Couple Restoring Mansion

Brian and Kathleen Chapman have to pinch themselves sometimes to believe their dream of living in an elegant old mansion is real.

The couple bought the historic Guy Browne home on Browne Mountain four years ago and are midway through a careful restoration of the three-story, American foursquare-style house.

“There are sometimes I walk through here and go, ‘Wow, this is pretty nice,”’ Brian Chapman said.

It is so respected that the Spokane County Historic Landmarks Commission voted this month to place the home on the Spokane Register of Historic Places.

“We fell in love with it the first time we saw it,” said Chapman, an electrical contractor.

“We’ve tried to make it elegant and comfortable at the same time,” said Kathleen Chapman, a secretary to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court clerk.

The turn-of-the-century home was first occupied by Guy Browne, the eldest son of a Spokane founding father, J.J. Browne, who platted Browne’s Addition, among his many business ventures.

The mansion is located in a grove of trees on 57th Avenue about a half-mile east and up the hill from the intersection of 57th and Glenrose Road.

The house has a sweeping view of south Spokane and the hills to the west.

The Chapmans bought it for $200,000, and have put another $160,000 into renovations and furnishings.

They plan to spend another $100,000 before they are finished.

“Some days it’s been overwhelming,” Brian Chapman said.

Parts of the home, such as the diamond-paned windows, had to be replaced. Others were badly deteriorated.

“The floor was so faded it was almost gray,” Chapman said.

They’ve hired contractors to restore the walls, woodwork, ceilings, floors and roof.

And they are doing a lot of other work themselves.

The result is a home that reflects the grandeur of its original architecture and the wealth of its first occupants.

The property was deeded to Guy Browne in 1908, but county tax records indicate the house may have been built in 1900. The identity of the architect and builder are unknown.

The exterior of the house is in the American foursquare style, but, like many homes of the era, shows flourishes of the emerging arts and crafts movement.

It has about 3,000 square feet of space on the first two floors, plus a large basement and an unfinished attic. A carriage house and stable stand at the rear of the property.

Inside, the spacious foyer is flanked on the left by a large formal dining room that can be closed off with two large wooden pocket doors.

The dining room has a plate rail, built-in cabinets and back-lighted stained glass that casts a warm glow over the hand-carved woodwork. The stained glass has a flower motif, which is also carried through into carvings in the woodwork throughout the home.

The dining room ceiling is decorated with box beams and 3,000 pieces of ornamental plaster.

To the right of the foyer is a large living room that closes to an inglenook with an arched brick fireplace.

The fireplace has an unusual metal hood with a brass ornament on the front. It is flanked by two built-in book cases.

The quarter-sawn oak floors show a dramatic “tiger eye” pattern.

The Chapmans have accented the home with bold floral wallpaper in darker tones, dramatic draperies, and lush carpets on the staircase.

“We’ve done every wall, every ceiling,” Chapman said.

The kitchen still has the original cabinets. It also has a butler’s sink made out of molded nickel and silver, which was intended to reduce tarnishing of silverware when it was washed.

The master bedroom is as large as a hotel suite with its own furniture for relaxing late in the evening.

Still in progress are an upstairs bathroom as well as the former basement billiard room Brian Chapman is restoring.

The couple also plan to finish a third-floor attic and make it into a guest bedroom.

After that, Brian Chapman said, he wants to tackle porch repairs.

Over the years the home has had several occupants and owners.

Guy Browne and his family moved in 1915 and leased the house until 1935. One of the tenants was a physician who reportedly treated patients with electric shock therapy in the early 1930s.

In 1988 a podiatrist bought the home and subdivided the adjoining land for new homes. The Chapmans bought the old house and the remaining acre of land in 1993.

Having the home on the local register will allow the Chapmans to deduct the cost of historical improvements from the assessed property value for 10 years. That will reduce their property tax bills.

But they aren’t doing the work for the tax break. They said they want to enjoy the grace and beauty of a wellbuilt formal mansion.

“We think the Brownes would approve of everything we’ve done,” Kathleen Chapman said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo