Rosario is the former estate of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

mayor and shipbuilder Robert Moran and is located on

Orcas Island, Washington Orcas Island () is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, in northwestern Washington, United States. History and naming of the island The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of ''Horcasitas,'' from Juan Vicente de Güemes Pad ...

in the

San Juan archipelago The San Juan Islands is an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...

. Portions of the estate became part of

Moran State Park Moran State Park is a public recreation area on Orcas Island in Puget Sound's San Juan Islands in the state of Washington, United States. The state park encompasses over 5,000 acres of various terrain including forests, wetlands, bogs, hills, an ...

in the early 1920s and the site has been of use as the Rosario Resort and Spa since 1960. The estate was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978.

History

Due to poor health, Robert Moran, a former Seattle Mayor and shipbuilder, moved to Orcas Island and between 1906 and 1909 built his estate. Wood and stone material found on the island were used to construct the estate's houses and buildings. In 1921, Moran gave a large portion of his property to the state of Washington for the creation of Moran State Park. Moran sold the resort in 1938 and the mansion and its grounds have been sold several times since, but remained in private hands. It began operating as the Rosario Resort and Spa in 1960. The Rosario Resort was listed for sale in 2023 and by February 2024, the resort was temporarily closed after the sale was completed. The new owners planned to renovate the building with particular attention to the Moran Mansion. During the closure, the marina and grounds remained open for use. The resort, excepting the mansion, was partially reopened two months later. The final sale cost was listed as more than $20 million. Rosario was listed on the

in 1978.

Architecture and design

Constructed in an

Arts & Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

style, the 5-story resort was named after the Rosario Strait and contains a music room that features a 1913 two-story 34-rank German-style Aeolian organ consisting of over 1,900 pipes and a 1900

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in New York City by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth le ...

grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. The hotel was also designed in a nautical style, containing stained glass windows, a Tiffany chandelier, and two libraries. The grounds were designed with paths and water features. The Rosario mansion features a museum honoring Robert Moran, complete with original furnishings.

Notes

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses in San Juan County, Washington Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in San Juan County, Washington