the eye to every old house, and learning about past owners is a way of honoring our community and the people who helped build it.

If you are interested in uncovering the history of your house, then contact the Preservation Board at the Museum (293-1915). We would be delighted to help you with the research.

Meanwhile, check out the history of the Olaf and Marie Howick House, currently owned by Douglas and Donna Erlandson. Many thanks to the Erlandson’s for sharing with us the story of their home.

Handbook of Anacortes House Styles

Over the coming months we will be releasing chapters of our Handbook of Anacortes House Styles. Look for future chapters that will be posted as they are completed. Each chapter will be filled with descriptions, facts, and pictures, as well as a list of addresses where real examples can be seen. We are aiming for the handbook to be entertaining as well as educational; helpful to those interested in restoring their homes; and, in the end, comprehensive of every historic house style in our town. We encourage your questions and comments. Please let us know what you think.

  1. Vernacular Houses - Pyramid and Hipped Roof Variation
  2. Queen Anne Houses

Newly Completed House History

The Olaf and Marie Howick house is a finely detailed and largely intact one-and-a-half-story bungalow built around 1912.

Olaf Howick and his wife Marie Simonsen Howick were natives of Norway, although they met and married in Wisconsin.  Olaf Howick was the proprietor of Howick and Toreen, also known as The Heidelberg, a saloon located at 300 Commercial Avenue.  After the enactment of Prohibition in 1916, he opened the Central Garage at Commercial and Seventh St.  Howick was a member of both ...   read more