About the Calumet & Arizona Guest House

In 1906 noted Southwest architect Henry C. Trost designed a home for the Joseph E. Curry family.  Mr. Curry was chief clerk for the Calumet & Arizona Mining Company.  The "C&A" subsequently acquired the house and, after altering it to reflect an increasingly wealthy community, used it as their guest house for visiting VIPs. 

After passing through a few owners and many changes to meet the needs of an always changing mining community, it became the residence of the Timbers in 1977, and since that year they have been conducting the careful restoration and enhancement of the home and its grounds.  Countless architectural details and period furnishings are the result of a long ago art of craftsmanship and sense of proportion, which are lost to us today.

The garden was at first intended to be only a beautiful frame for a most extensive preservation and enhancement of an historic home. However, its development has become a many year and captivating project in its own right. Terracing, massive walls and rocks, impart a bold three-dimensional texture to the grounds and compliment the massive lines of the structures. Mostly lush desert flora has been selected, to which our particular Southwest zone is friendly, as well as suiting the home's Mission revival theme.

All of our rates include our full breakfast, cooked to order for each gues, and served in our elegant dining room. Guests may select from a menu which includes fresh fruit salad, juice, coffee, tea, milk, bacon, eggs, cottage fries, homemade granola, french toast made with homemade whole wheat bread, broccoli/cheese quiche, crepes filled with scrambled eggs topped with an Holandaise sauce, Eggs Benedict and homemade toast and jellies.

Our guest rooms are from normal (150 sq.ft.), to a very spacious (500 sq. ft.). Period wallpaper adorns the walls and antiques, from collectable grade to family heirlooms, to museum quality are throughout the home and bedrooms. 

The home was built just after the railroad arrived in Bisbee, so materials could be more easily brought in from around the country, choice materials otherwise rare in Bisbee before the coming of the railroad: bathroom fixtures, door hardware, and woods of different kinds- some finely crafted and finished- are generously used as trim, flooring, wainscoting and cabinetry. 

The old and curiously imperfect glass is prevalent, but also there is some finely cut, beveled and leaded for ornamental purposes. A coal fed boiler in the basement that served cast iron radiators in all the rooms has been left as original as possible, but its function has been superceded by modern central heating. 

The areas common to all, i.e. apart from the private bedrooms, are in the grand old way of spacious and numerous: living room, music room, dining room, atrium, halls, landings, porches and a woman's dream kitchen- large, attractive and a blend of the old but yet with modern efficiency and convenience. 

Evidently the home was always loved for what it was by its previous owners, because almost all of its antique architectural details had been carefully guarded and preserved. During the more than three decade process of modernization and renovation by its current owners, changes such as central heat and air conditioning, evaporative cooling and WiFi internet connections have been subtly incorporated into the home to make it more comfortable and convenient for guests.