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“NO! Nein! NO! I vill not steptd my feedt in such a place! I dontd go widt you!” Such was the vehement pronouncement of famed lighthouse architect and 17th Lighthouse District 2nd Assistant Superintendent, Carl W. Leick, upon an inspection visit to Washington’s Lime Kiln Lighthouse in the early 1920s.
The U.S. Lighthouse Tender Manzanita’s 2nd Officer, Claude Asquith, was charged with the duty of transporting Superintendent Leick in the whaleboat to and from the lighthouses during the inspection trips. In a letter to the Oregonian newspaper more than three decades later, Asquith reminisced that he had “particular delight” in calling Leick’s attention to the very modern keeper dwellings at Lime Kiln that were of the low-ceiling type with a flat roof, presumably because he knew how Leick would react. In fact, Leick “would very deliberately and emphatically refuse to go ashore” at several other lighthouses in the district that had similar modern architectural design.
According to Asquith, Carl Leick was “thoroughly Victorian in his tastes and abhorred what he called the equivalent of ‘Jimcrack’ in German to the newer residences for lighthouse keepers and their families. In fact, during many of his frequent trips throughout the district, his inspections at those stations which were of Leick design were noticeably much longer than others [and] when we came to some of the older stations with the old high dwellings, fancy scrolls, huge doors, 10 and 12-foot ceilings, old coal and wood ranges in the galley and huge bedrooms, it was, ‘Ach, now dere ist a building!’”
Leick’s love of Victorian design and embellishment was no doubt due his European upbringing and schooling during the blossoming height of that era prior to his immigration to America in 1873. Additionally, he was deeply rooted in his profession through his strong family heritage of building and construction work shared by his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all being brickmakers. It was probably expected that he would follow the Leick family tradition in some form of building trade early on, even though his father would not live to see his accomplishments.
Born on November 17, 1855 in Bavaria, Carl Wilhelm Leick became orphaned, along with his sister Elise, at the young age of 13 when their father died, their mother having already passed away six years earlier. This must have made for a very painful and difficult childhood for him. It also explains why, according to Asquith, Leick was “a very shy and retiring person, not given to ‘chit-chat,’ brusque and gruff in his manner and wary of strangers . . . In fact, I can truthfully say, and not despairingly, that as far as ordinary conversation went, the proverbial Clam would be considered exceedingly loquacious in competition with our subject, Mr. Carl W. Leick, and when he did say anything, it was brief and to the point.
“This aloofness I know was not due to coldness of heart, but, to the fact, being of the old school of Germans, his early boyhood was of strict discipline, and, too, he came up the ‘hard way.’ He was typically the ‘old type,’ a very heavy-set man with heavy black beard, and he was never able to overcome the heavy German accent which embarrassed him, feeling that people would make fun of him. But Mr. Leick WAS, in truth, a very kind-hearted person and when one gained his confidence, he was a true friend.”
Asquith continued, “As 2nd Officer, my duties included the handling of all lifeboats and the whaleboats in transferring passengers and visitors, inspection parties and all cargo, etc., from ship to shore and vice-versa. It was during these many occasions that I had the opportunity to know Mr. Carl Leick personally and to be the recipient of his staunch friendship and confidence, for as I indicated earlier, he was not a man given to chatter or ‘chin-music’ . . . It appears that he enjoyed my company, and, I am sure, gave me more of his confidence than to anyone else.”
While Leick may have shown a softer side of his character to those who were closest to him, it appears he was a severe and demanding taskmaster as a lighthouse construction superintendent, architect and inspector and would not, or could not, tolerate inferior work.
Claude Asquith addressed this side of Carl Leick’s temperament when he noted, “When he designed his own Victorian buildings, he put the utmost care and craftmanship into it [and] he would even refuse to have certain of the various foremen and carpenter crews of the Service do the work, except those hand-picked ones of his own. Woe betide any carpenter, helper or anyone else who made the slightest error, or tried to get by with any shoddy work. He was a perfectionist. All mitered joints had to be just so, or out they came, even if it necessitated tearing out several walls.
“He made his buildings to endure and I learned some wonderful cuss words, even though I could not understand them being spoken in German, and when he got on a rampage when finding something he considered improperly done, it was certainly remarkable the number of words he would growl, and even though one couldn’t understand the words, the meaning was definitely clear.”
The fact that Carl Leick designed and supervised the construction or renovation of over 40 of the district’s lighthouses for 39 years, from 1887 through 1926 when he retired, is a testament to the confidence the administration of the Lighthouse Board, and later, the Lighthouse Service, had in him and his methods.
Many of his designs were repeated in constructing multiple stations and there are many examples still left standing today to visit and admire, proving his motto of, “Build ‘em stout and make ‘em last.”
Carl W. Leick’s Lighthouses
Most dates given are according to the signed plans or submitted revisions rather than actual construction or completion dates.
1889 Warrior Rock, OR
1892 Heceta Head, OR
1893 Patos Island, WA
1893 Turn Point, WA
1893 Umpqua River, OR
1895 Willamette River, OR
1896 North Head, WA
1896 Coquille River, OR
1896 Grays Harbor, WA
1901 Admiralty Head, WA
1901 Desdemona Sands, OR
1901 Five Finger Island, AK
1902 Browns Point, WA
1902 Cape Sarichef, AK
1902 Lincoln Rock, AK
1903 Mary Island, AK
1903 Scotch Cap, AK
1903 Semiahmoo Harbor, WA
1904 Fairway Island, AK
1904 Guard Island, AK
1904 Point Retreat, AK
1904 Point Sherman, AK
1904 Tree Point, AK
1905 Burrows Island, WA
1905 Slip Point, WA
1906 Eldred Rock, AK
1906 Mukilteo, WA
1907 Cape Arago (2nd and 3rd ), OR
1907 Point Robinson, WA
1908 Ediz Hook (2nd), WA
1910 Cape Hinchinbrook, AK
1911 Alki Point, WA
1914 Point Wilson, WA
1917 Lime Kiln, WA
1918 Marrowstone Point, WA
Renovations and Additions:
Cape Disappointment, WA
Cape Flattery, WA
Cape Meares, OR
Destruction Island, WA
New Dungeness, WA
Point No Point, WA
Sentinel Island, AK
Smith Island, WA
This story appeared in the
May/Jun 2021 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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