– The History of Lairmont Manor –

THE LARRABEE FAMILY

Lairmont Manor was originally the home of the Larrabee family. It was the dream of Charles X. Larrabee, the co-founder of Fairhaven. Charles and his wife Frances Frazier Payne Larrabee (AKA Fannie), commissioned notable Seattle architects, Bebb & Gould, to design the 25-room Italian Renaissance style home and sprawling estate. Charles passed away before the completion of the project and so the illustrious and talented Frances Payne Larrabee, worked with Gould to finish the home. Frances raised four children and thrived as an active and influential club woman in Whatcom County. She dedicated her energy and status to civic improvement, social issues, philanthropy, and education. The Larrabee house was the center of many social, political, literary, business, and musical events during Frances’s life.

MOUNT SAINT MARY’S

After Frances’s passing the estate was sold to the novitiate for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, the founders of St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham.  From 1941-1966 Lairmont Manor was home to Mount Saint Mary’s Novitiate, a school and dormitory for nurses in training.

Thank you to Sister Eleanor Gilmore, CSJP of St. Mary on The Lake, for this account of the time spent here at the Larrabee Estate, Mount St. Mary’s Novitiate, Lairmont Manor:

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, a religious order of Catholic Sisters, in 1891 established St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham. This first ministry of the Sisters in the Northwest United States followed soon after the 1884 founding of the Congregation in Nottingham, Eng]and. The Sister’s ministry of healthcare in the Northwest proved attractive to young women and inquiries soon came from women living in the U.S. and from Canada who were interested in joining the Sisters. As the years passed and the numbers of both patients and novices steadily grew, it became evident to the Sisters that it was necessary to move the Novitiate program outside of the hospital to a location where a Novitiate could be established for the housing and education of young women interested in entering the Congregation

An opportunity presented itself following the death of a good friend of the Sisters, Frances Larrabee. In July 1941, her son, Charles F. Larrabee, who lived in Fairhaven, asked if the Sisters would be interested in purchasing his parent's estate, Lairmont Manor. The Larabee family was among the early settlers in Fairhaven, the sisters knew the home. It was a short distance south of the hospital and was on a large piece of property. The inquiry came at an opportune time; the Sisters considered it a proposal from heaven. Necessary permissions soon arrived from the Motherhouse in New Jersey, and a Novitiate Building Fund provided the initial down payment. The purchase agreement was completed on December 12, 1941, on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Necessary renovations and alterations began almost immediately and Mount St. Mary's Provincial House and Novitiate were dedicated on February 11, 1942. March 19, 1942, the Feast of St. Joseph, was a momentous date when three Sisters pronounced their first Vows and another the final Vows in the new Chapel; the Novitiate was off to a blessed start. 

Lairmont Manor, welcoming its new occupants, experienced more than a name change. Its elegant front entry rooms were converted to visitor's parlors and a visitor's dining room, the spacious ballroom became the chapel and the family living room the Professed Sisters Recreation Room. This last room, "the room with a piano" also served as a singing practice room where Sisters today laughingly remember beginning practice sessions with knotted ropes held high above their heads as they opened their mouths widely to warm up with enthusiastic Ahhhs, Eees, Ayyys, Ohhhs, and Ooos. Spacious and elegantly furnished bedrooms adjusted to dormitory life with ceiling-to-floor dividing curtains welcoming two, three, or four young women. Lights were out at 9 pm, and a morning knock on the door, accompanied by the greeting, "Benedicamos Domino" (Let us bless the Lord) welcomed the start of the day. Stairs off from the entry wound down to a Large wood-paneled billiard room; now the Novices' Recreation Room.  The genteel home soon made a comfortable and happy adjustment to the sounds and activities - and the quiet -- of many young women.

Just seven years following their purchase of the ''Mount'', the Sisters again found themselves in need of more room. The number of candidates continued to increase, and in 1950 a large addition was built onto the east side of the house. The second floor provided bedrooms and the main floor housed classrooms, a large dining room, and various similar living quarters. As the years passed, each decade required more living and education space. (An early-1960s picture taken of Novices at a meal shows a row of long dining tables added down the middle of the original U-shaped table placement. Elbow space was at a premium!) 

Needed Novitiate quarters also came in creative and unusual ways. A 1961 article from the (“Bellingham Herald” or the “New Times”) describes how “Federal Aid to private education got a new twist this week ... " in Fairhaven After eight months of waiting for the proper traveling permit for a military barracks to be moved by barge from  Whidbey Island Naval Air Station to St Mary's Novitiate, Bellingham, and for high tides and wind conditions to lower, "Old 74", as it was called, finally appeared in Bellingham harbor and was given a police escort to the Novitiate. This creative solution to a need for more classrooms and other education facilities initially was not well-received by nearby neighbors, but its placement allowed it to be "out of site" and it unobtrusively served well its young students and the teaching staff.

