Whatcom Museum of History & Art

Museum location: 121 Prospect St., Bellingham.

Permanent displays: The main building is a huge red-brick Victorian trimmed in local Chuckanut sandstone that looms above the downtown area. The poignant history of this former city hall dominates the permanent displays; on the third floor, learn the curious story of the 1892 building's unfinished clock tower, where the clockworks were not completed until 1995.

Temporary exhibits: An exhibit on Bellingham's Victorian architecture runs through July 30. The bulk of the city's Victorian buildings were constructed soon after the railroad came to town in 1890, noticeably later than Victorians built decades earlier to the south in towns such as Port Townsend and Astoria. Designs were adapted from those in architectural pattern books (see the museum's gift shop for examples).

Almost even as they were being constructed in this area, the ornate Victorian style was beginning to go out of fashion, soon to be replaced by the simpler Craftsmen bungalow designs of the early 1900s.

In an unlucky coincidence, the national depression of 1893 hit and basically scuttled the region's development. Structures such as the former Fairhaven Hotel, built by speculative land developers, were now "too big and too fancy" for the area in an economic climate that rivaled the later Great Depression of the 1930s.

Unfortunately, many of Bellingham's Victorians have burned or been demolished and live on only in memories and in the vintage photos blown up to mural size that form the core of this fascinating exhibit. Examples of Victorian household wares that furnished such homes are also on display.

Another temporary exhibit in the museum's Arco Exhibits Building (located across the street from the old city hall) features "Contrasting Objectives: Fifteen Pacific Northwest Photographers," which runs through Sept. 10.

The display explores the diverse objectives from which photographers operate to produce their own unique results. Subjects range from nighttime urban landscapes to selections by a former software engineer that explore the relationship between nature and technology.

Other highlights: Special events currently focus on Victorian architecture. At 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 26, authors Paul Dorpat and Jean Sherrard offer a free photographic tour of Washington Victorians, putting Bellingham's examples into a statewide context.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 29, in a rare open house, the Gamwell House, one of Bellingham's remaining Victorian homes, will be open to the public by donation.

Admission: Free.

Directions: From northbound Interstate 5 in Bellingham, take Exit 253 (from southbound lanes, take Exit 257), bear right off the exit ramp, and follow signs to the museum.

For more information: 360-676-6981 or www.whatcommuseum.org.

— Cathy McDonald,

Special to The Seattle Times

Cathy McDonald, a Renton-based freelance writer, is a regular contributor to

Northwest Weekend.