Bellingham residents Mike Kennard, 57, and wife Cis, 54, often hear the same remark when people realize where he lives. "Oh, you live in that house."

Kennard said he is not surprised by the reactions he receives. Kennard's home not only resembles a castle, but also sits on the former homestead of Bellingham pioneer Edward Eldridge.

The palatial building rests on the 2900 block of Eldridge Avenue, past the downtown area. Settled on a hillside overlooking Bellingham Bay, the privately owned estate draws its owner's guests to an earlier time and a faraway place.

Birds sing from within the trees bordering the property. Pink and purple blossoms abound. A cool breeze from the bay blows steadily across the green lawn and through the trees.

As visitors pass through the gate, the Chinook Jargon phrase "nesika illihe," engraved in brass letters in the driveway greets them. Chinook Jargon was the combination of languages used in trade between Native Americans and pioneers during the settling of the Pacific Northwest. The phrase, which translates as "our land," welcomes people to the former homestead of Edward Eldridge, which is now he home of the Kennards.

"We just happened to be in the right place at the right time," Mike Kennard said about purchasing the house in early 1994.

Arriving in 1853, Edward Eldridge was one of the first pioneers of Bellingham, Kennard said. He was 24 when he arrived and was a well-known political figure throughout the Northwest and held several public positions during his lifetime, including the first probate judge in Whatcom County in the 1850s and speaker of the house in the Washington Territory Legislature from 1866 to 1867, Kennard said.

Eldridge also was an advocate for women's rights, especially supporting the right for women to own land, Kennard said.

"This guy was 50 years ahead of his time," Kennard said of Eldridge's support of women's rights.

Though Eldridge had claim to 320 acres of land stretching across a large portion of what is now Bellingham, he built both of his mansions on the site where the current home rests.

"The significance to me is he could have built a house anywhere here, but he built it on this site," Kennard said.

Eldridge built two mansions on the site, but both later burned. The current building was the home of his son, Hugh Eldridge.

Jeff Jewell, photo archive research technician for the Whatcom Museum of History and Art, said the largest Eldridge mansion, built in 1890, was approximately 40,000 square feet and much larger than others in the area at that time, Kennard said. The home burned in a forest fire that devastated the town in 1894, Jewell said.

Hundreds of men tried to keep the roof of the structure wet to protect it from the imminent flames, Kennard said. Books from the home's library, which was the largest private library north of San Francisco, were some of the few things that survived the fire, he said. Eldridge did not live to see the destruction of his home. He died in 1892 at the age of 63, Kennard said.

When Edward Eldridge died, Hugh Eldridge took control of the family empire, said Al Currier, vice president of the Whatcom County Historical Society. At the time of his death, Edward Eldridge was president of the Bellingham National Bank and director of the Fairhaven and New Whatcom Street Railroad Company. Edward's legacy outlived that of Hugh Eldridge, Currier said.

"(Hugh) was important because he was the son of Edward," Currier said. "His importance to Bellingham had more to do with the management of his father's business."

Architect F. Stanley Piper built the home that stands today in 1926, Jewell said. Hugh Eldridge wanted Piper to build the home on that site because a historic home had always stood there and he wanted to continue the tradition, Kennard said.

Piper envisioned the house as a stately, masculine home that would differ in design from the Victorian homes that lined Eldridge Avenue, Kennard said.

"The house itself is grand, and it's unique and it's interesting," he said. "And as an architecturally designed house, it has some unique qualities in terms of flow and other things like that."

The French Eclectic architecture of the home settles itself amid the backdrop of Bellingham Bay and the San Juan Islands. These views are visible from nearly every room inside.

Inside, a long hallway extends to the left and right of the home's entrance. Glass doors facing the main entry lead to a formal seating area with a large bay window.

The dining room adjoins the living room with a small breakfast room at the other end. The pantry and kitchen connect to the breakfast room. A combination of traditional and modern furnishings decorate the home. Portraits of the 1890 home, as well as those of Eldridge and his wife, hang inside.

To the left of the main entry is a master suite. A downstairs master suite is common to the architectural style of the home, Kennard said. To the right of the main entry is a spiral wooden staircase, which leads to the second story. This level is where a guest bedroom and the Kennard's master suite are located.

After Hugh Eldridge's death, a succession of Eldridge relatives owned the home until the great-grandsons of Edward Eldridge put the house on the market in the 1990s, Kennard said.

The Kennards purchased it in early 1994 for $545,000. Today, the home is worth approximately $1.7 million, Kennard said.

Aside from remodeling the kitchen in the 1970s and Kennard's recent rebuilding of the staircase, most of the renovations to the home have been minor.

Owners have painted inside and out, but the original plaster walls still stand. Kennard said he has ideas as to what he would like to do next, including installing an elevator.

He said finding the time to make these renovations, however, is daunting, especially since he prefers to take part in the design and color processes.

To own the house and be pretentious about it would be an unfortunate way to act, Kennard said.

He realizes owning the home comes with a semipublic obligation. He said he welcomes the handful of curious people who stop by his home each year.

"I'm proud to share it," he said. "I feel blessed to have it."