During the very ear]y years when the Novitiate was in St. Joseph Hospital and throughout the forties to the late fifties, Sisters primarily received their education, both religion and academic, in Bellingham.  Those who were to be nurses trained at the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing, founded in 1904. Teacher candidates attended the New Whatcom Normal School which today is Western Washington University. Most Sisters working in education achieved their Bachelor's Degrees by attending "summer-after-summer" school while teaching during the school year. It was not until the late fifties, when the National Sister Formation Program was established for the education of U.S. members of religious congregations, that most Sisters gained a university degree before beginning their professional careers. 

This academic initiative introduced much change into daily life at St. Mary's. An academic affiliation with Seattle University brought such academic subjects as a foreign language, philosophy, art, and sciences to the Novitiate campus, along with the accompanying required homework. Visiting professors were readily welcomed and again, space was at a premium as books and teaching aids filled every square foot not yet occupied. 

In the late fifties, it became clear that at some point soon, a student residence in Seattle would be necessary. With “Sister Formation" now the way of life, Sisters who made First Profession of Vows would no longer leave Bellingham directly for a teaching or nursing placement. They would continue their studies at Seattle University; an RN studying for a B.S., and a teacher for a B.A. in Education. So, fifteen years following the purchase of Lairmont, the search began for a Seattle ''Juniorate ". The answer came when the ''McKay home", a large mansion at James and Boren, built in the early 1900s, came for sale. The necessary remodeling was done in quick order and in the summer of 1957, the first eight newly Professed Sisters, to be known as ”The Juniors", left Bellingham to take residence a few blocks from Seattle University. The pattern was now established for the Novitiate and Junior Professed Sisters' spiritual and academic education 

The interest in membership in religious congregations on the part of young women in the United States in the forties and fifties continued strong. The Sisters of St Joseph of Peace, in the West, the Eastern United States, and in Great Britain found themselves, along with so many other religious Congregations of women, adapting in many ways to respond to the interest. The move to Seattle went well, but it was clear that the McKay home only would be adequate for a short period of time. The number of Postulants and Novice continued to increase and each year 10 to 15 newly-Professed Sisters moved from Bellingham to Seattle to continue their education. A search for a long-term solution had begun earlier when the Sisters purchased in 1952 the Bannan (“Western Gearworks”) home in Bellevue. It first accommodated the leadership members of the Sisters of St. Joseph Western Province who moved from Fairhaven to Bellevue in 1953. The Novitiate remained at the “Mount”. So now, the Sisters in the administration of the Province, and in the Novitiate and the Juniorate were in three different locations. 

The Bellevue property was extensive and situated conveniently for travel to Seattle University. Recognizing this, plans were put in motion to build housing for both the Novices and Junior Professed Sisters on the Administrative Offices campus. This plan was realized in 1966. 

As the year 1966 moved to a close and preparations were set in motion for the postulants and novices to move to Bellevue, emotions at Mount St. Mary's were high and mixed. "The Mount” had been the much-loved home of the “Sisters in the West” for 25 years. Tears of leaving were mixed with those of joyful anticipation. 

45+ (Now 57) years have passed since that momentous move from Fairhaven to Bellevue. St. Mary's on-the-Lake continues to serve the administrative needs of the Western region of the Sisters of St Joseph. Many Sisters today can claim having spent their years of “formation” at “The Mount”, at the Seattle “McKay” Juniorate, and in Bellevue. One of the two Sisters who were the first to enter the “The Mount" as postulants in 1942 took the opportunity a few years ago to visit Lairmont. Their visit brought back powerful memories of their love for the beauty of the home and the surroundings. The two of them laughed, remembering the 12 poplar trees that lined the long driveway from Hawthorne Road, and how they named them “The Twelve Apostles". They were in awe, remembering how as novices, spiritual reading and attempts at prayer were enhanced just by being there. ''Yes!", they said to each other, “Something great happened here!" 

~ Sister Eleanor Gilmore, CSJP of St. Mary on The Lake

THE DOUGLAS FAMILY

Since 1967 The Larrabee Home has been privately owned by a local family. After a complete restoration, the estate was established as an event house to be shared with all. The family and all who work on the estate take great pride in sharing this architectural gem with the community by opening the doors to events 365 days a year.  All proceeds from events are used to fund Lairmont Manor's preservation, maintenance, and community and cultural events.

Today Lairmont Manor is on the United States National Register of Historic Places list.

A letter from the grandson of Frances and CX Larrabee. As custodians and stewards of this remarkable home and estate, these words fill our hearts and keep us working every day to preserve and protect the history around us.

– Remarkable Visitors to the Manor over the past 100+ Years –