The Valentine Building, built in two phases in 1904 and completed in 1913, is significant for its Frontier Alaskan architectural character, its recognized importance as Juneau's most prestigious office building
during the first half of this century, its association with Emery Valentine and other prominent pioneer Alaskans and significant historic events.

Emery Valentine arrived in Alaska in 1886, possessed of a strong degree of entrepreneurial ambition. At the age of 10, he had already crossed the midwest plains with his pioneering parents.

He followed the Rocky Mountain gold fields as prospector and miner, and lost a leg lost in an early Colorado Territory mining accident.

Still following the gold trails, Valentine arrived in the raw gold camp of Juneau only six years after that significant 1880 Gold Creek discovery by Joe Juneau and Richard T. Harris. He learned goldsmithing—which led him into the gold jewelry trade.

John Olds, one of the first sourdough prospectors following Juneau and Harris, recalled that,"We landed our canoe on November, 1880, at the foot of where Seward Street new is. . ."  This site, just at the-tide mark, was registered, in 1881 as a mining claim, the Boston Lode.

In 1896, yhe year after Valentine's Alaskan arrival, Ernest Ingersoll's best-selling book, Gold Fields of the Klondyke, proclaimed "Juneau, a town of 3,000 is rightly called the metropolis of Alaska Territory. Whether she will retain this prestige remains to be seen. If so, one of two things must occur.  She must plane down
the side of her mountains or erect skyscraping buildings with elevators to accommodate her populace, for nearly every foot of available ground is already occupied. . ."

Emery Valentine was foremost among the developers who found a better way.

When he arrived in Juneau, Front Street was the high tide beach of Gastineau Channel. Emery Valentine, accordingly, was among those who set progress by filling in ground along this derelict beachline. This enabled Valentine to build the first segment of his first building.

"Walking up the stairs to the second floor of the Valentine Building . . . is a trip back into what was the most prestigious business building of Juneau in the early 1900's, built by one of Juneau's colorful pioneer characters ..."  according to Toni Croft & Phyllis Bradner's Touring Juneau; Back Streets, Bawdy-houses, Bars & Bodacious Biographies.

In 1913, the Valentine Building block was advantageously enlarged to in­clude the prime corner lot at Seward and Front Streets. The 1904 structure not only doubled in size, but its impact was vastly enhanced by the most prominent corner location of two streets—rather than only one.

Emery Valentine had come to Alaska in 1886 to satisfy a lifelong desire to develop North America's "Last Frontier." Valentine founded Juneau's finest jewelry store which occupied the city's test retail site at the corner of Seward and Front with exposure on both streets.

Valentine became highly active in Alaskan politics and civic activities. He was Chairman of a city council-type organization called the Juneau Board of Safety, and underwriter and private financier for the first Juneau Fire Department. Valentine served six successful terms as Mayor after Juneau was incorporated in 1900.

Emery Valentine proved his deep commitment to development of Southeastern Alaska. As one of the largest property owners in southeastern Alaska, he helped found the Alaska Steamship Line, the foremost freight and passenger ocean line with service to Seattle. He founded the Peoples Wharf Company Docks at Skagway and Juneau, which so affected shipping charges in these ports, that coal and lumber prices dropped to almost half of the exorbitant rates paid before 1900.

Valentine wanted to erect "a quality structure that would give Juneau a truer air of urbanity."

The Valentine Building was the first in Alaska where office space was intentionally separated from retail space. The building's reputation for quality offices, gained over the years, and its ideal central downtown location, as well as architectural quality, provided elite tenancy for the first half of the century.

Architecturally, the Valentine building is an outstanding example of frontier Commercial architecture that recalls a pioneer Alaskan tradition of quality craftswork; the design responding and interpreting the contemporary archi­tectural developments of the late 19th century West Coast.

Despite intentions to the contrary, the building is a vernacular one; yet impressive in its execution of style. The isolation of Juneau at that time, plus the popularity of pattern books as architectural design aids, provided the fine ornamentation of the building which was available from Seattle millworks).

Stylistically, Valentine Building provides documentation of an historic design evolution.

It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

National Register of Historic Places Nomination form

Emery Valentine was a charter member of the Juneau Men's Igloo of the Pioneers of Alaska and one of the most influential civic leaders in the early history of Juneau.

Valentine was born in Dowagiac, Michigan, in 1858. On his mother’s side, his ancestry traces back to William Bradford, who arrived in America aboard the Mayflower in 1620.

At the age of ten, he crossed the plains from Michigan to Colorado, riding a small pony with an old overcoat for a saddle and a rope for stirrups. As a youth, he worked as a miner, but after losing a leg in a mining accident, he turned to another trade and apprenticed as a goldsmith and jeweler. Between 1876 and 1886, he owned and operated several jewelry stores in Colorado and Montana.

In 1886, Valentine moved to Juneau, Alaska, where he opened the E. Valentine Jewelry Store. From the beginning of his residence in Juneau, he became deeply involved in the community’s business, civic, and political life.

Valentine organized the Juneau Volunteer Fire Department and served as its first chief. He donated a specialized fire wagon that carried the slogan, “You ring the bell, and we’ll do the rest.”

