June 14, 1887
ALBERT C. ADAMS PURCHASES LAND IN PLUMMER’S ADDITION
Local builder and drayman Albert C. Adams acquires the undeveloped land of Plummer’s Addition, Block 24, Lots 5 & 7 for $300 United States gold coin.
With Port Townsend’s selection as Port of Entry to the Northwest in the early 1850s, every vessel entering the Puget Sound must stop here for inspection and pay duty. The Washington Territory Customs House is located here, making Port Townsend the “Key City” and, rapidly, the largest in the Washington Territory. It’s widely expected that the Transcontinental Railroad will establish its terminus here and, with it, catalyze a population and wealth boom. Buoyed by this wave of optimism, Adams begins building a grand and stately home on spec. He is not alone. During the late 1880s and early 1890s, Port Townsend practically explodes with new home construction Uptown and new brick and stone commercial buildings Downtown. Residents envision their “City of Dreams” becoming the New York or San Francisco of the Pacific Northwest.
Most of the buildings and homes constructed in this era can still be seen downtown along Water Street and throughout the Uptown neighborhood.
October 17, 1889
PUGET SOUND WEEKLY ARGUS REPORTS CONSTRUCTION IS COMPLETE
Adams’ $5k investment produces a house of “fitteen” handsome rooms, built predominantly in the Queen Anne style, with elements of the Italianate Villa and Stick styles also popular at the time.
The street name at this time is Maple. According to received history, when Captain Morgan built several houses nearby on this street between Lawrence and Blaine, he lined the street with Maple trees. As a results, for decades Tyler also was called Maple Street — sometimes Maple Avenue — often at the same time!
1889 – 1902
THE ALBERT C. “BERT” ADAMS HOUSE
A prosperous buyer didn’t appear. Following a short tenancy (1889-1891) by the large family of John Washington Hinds — a banker who had moved here from California to help found the short-lived Marine Pacific Bank and also minister as first chaplain of the the Seamen’s Bethel chaplain — the house serves as a boarding house until late 1902.
December 31, 1902
CHARLES & JULIA INTERMELA BUY THE ALBERT C. ADAMS HOUSE
With their purchase of the house on the last day of 1902, Charles and Julia Intermela become the first family to own and reside in it. It is 13 years since the house was built, and their purchase price is a mere 20% of what it cost Adams to construct.
1902 – 1907
THE INTERMELAS
At the time they acquire the house, Charles is Jefferson County Sherriff. He would later serve as Port Townsend’s Treasurer.
Julia is the daughter of Seattle founder Henry Yesler and a Duwamish woman whose documented English name was Susan. While the last name Yesler identifies Julia as a kind of Seattle royalty, through her mother, Susan, she is very much Duwamish royalty: Susan’s father was Chief Su’quardle (Chief Curly), and his brother — her uncle — was Chief Si’athl (Chief Seattle).
The Intermelas have 2 children: Elsie and Charles Jr.
Pictured above are Julia Yesler Intermela and Charles Intermela on their wedding day. Several photos of them have been provided to us by their descendent, Kathie Zetterberg, who visited the house for the first time in 2023, 120 years after the Intermelas moved in!
October 10, 1903
PARTY FOR ELSIE MAKES THE LOCAL PAPER
The Port Townsend Leader reports on what sounds like a wonderful surprise party at the house!
February 11, 1907
SUDDEN LOSS
Julia is just 52 years old and in seemingly good health on the morning of February 11, 1907, when she experiences a fit of coughing fit so severe it causes a cerebral hemorrhage. She dies at home later that day.
February 25, 1907
PORT TOWNSEND LEADER REPORTS ON JULIA’S FUNERAL
A beloved member of Port Townsend society, Julia Yesler Intermala’s loss is felt throughout the community and the region, with friends and relatives traveling in from Seattle and beyond to pay their respects. The family held her funeral service in the Parlor of the house. Note the name of Charles Pragge among the pall bearers.
Although the newspaper reports that Julia was buried “with impressive ceremonies” down the road from the house, in Laurel Grove Cemetery, her grave is currently unmarked and its location has not been identified. Yet.
