Location: 190 Olympic Way NW (west end of 5th Avenue Bridge)
Percival Mansion around 1891, Edward Lange drawing from Olympia Tribune Souvenir Issue 1891, Washington State Library |
Location today (2012), Photo courtesy of Deb Ross |
The Percival Mansion is one of the more recognizable structures in early Olympia images. It was built by Benjamin Harned in 1874, at the western edge of the bridge to West Olympia (or Marshtown as it was sometimes called). Built in Gothic Revival and Italianate style, it perched on top of a terraced hillside and had a spectacular view of Olympia and Mount Rainier. The house survived until the construction of the Fifth Avenue Bridge in the 1950s. (See Looking Back photo from 1949 as bridge and dam were under construction)
The Percival family were a noted Olympia dynasty, Captain Samuel Wing Percival arriving in 1853 and operating a store, sawmill and steamship operation. Percival Landing and Percival Creek are named after this family. The nearby Percival House was built for one of the children of Samuel Percival.
Further information:
Washington State Historical Society photographs (enter the following catalog numbers in Collections Search box): C1968.70.4
Bird’s Eye View of Olympia 1879, see structure at end of “long bridge.”
For more information on Percival family, see Residents section of this website.
Copyright © 2022 Deborah Ross