Happy December everyone! I thought it was about time I showed up on the blog again, and I thought I would start with a drive through Pacific Grove in search of more beautiful Victorian houses. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Pacific Grove is located along one of the most beautiful bits of coastline in California, tucked between whimsical Carmel-by-the-Sea and Monterey. I have already shared my visit to downtown Pacific Grove in this post, and now you get to see more of what I found while following my nose and driving around town in search of more of the Victorian homes and Inns I had heard about. I am sure I did not find them all, but I found some.
This is The White Hart, to me the most beautiful of the Victorian buildings I found in PG. The Hart Mansion was built in 1893 by Dr. Andrew Jackson Hart as both his private residence and professional office. You can still see his name on the stained glass of the front door. The house remained in Dr. Hart’s family for three generations, all of them doctors.
Two renovations and several ownerships later (including three owners who operated it as a restaurant), the Hart Mansion still stands almost unchanged from when the original family lived there. The current owners and residents have made it available for rent for private events, and also offer Victorian style afternoon tea on two weekends every month. In December, they offer special Holiday Teas and those book up fast, something I discovered when I tried to make a reservation ahead of time, but not ahead enough. I did ask if I could take a few quick photos of the inside, explaining what they would be for, but they were rather defensive and said no.
Right next door to The White Hart is another beauty, The Gosby House Inn. I walked in to have a look and here they were quite warm and welcoming and quite happy to let me take a few photos. One of the Holiday events in Pacific Grove is a tour of Inns and B&Bs decorated for Christmas. This was one of the Inns on the tour, which I did not take as it would be difficult to take photos with a tripod when surrounded by a large-ish group of other visitors. But you get to see it nonetheless.
Then I hopped in the car and headed for the coast, as the fog was clearing and I was hoping for some good images of the coastline. That did not work out, as the fog decided to come back right away, so I followed my nose and found this lovely home below, called Daffodil House. This elegant Victorian replica has a more recent history as it was built in 1989, and is a private residence.
Daffodil House is flanked by other colorful Victorian-style (or almost Victorian style) replicas which I thought were pretty enough to share. I just wish people would find a different place for rubbish bins, and not just in PG!
Zipping up and down this road and that street, the Centrella Inn caught my eye, so I stopped to have a look. I received another warm welcome and was allowed to take photos inside as well, so you get to take a peek. The Centrella Inn (as was) is a historic landmark dating back to 1889.
Driving down another street on the way back towards downtown, I saw these pretty colorful cottages, slightly bohemian in style with Victorian touches here and there. Aren’t they fun? Across the street from these was the white church you see below (Christian Church of Pacific Grove), which was originally built in 1895.
Then I found this stunner, better known as St. Mary’s-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, which was built in 1887 and was the first church building erected in Pacific Grove. I saw the stained glass and thought of going inside, but there was a service going on and did not want to disturb.
This concludes our tour for today, but stay tuned because I have a treat in store for all of you lovers of the Victorian style. I photographed it yesterday right here in Napa and will be posting about it soon. My photo editing & prepping workflow is a bit slower these days with so many updates and new software, but I am getting to it all.
649 Lighthouse Avenue, Pacific Grove, Ca 93950 | ph. (831) 375-8090 | website
643 Lighthouse Avenue, Pacific Grove, Ca 93950 | ph (831) 375-1287 | website
612 Central Avenue, Pacific Grove, Ca 93950 | ph (800) 233-3372 | website
ST. MARY-BY-THE-SEA EPISCOPAL CHURCH
146 Twelfth Street, Pacific Grove, Ca 93950 | ph (831) 373-4441 | website
Here is a bit more Pacific Grove for you to peruse:
And if you are exploring the Monterey Peninsula at this page you can discover more about Monterey and charmingly unique Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Although I only have a rudimentary understanding of architecture I really love looking at beautiful houses like these! There doesn’t seem to be much of a shortage at all here.
Indeed, it is a style that I have not seen anywhere else except here in the United States. San Francisco is known for these “painted ladies”, but they really are all over the country. xoxo
I’m so glad I came across this blog. I’m headed to Carmel next week and wanted to make sure I stop by Pacific Grove and one of the reasons are these gorgeous houses. It’s not like we don’t have enough of our own here in SF but I especially look forward to exploring this little town during the Holidays as you beautifully showcased here on your blog. Thanks for the inspiration and location list!
Lucie: thank you for stopping by and for your words. I am happy my post has been helpful to you. PG is less known than Carmel, but it is quite charming, with lots of Victorian homes, even more than I photographed. And there are lots here in Napa, too, but you can never have enough Victorian homes, can you?! Have a wonderful time.