The Turret Journal
The Turret Journal is a series of architectural essays written from within the Adams Pragge House, an 1889 Victorian home in Port Townsend, Washington.
Written by Zhenya Lavy, the journal explores architecture, preservation, memory, weather, movement, and the historic fabric of Port Townsend through the life of the house itself. Drawing from archival research, observation, and the experience of inhabiting a structure that has stood continuously through more than a century of change, the essays attend to the relationships between buildings, streets, landscape, climate, and time.
Rather than functioning as a guide to the city or a conventional travel publication, The Turret Journal considers how historic places continue to shape contemporary experience — and what becomes visible when attention is sustained over time.
The publication is written from within the Adams Pragge House, where Zhenya and her husband serve as the current stewards of the property.
Selected Essays
Where Uptown Begins
An essay on approach, arrival, and the threshold where Port Townsend’s Uptown neighborhood announces itself.
On Passing Through
An essay examining movement through the house and the role of the staircase in shaping spatial experience.
Beyond the Bell Tower
On maps, omission, and the upper reach of Tyler Street beyond the routes most visitors follow.
The Revealing Season
An essay on spring, climate, and the late nineteenth-century building boom that transformed Port Townsend.