A New Look for the Chief Factor’s House

In 2025, historically accurate reproduction carpet was installed in the Chief Factor’s House at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. This new carpet replaced worn and damaged carpeting that was installed in the house in the 1970s. The reconstructed Chief Factor’s House is designed to show the house as it appeared in 1845. While little is known of the house’s historic interior, today’s exhibit gives visitors an impression of the relative luxury in which the fort’s leaders and their families lived.

In the image comparison below, see how today's reconstructed Chief Factor's House compares to a historic image from 1860, one of the few photographs that were taken of the house before its destruction just a few years later.

Left image
Credit: NPS Photo / M. Huff

Right image
Credit: Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2003663140/.

A Stately Home

From the fort's founding in 1825, the Chief Factor of Fort Vancouver and his family lived in a separate residence from other officers and employees. This home was often a “duplex,” also housing the fort’s Chief Factor and his family. Chief Factors were the top-ranking officers at the fort, and so their home was protected within the fort’s palisade and more spacious and lavish compared to other homes and apartments at the fort. It was often just called the “Big House.” It also housed the fort’s Mess Hall, where the officers and clerks would gather for mealtimes throughout the day. An adjacent kitchen provided meals.

The most well-documented Chief Factor’s House at Fort Vancouver was finished around 1838. It was built to make an impression on visitors to the fort. Its front was painted white, and had a long verandah, flower beds, and grape vines. Cannons sat in front of the house aiming, somewhat generally, towards the main entrance gate. These cannons, emblazoned with the seal of King George III, along with the house’s impressive exterior, were designed as a show of British power in the Pacific Northwest. The cannons were “spiked,” and purely decorative.

Reconstructing the Chief Factor's House

The Chief Factor’s House under construction in 1976.

NPS Photo / D. Hansen

Re-enacting a dinner in the Chief Factor’s House Mess Hall shortly after the reconstruction was completed.

NPS Photo

In the 1970s, the National Park Service began building a reconstruction of the Chief Factor’s House. This house was built on the exact location where archaeologists had located the former site of the original house. Archaeological data and historic research informed the reconstruction, which features an entrance foyer, a central Mess Hall, and living quarters for the two families who would have lived here in 1845: the family of Chief Factor Dr. John McLoughlin and the family of Chief Factor James Douglas.

The reconstruction was completed in June 1976 and furnished with a combination of antiques and custom-made reproductions of archaeological and historic objects. These furnishings add to the house’s appearance and help visitors imagine what this building looked like in the year 1845.

Aside from one historic account noting that the building had ten rooms, the interior layout is largely unknown. Archaeological excavations uncovered some clues, including dimensions of the building and fireplace locations. One room in the reconstructed house was designated as McLoughlin’s office. Around the year 2000, one room was furnished as the house’s “Ladies’ Mess” or “Family Mess,” demonstrating how meals for the fort’s officers were, historically, considered to be business meetings so they ate separately from their families.

In this exhibit, generations of visitors to Fort Vancouver have learned about the leading figures of Fort Vancouver and their families.

Painting the Chief Factor's House

The interior walls of the reconstructed Chief Factor's House were originally left unpainted, but paint remnants found by archaeologists on fragments of brick and wood suggested that the fort's interior walls were actually brightly painted. In the early 2000s, the Chief Factor's House rooms were painted in historically accurate shades of blue, green, pale yellow, and red.

The Carpet

The sitting room on the west side of the house is furnished to represent the living quarters of Chief Factor John McLoughlin and his family.

NPS Photo / M. Huff

The sitting room on the east side of the house is furnished to represent the living quarters of Chief Factor James Douglas and his family. Here, the carpet was especially threadbare and rippled due to water damage sustained during January 2024’s intense winter storm.

NPS Photo / M. Huff

In 1979, reproduction “Wilton weave” carpet in a historic pattern was installed in the house’s living quarters and office. This carpet was manufactured in England using historically accurate methods. Whether the original house had carpet is unknown, but carpet was used in upper class homes in the mid 19th century. Its presence in the reconstructed house illustrates the comfort in which certain families here lived.

Over the years, despite the later use of carpet protectors and UV film, decades of visiting feet created threadbare patches in the carpet and sunlight from the house’s windows faded the carpet’s vibrant colors. In January 2024, Vancouver experienced unusually cold and icy weather, which resulted in a pipe bursting in part of the house. The carpet in the sitting room designed for Chief Factor James Douglas and his family was damaged.

Time for Something New

Working with contractor Stark Carpet and in consultation with National Park Service experts, park staff selected two new patterns for the east and west sides of the house. Carpet was installed in April 2025.

The McLoughlin Sitting Room

Left image
The carpet installed in the McLoughlin Sitting Room in 1979, as it appeared in 2025.
Credit: NPS Photo / M. Huff

Right image
The new carpet installed in the McLoughlin Sitting Room in 2025.
Credit: NPS Photo / M. Huff

For the west side of the house, representing the living quarters of the McLoughlin family and Dr. McLoughlin’s office, the “Gunton Hall” pattern was chosen. This pattern was first woven for Gunton Hall, a historic British building, in the 1700s. The pattern has a regal red background and natural motifs, which subtly hint to McLoughlin’s leading stature and well-documented interest in and support for natural sciences.

The Douglas Sitting Room

Left image
The Douglas Sitting Room carpet installed in 1979, as it appeared in 2025 following damage sustained during the 2024 winter storm.
Credit: NPS Photo / M. Huff

Right image
The Douglas Sitting Room carpet installed in 2025.
Credit: NPS Photo / M. Huff

For the east side of the house, representing the living quarters of the Douglas family, a pattern called "Tubruk" was chosen. This pattern was first woven for a historic British estate in the mid 1800s. During this time period, Persian-style carpet designs were just beginning to rise in popularity. After John McLoughlin retired and moved to Oregon City in early 1846, Douglas remained as Chief Factor. The older-style pattern in the McLoughlin Sitting Room represents McLoughlin's past prime, while this more current (for the time) design represents Douglas entering the heights of his career with the Hudson's Bay Company.

What's Next

Volunteers in the Fort Vancouver NHS Costume Shop are hard at work on new curtains for the Chief Factor’s House.

NPS Photo / E. Trestain

Our work to maintain the appearance of the Chief Factor’s House continues! With new carpet installed, we are next working on a refresh of the worn textiles elsewhere in the house. The house’s window and bed curtains will be replaced by reproduction curtains made by volunteers in the Fort Vancouver NHS Costume Shop.

The Chief Factor’s House has been a highlight of countless visits to the reconstructed Fort Vancouver. Park staff and volunteers are proud to work together to maintain this exhibit and the visitor experience it provides.

Left image
The Douglas Quarters Sitting Room in the Fort Vancouver Chief Factor's House.
Credit: NPS Photo / M. Huff

Right image
The McLoughlin Quarters Sitting Room in the Fort Vancouver Chief Factor's House.Loughlin C
Credit: NPS Photo / M. Huff