See How The Other Half Live

It might seem a bit hard to believe with all of the apartments and strip malls around Lakewood today, but the area was once the playground of the well-off crowd of the Pacific Northwest.

It was a resort community of the industrialists of Tacoma who wanted a get-away spot nearby. Estates sprung up around the Lakes District as Tacoma grew. If there was money made it Tacoma, it was spent on an estate in the Lakes District.

Now you can take a peak into one of those houses.

The Lakewood Historical Society will be hosting a fundraising tour of Villa Madera at the end of the month.

Villa Madera is a Spanish Colonial Revival mansion that was constructed in 1919. It had the name name Villa Carman, after its owner Joseph Carman, a Tacoma businessman. Carman Manufacturing Co. was a furniture manufacturing company located at 801 E. 25th St. in Tacoma. The mattress company is currently run by Joseph Carmen IV with operations in Lacey. It celebrated 100 years of operation in 2003.

The mansion was designed by Kirtland K. Cutter and included 18 acres of lakefront property. The mansion had six fireplaces and an 18-foot ceiling in the living room. It was immediately a house to envy.

It was selected in 1931 by the Tacoma Society of Architects as one of the 10 most beautiful homes in Tacoma and its surrounding areas. It was purchased by Lowell T. and Helen Murray in 1939 and was renamed Madera.

The estate encompassed massive grounds on Gravelly Lake Drive, but the estate did not remain intact as the decades passed. It was subdivided in 1978 and became the gated community of Madera. The current owners, Kyle and Gayle Hampton Smith, purchased Villa Madera from actress Linda Evans in 2002.

Event details

The LHS event will give attendees views of the house and the grounds from 2 to 6 p.m. on July 31. This garden party comes complete with wine, nosh and live music as well as a 1929 Chrysler Roadster from LeMay Enterprise for photo opportunities. Tickets are $50.