City guide

architecture in Juneau.

5 buildings worth a detour, each with what to look for. Open them on the map, or walk them with the iPhone app, which collects each one you photograph.

Styles you'll see Russian Orthodox Art Deco Gothic Revival Queen Anne

Landmarks

The buildings that define the city's architecture.

Art Deco

Alaska State Capitol

1931

The Alaska State Capitol opened on February 14, 1931, not as a capitol at all but as a federal building housing federal services in the territory. Construction began September 18, 1929, and finished February 2, 1931, paid for partly by the United States Congress and partly by local citizens after Congress refused further funding; those citizens covered the cost of the land, which was then deeded to the government. Only after the Alaska Statehood Act of 1959 did the building take on its present role, becoming home to the Alaska Legislature and the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.

Photo: James Brooks , CC BY 2.0

Queen Anne

Frances House

The Frances House at 137 6th Street is a three-story wood-frame house built in 1898 by Jerry Eicherly, then Juneau's postmaster. In 1911 it was purchased by John Rustgard, the Alaska Territory's attorney general, and in 1927 it was rescued from demolition by Frances Davis, a noted painter of Alaskan scenes, from whom the house takes its name. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Photo: NoeHill , CC BY-SA 3.0

Gothic Revival

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church, the Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity at 415 4th Street, traces to a mission congregation founded in 1895; the first building went up in 1896, designed by architect George E. James in the Carpenter Gothic style and built by Foss and Olsen. That original church burned on March 12, 2006, and the present building, completed in 2009, replaced it. From 1918 to 1944 the church served as the pro-cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska.

Photo: gillfoto , CC BY-SA 4.0

Russian Orthodox

St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church

1893

St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church was built in 1893, not by Russian settlers but by Tlingit converts to Orthodoxy. Russia never colonized Juneau and sent no missionaries when mining began here in 1881; instead the faith took root after the Taku leader Anathahash traveled to Sitka in 1890 to be baptized, and Tlingit worshippers gravitated to a church that had used local languages in its liturgy since the early 1800s. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Photo: Wknight94 , CC BY-SA 3.0

Notable buildings

Worth a stop when you're nearby.

Landmark

Alaska Governor's Mansion

James Knox Taylor · 1912

The Alaska Governor's Mansion at 716 Calhoun Avenue was designed by James Knox Taylor and first occupied in 1912 by Territorial Governor Walter Eli Clark. The original budget for the 2½-story, 12,900-square-foot frame structure and its furnishing was $40,000, and it remains the official residence of Alaska's governor and their family.

Photo: Jet Lowe , Public domain