North Star House Docent

The North Star House is a 10,000 square-foot home designed in 1905 by the renowned architect Julia Morgan. Built in the Arts and Crafts style, the North Star House is listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and the California State Historic Buildings Register.

The North Star House is located at 12075 Auburn Rd, Grass Valley, approximately 1 mile south of the Nevada County fairgrounds on a 14-acre portion of the former North Star Mine site. The North Star House is owned and operated by the North Star Historic Conservancy.

Volunteer Opportunity Description

Learn basic information about the North Star House, its history, and the main characters: Julia Morgan, Arthur De Wint Foote, and Mary Hallock Foote.  Then welcome visitors to the house, answer questions, and offer to show them around if they would like a brief tour.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Sign up to be a docent for at least two events during the calendar year.  Choose from Summer Open House, Autumn Fest, Christmas Holiday Open House, and more. If the event is several hours long, your shift for the day would be no more than 3 hours.You will always be with at least one other docent. New docents will initially be paired with a veteran.
• The North Star house is now open year-round on most construction days  which are Tuesday and Thursday. Visitors are welcome to walk in from 10 am to 12 noon.  Although not required, extra docent duty is available for walk-ins on these days if so desired.
• Monitor email periodically for docent-related information.
• Attend a yearly event season opening social in the Spring for updates on the progress of the house and grounds restoration. 
• Come and have some fun and meet new and interesting people!

Training

Training is very simple and most of the learning is self-guided through the North Star House website. This makes it easy to refresh as needed. You will be asked to attend a brief orientation with the Docent Chair upon joining. Plans are underway to install Interpretive Displays to tell much of the history and this will minimize memorization work for docents.

We hope to have you join us as we showcase one of Julia Morgan’s first residential projects.

Please click EXPRESS INTEREST and we'll get in touch! Or visit our website at www.TheNorthStarHouse.org