Fairhaven Hotel (1889/90 - 1956)
Northeast Corner of 12th Street and Harris Avenue

The elegant Fairhaven Hotel , constructed in 1889-90, exemplifies the hopes and dreams of the early founders of the town of Fairhaven.  The collapse of its trade and final demolition is also a testament to the shattered dreams of a town once poised to be the terminus of the Great Northern Railroad.

Financed by entrepreneurs Nelson Bennett and C.X. Larrabee and designed by local architects, Longstaff and Black, the hotel boasted 100 rooms.  It was serviced by a hydraulic elevator, lit by gas and electric lights, decorated with elegant oak furniture and brass hardware and heated by large steam boilers.  Rosamonde Van Miert’s, "The Fairhaven Hotel Journal, 1889-1956”, provides exquisite detail of its amenities.

Fairhaven dreams of rapid growth ended with the selection of Seattle as the railroad’s terminus and solidified by the panic of 1893.  Even though the hotel hosted many social gatherings, fraternal conventions and a celebrated visit by Mark Twain in 1895, the financial success of this investment was short-lived.  The hotel closed in December of 1899.

The Larrabee family became the sole occupants of the housekeeping portion of the hotel until the death of C.X. Larrabee in 1914.  In 1916, Mrs. Larrabee and her two younger children moved to their new residence at #1 Hawthorn Road, now Lairmont Manor (405 Fieldston Road).

Subsequent occupants of the grand hotel included the Yoghurt Sanitarium, opening in 1922, adjoined by the Hotel Victoria in 1923.  In addition, various offices were located in the building, and it was home to a number of private residents as well.

The hotel’s tower was removed in 1928, signaling the eventual demise of the entire structure.  The hotel closed officially on September 9, 1931.  Opened as a community recreation center in 1940 under the ownership of the County, very few of the once-elaborate decorative elements remained.  On July 26, 1953, fire consumed this historic structure.  The last debris was cleared away in 1956, making way for a Richfield Oil Co. service station.

Today, the property is virtually abandoned, the service station closed.  The current property owners envision a new Hotel Fairhaven on the site of this vanished landmark.

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