The Carson House

The Carson House, also known as the “Pink Lady,” is a classic Queen Anne/Eastlake Victorian residence designed by the Newsom Brothers of San Francisco and completed in 1889 for William Carson, a pioneer lumber baron of Northern California, as a wedding gift for his son Milton Carson. After leaving the Carson family’s ownership in the 1940s, it was used as a boarding house and fell into serious disrepair. In 1963, Robert M. Madsen, a local real estate broker and former councilman and mayor of Eureka, purchased the property and rehabilitated it to its former glory, earning the City of Eureka’s first Beautification Award. His wife Josephine L. Madsen and the Madsen family have maintained its historical elegance. During its rehabilitation in 1963-64, its exterior color was chosen to contrast with the dark Carson Mansion, now known as the Ingomar Club, and it was painted bright pink and white, soon gaining the name “Pink Lady.”

Eureka, California · United States