He is also credited as being the father of the Juneau Public Library, reflecting his long-standing commitment to civic institutions and public life.

Following the incorporation of Juneau in 1900, Valentine served the city in several public offices. He was elected to the Juneau City Council in 1902 and later served six terms as mayor, from 1908 to 1918.

In territorial and national politics, Valentine was aligned with the Republican Party but supported the Bull Moose (Progressive) movement. He became one of the leaders of the insurgent political movement in Alaska and presided over the territorial convention that sent delegates to the Chicago convention, where Theodore Roosevelt was nominated.

Valentine married Josephine Scanlin on December 16, 1909, in Juneau. The marriage later ended in divorce in 1915.

Emery Valentine died in Juneau on September 10, 1930.

Sources

Alaska Weekly, September 19, 1930
Who's Who in Alaskan Politics: Biographical Dictionary of Alaskan Political Personalities, 1884–1974, Evangeline Atwood and Robert N. DeArmond

Lloyd Valentine Winter was a charter member of the Juneau Men's Igloo.

Alaska history enthusiasts familiar with outstanding archival photography will recognize the studio name Winter & Pond.

During careers spanning more than fifty years, Lloyd V. Winter (1866–1945) and Edwin Percy Pond (1872–1943) compiled a vast catalog of photographs depicting the people and places of the North, particularly in Southeast Alaska and the Klondike.

San Francisco artist Lloyd Valentine Winter was the fourth of five children born to Englishman Robert Winter, an artist and “picture dealer,” and his wife, Josephine of Maryland.

The Winters encouraged their children’s talents in art, music, and trades. Their eldest daughter Emma became a music teacher; William worked as a plumber; Charles and Lloyd attended school; and the youngest child, Henry, was born when Josephine was in her forties and Robert in his fifties.

According to the 1880 federal census of San Francisco, when Lloyd was fourteen, the Winter family shared a home with Edward Gage, a forty-year-old man who worked in a photographic gallery. This exposure may have influenced Lloyd’s later career.

Winter arrived in Juneau in March 1890 and soon partnered with photographer George M. Landerkin. Together, they established the Landerkin & Winter Studio, a partnership that lasted until 1893, when Winter’s longtime friend, Percy Pond, arrived in Juneau.

In 1894, Pond purchased Landerkin’s interest, and the Winter & Pond Studio was formed. The business expanded beyond portrait photography to include Alaska curios, special-order photography, and commercial assignments.

Unlike many photographers of their time who worked only during the summer months, Winter and Pond remained in Alaska year-round. Their subjects included Tlingit families arriving for potlatches, miners pausing along the trail with their sleds, workers laying the Juneau-Skagway telegraph cable, and Chilkat dancers wearing ceremonial regalia.

The Winter & Pond photograph collection—now held at the Alaska State Library in Juneau—contains numerous early images of Juneau, the Klondike Gold Rush, local celebrations, and mining activity.

Winter’s ability to speak a Native language proved useful when the pair secretly observed a Haida dance ceremony in 1894. When they were discovered, the dancers warned them that it was a private ceremony meant only for Haida participants. Over time, the two photographers were adopted into the tribe, and each was given a Native name. Winter was called Kinda, meaning “winter,” while Pond was given the name Kitch-ka, meaning “Crow Man.”

The photographers’ work documenting Alaska Native communities before, during, and after the Klondike Gold Rush contributed significantly to Alaska Native cultural studies. Their long association with Tlingit communities allowed them to learn about traditional practices and cultural history.

Winter and Pond published several works on Alaska Native subjects. Anthropologist Edward L. Keithahn, author of the 1945 book Monuments in Cedar, acknowledged them as a source of information about the early Chilkat people.

Winter personally followed the Trail of ’98 into the Yukon during the winter of 1897–1898, producing stereographic images for Underwood & Underwood and providing readers of Leslie’s Weekly with photographs of Gold Rush activity. Winter & Pond were also named the official Alaska photographers for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held in Seattle in 1909.

Both men were active in the Juneau community. They volunteered with the Juneau Fire Department, Hose Company No. 1. In 1915, Winter served as Patron of the Order of the Eastern Star, Juneau Chapter No. 7.

Pond married a woman named Hattie, who appears in several photographs from the Winter & Pond collection, and the couple raised a family.

Between 1915 and 1925, the Winter & Pond Company also owned and operated mining claims near Juneau. Photographs documenting their mining activities are preserved in the Alaska State Library archives.

The partnership ended when Percy Pond died at age seventy-one on June 1, 1943. He was buried four days later in the Pioneer section of Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau.

Lloyd V. Winter died in November 1945 at age seventy-nine and was buried on November 13 in the Masonic section of the same cemetery.

Earlier that year, Winter had transferred ownership of the Winter & Pond Company to Francis Harrison, who continued operating the business until 1956.

Today, images from the Winter & Pond studio appear on the walls of the Alaska State Capitol building in Juneau and in public and private collections across the country. The Alaska State Library in Juneau holds the bulk of the Winter & Pond Collection—approximately 3,000 images dating from 1893 to 1943.

Source
University of Alaska Anchorage, Lite Site Alaska — article by Tricia Brown