August 10, 1907
LT. GOVERNOR CHARLES E. COON PURCHASES THE HOUSE
Charles Coon, former mayor of Port Townsend and current Lieutenant Governor of the State of Washington, purchases the house for $2500 at auction. It is purchased not from Charles Intermela but, significantly, from the estate of Julia Yesler Intermela.
A “confirmed bachelor,” Coon moves into the house with his sister, Camilla, along with his niece, Helen; her husband, Charles Pragge; and their daughter, Helen (Nellie).
A Civil War veteran, Coon had served 18 years — under 4 presidents — in federal government working his way up to Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. While working for the Treasury Department he travelled to Europe to negotiate dispatch of debts amassed by the Southern States during the Civil War. He had been a prominent figure in both NYC and DC society (often quoted and written about in the New York Times and the Washington Post), a traveling companion of General William Tecumseh Sherman, and a leading figure in the establishment of professional baseball. In Port Townsend he served four terms as Mayor, and he even had a brief stint as acting Governor of the state. He was, by all accounts, charismatic and highly respected. He is a fascinating person and a subject worthy of his own history page!
1910s
PORT TOWNSEND MERCANTILE CO IN THE BARTLETT BLDG
Together, Charles Coon and the Pragges owned the Port Townsend Mercantile Co, which the Pragges operated for nearly 30 years.
While we have yet to locate definitive photos of any of the Pragges, we believe this photo in front of the Mercantile shows Charles (second from the left, with moustache) and daughter, Nellie (far right).
The former Port Townsend Mercantile Co space is currently occupied by William James Bookseller.
January 9, 1920
COON DIES AT HOME AFTER BRIEF ILLNESS
Known in town as “Uncle Charlie,” Coon had just completed the first of a two-year term serving in the Washington State House of Representatives. He bequeaths the house to his niece, Helen Pragge, who subsequently transfers ownership to her husband, Charles Pragge.
October 10, 1962
A NEW LEASE ON LIFE
Ron and Rose Anne Nowak purchase the house, ironically dubbing it “The Ritz” due to the state of disrepair. They also were known to call it “The Big Pink.” The house is 73.
1962 – 1998
THE NOWAK YEARS
Ron and Rose Ann Nowak, pictured in the Parlor, have the longest residency in the house.
They raise 5 kids here and are well-regarded members of the community.
Ron works as an engineer at the Crown Zellerbach Paper Mill from 1962 until 1978, and Rose Ann is very active in the community, including serving on the school board in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
After Ron retires from the paper mill in 1978, he takes up plumbing, establishing R.E. Nowak & Sons. (The business truck is still in service for another local plumber who lives around the corner. It even still has the original old Nowak signage and is regularly seen in the neighborhood and around town!)
NOWAK ERA RESTORATIONS
We have the Nowaks to thank for many major renovations and upgrades, including:
Plumbing
Electric
Central Heating
New Cedar Shakes Roof
Porch Restoration
Garage Construction
They change the house colors, painting “The Big Pink” green with purple and red trim!
Ron kept detailed records of all the work he did. His calculations, plans, sketches, and drawings, all remain with the house.
December 4, 1997
NEW OWNERSHIP, NEW PURPOSE
The Nowaks sell the property to Marshall and Serena Raney, who set about establishing it, for the first time, as a traditional Victorian bed and breakfast. They name their new business The Captain John Quincy Adams House Bed & Breakfast, keeping the name by which the community commonly knows the house at this time.
Note that the sign incorrectly puts the construction date as 1887. This, too, is a mistake the Raneys inherit with the house.
A lot of misinformation about the house had accumulated over the years, even beyond the house name and the year it was built. One of our primary objectives has been to set the record straight!
1999 – 2004
CAPTAIN JOHN QUINCY ADAMS HOUSE?
This name for the house predates the Raneys’ residency. The earliest known misattribution of it to a “Captain John Quincy Adams” with an incorrect construction date of 1887 instead of 1889 occurs as Port Townsend prepares for its Centennial celebration in 1951. By this time, there’s growing awareness that Port Townsend is a goldmine of Victorian architecture, and the city completes a signage project to mark and help visitors navigate its history. Each historic home is given a sign that includes the house name and year of construction. The shingle hung on this house designates it “The Captain John Quincy Adams House, 1887,” and for the next 72 years that’s how it’s known.
