This Queen Anne building is a fine example of changing architectural styles in the far west.

It was built in 1887 by J. F. Gosbey, Pacific Grove's first shoe dealer as a staid and straitlaced vernacular stick style boarding house and residence for Gosbey and his family. (We do not know why the name of the inn is spelled Gosby even though its original owner spelled his named Gosbey.)

In the mid-1890s, Gosbey overlaid his original structure with a new and handsome skin in the fashionable Queen Anne style. The work was done without damage to the sense of scale of the original. Little of the earlier stick detailing was lost. New sawn and turned work was carefully integrated into the original ensemble.

The street façades were unified by repeating the Lighthouse Avenue angled bay on the 18th Street side while opening up the first floor entrance with multiple windows to take advantage of all available light. The popular turret of the Queen Anne style was added as an open porch entrance and second story sitting room with a shingled skin to vary the surface textures.

Source: Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1980.