Visitors touring the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell now have the keepsake they’ve been wanting.

A 64-page pictorial detailing the history and architectural styling of the 1895 home has been published and made its debut recently at the annual Christmas at the Mansion holiday celebration.

Rita Fitzsimmons, a Conrad Mansion board member who owns Designworks, wrote, edited and designed the picture book.

“The board decided about a year and a half ago to follow the advice of the staff, who said tourists are always asking for a book that shows the house,” Fitzsimmons said.

The Conrad Mansion gift shop sells postcards and a few books that contain some information about Kalispell founder Charles E. Conrad and the home he built for his wife, Alicia, and their children, but no one publication tied the history and photography into one volume.

After mansion staffer Mary Miers put together an earlier pictorial — “a gift from the heart,” Fitzsimmons said — and it sold out quickly, the mansion board of directors realized the time had come for a bigger publication.

“It was very apparent that this was something we should invest in,” Fitzsimmons said.

Local photographer Karen Weyer donated her time to document the details of each room in the mansion. The book also features photographs from several other local photographers, as well as historic photos and a written history of the home.

The mansion, a landmark on Kalispell’s east side, was donated to the city of Kalispell in 1974 by Alicia Conrad Campbell, the youngest child of the Conrads. Volunteers went to great lengths to clean, repair and renovate the home and its extraordinary inventory of original furnishings.

Designed by Spokane architect Kirtland Cutter, the 26-room mansion featured the most modern conveniences of its day: a freight elevator, dumbwaiter, warming oven set into a radiator, built-in fire hoses on each level, two Italian onyx cold-water drinking fountains, drying drawers in the laundry and a communication system that included an electronic call box, intercom and a speaking tube.

Sponsorships from a number of area businesses, including seven that are more than 100 years old, helped the nonprofit mansion afford the printing of 1,000 books.

“They were a tremendous help to getting it published,” Fitzsimmons said.

The picture book costs $19.95 and can be purchased online at www.conradmansion.com or at the Conrad Mansion gift shop.

The mansion opens for Christmas tours on Friday, Nov. 23. Tours will be held at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 22, and by reservation only at 2 p.m. Sundays.

The books also are for sale at Sykes’ Market in Kalispell.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.