While it’s impossible to say exactly how these misattributions happened, our research has uncovered several potential factors:
– Albert C. Adams’ father was, in fact, named John Quincy Adams and also lived in Port Townsend around the corner from the house. He even contributed to financing for its construction. However, he was neither a ship’s captain nor the former United States president! He was a Union Army veteran, local grocer, and confectioner.
– In the 1880s and ’90s, a gentleman named John P. Adams, a vessel captain, also lived in town. John P. Adams was not related to A.C. Adams, and he never lived in this house.
– Both John Q. Adams and Captain John P. Adams appear on the city census, and in the 1887 City Directory Albert C. and John P. are listed next to each other (see image), which could have tripped up a well-meaning local researcher and contributed to the errors.
– As if the previously mentioned Maple/Tyler street name variations weren’t already confusing enough, because Captain Morgan had built several houses along the street for vessel captains, it also commonly was called “Captain’s Row.” For our imagined local researcher working with mid-century technologies and perhaps not overly scrupulous about details, this could have been misinterpreted to favor the captain.
Bottom line: Someone who literally didn’t mind their Ps and Qs falsely promoted A.C. Adams’ father from private in the Union Army to ship’s Captain and botched the job of signing (and naming!) the house. In early 2024, we replaced the original shingle with a new one: Albert C Adams House, Built in 1889.
2004 – 2022
THE MARSHALL RANEY YEARS
The Raneys operate The Capt. John Quincy Adams House Bed & Breakfast successfully for just four years, ceasing operations in 2004. Marshall Raney retains ownership and continues making improvements over the years. Among his most significant contributions, he changes the exterior to its current color scheme and installs the ornate, Old World wrought iron fence, which he imported from Prague, Czechoslovakia. Raney sources the color scheme from a Victorian in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia — it’s not on the Port Townsend National Landmark Historic District Approved Color Palette. Raney has described this as leading to some tensions between him and Port Townsend’s Historic Preservation Committee.
Regardless of provenance, we would argue that the house’s primary chestnut color is a brilliant choice. Rather than declaring its presences as an immutable statement against the landscape, it takes on the particular charge and character of the atmosphere, harmonizing with and reflecting our moody, PNW sky in an exciting and ever-changing dialogue.
May 2022
MARSHALL RANEY ENJOYING THE PORCH
As you might imagine, transitioning ownership of a grand home such as this is no small matter. Marshall generously and thoughtfully shares with us his stories, tips and tricks, resources, and photos. And while he no longer lives in Washington, he continues to stop by on his periodic visits to town — usually with something he’s turned up in his unpacking that he thinks we could use or should stay with the house. We’re so grateful to him for the work he did during his ownership, for entrusting us to steward the house during the next phase of its existence, and for his continuing friendship.
We love this picture of Marshall that Zhenya snapped from the main stairs, through the front door, as he enjoyed the front porch in the early evening of our final walk-through before moving in.
May 26, 2022
DAWN OF A NEW ERA
Joseph and Zhenya Lavy purchase the property from Marshall Raney and begin their own project of revitalization and fulfillment of their decades-long dream of owning and operating a Victorian Bed & Breakfast.
The Lavys moved to Seattle from Akron, Ohio, in 1999 and fell in love with Port Townsend upon their first visit shortly thereafter. Prior to relocating permanently to Port Townsend in 2022, they lived for 12 years north of Seattle in Lake Forest Park, coincidentally just minutes from where the Pragge’s daughter Helen (Nellie) was buried in Acacia Memorial Park after her death in 1993, at the age of 91.
April 2023
NOW OPEN! THE ADAMS PRAGGE HOUSE VICTORIAN BED & BREAKFAST
After nearly a year of treasure hunting and strategic business development, all licensing and permits were finally in place just in time to open for the summer 2023 season. We expected mostly 1- to 3-night stays by guests generally from Washington, and while many guests did hail from the state, we were pleasantly surprised when our first guests turned out to be same-day bookings from The Netherlands and Canada. Throughout our first season we enjoyed many 4- to 7-night stays by guests from places like California, Colorado, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Great Britain, Scotland, and Romania! Many already have become friends. Every day is an adventure, and we love every minute we get to care for this grand and storied home!