The House That Niels Built

The day after going to the zoo we were looking for something else to do. Maya and Neha were thinking about going to see the Vulture Mine near Wickenburg, but after looking at how far away it is we decided to find something closer to home. After several false starts we eventually decided to go have a look at the Niels Petersen House. The house is decorated for Christmas and it was the last day for the decorations so we went to see them.

Niels Petersen was a Danish immigrant that set up a huge ranch in what would later become Tempe. In addition to becoming one of the wealthiest ranchers in the area he became an influential figure in Tempe serving on bank boards, donating land to the city, and even serving a term in the territorial government. He built a Victorian mansion on the ranch to woo Susanna Decker, an upper-crust east coast lady. They were married in 1892.

Other than the story behind it, there wasn’t too much about the house itself that was remarkable. The high ceilings, the ornate moldings, the archaic kitchen implements: all of it was fairly standard for old house tours. The thing that wasn’t standard was the holiday decoration. Since Petersen was Danish, the house is always decorated in traditional Danish fashion. The decorations follow a theme and this year’s theme was the stories of Hans Christian Andersen. So, there were a lot of references to Andersen’s tales in the decorations. The guest bedroom had half a dozen mattresses piled up on the bed, the Petersen boys’ room was full of nisser (gnomes), swans were worked into the garlands going up the curving staircase, there was a metal heart placed in the fireplace; that kind of stuff. Since Andersen was a big fan of paper cut outs and they are traditional Danish Christmas decorations anyway, the house was full of them. On the trees, handing as mobiles, sitting on desks and mantles – everywhere. Red and white (the colors of the Danish flag) are the main color used in decorating. The flag itself is also a popular decoration. It all made for a very nice display.

The day after that we had to get up at 4:00 to take Maya’s mom and sister to the airport for an early-morning flight out of town. We saw them off then came home and went back to bed!