Inside the entryway lies the original oak parquet floor, bordered with intricate inlays of walnut and maple, along with the 22-step stairway with a wide, hand-carved mahogany banister and the lady with the lamp on the newel post.
The Lady Lamp pictured is not the original but is very similar. The original lamp has been found and will be installed sometime in 2007.
The Weber piano located in the Middle Parlor was a birthday present to Fannie Ann, their eldest daughter. Built in New York by the Weber Company, the piano was shipped around the horn of South America, up the Columbia River, and then sent by wagon to Walla Walla. This unique square style piano, or "box" piano, was built only in the second half of the 19th century and was deemed a "coffin on legs" by its critics. The piano has 85 rather 88 keys of pure ivory, and the strings run the width of the piano rather than front to back, as a typical piano’s strings do.
Mrs. Kirkman's bedroom
The Front Parlor, right, was the scene of daughter Fanny Anne's wedding in 1894. The Victorian parlor was an integral setting for many social functions of the time
Mrs. Kirkman was a talented lady. There are several examples in the home of her crochet and knitting abilities. She created the hair wreath below that intertwines her family’s hair together, a common practice in Victorian times.
Click image for a close-up detail view.