Historic homes
Like a wine that becomes better with age, historic homes have a flavor of their own.
For a taste of yesteryear and a nostalgic glimpse into life in the early 1900s, take a tour of four homes in the nationally recognized Cliff Park Addition on Saturday.
This is the sixth year for Spokane Preservation Advocates’ Holiday Homes Tour.
“Homes are selected that have interesting details inside and out or ones that are a good example of a specific architectural style” said Linda Yeomans, one of the event’s organizers.
“The homes are also chosen because the homeowners have said yes to a tour by the public. For some people that could be a scary thing.”
Ann Cronkhite doesn’t seem stressed at all about opening her house up to the public. She loves to entertain family and friends in the home she has owned since 1970.
Her Tudor Revival style house at 1228 S. Wall was built in 1912. It’s known as the Kendrick-Kearns House, but to her it’s the home where she raised her six children.
Cronkhite, a professional interior designer, is also one of the event’s organizers.
“We’ll raise money any way we can. It’s important to raise awareness of what can be done to preserve the beauty and history of our community,” Cronkhite said.
Cronkhite’s home features architectural elements such as a steeply pitched roof, prominent front-facing gables, false half-timbering, and brick and stucco wall cladding.
Interior focal points include a built-in buffet and china cabinet with leaded-glass doors, a wide staircase with a balustrade design, and quarter-sawn oak woodwork that has been hand-rubbed to a warm, honey-colored patina.
“Touring these houses gives people a sense of what makes good design,” Cronkhite said.
“These are well-built houses. With proper care they can easily be around for another 100 years.”
Proceeds from the tour benefit the organization’s Heritage Fund, which awards grants to help preserve and maintain Spokane’s historic buildings, neighborhoods, landscapes and characters.
SPA recently awarded a $1,000 grant to the West Central Neighborhood Council for the design and construction of an entry sign to the Nettleton Addition Historic District.
Other grant recipients include the Masonic Temple Association, which has been awarded approximately $3,750 to repair the fifth-floor ceiling and skylight of the historic Masonic Temple, and the Spokane Antique Carousel Society, which received $1,000 for the publication of “A Carousel Odyssey,” to be distributed to Spokane elementary school and city libraries.
Other houses on the tour include:
Lodewyk Lens House 1238 S. Wall St.
This Tudor Revival “spec house,” was built in 1907 by the Cook-Clarke Co., developers of the Cliff Park Addition.
The price was $9,500 with $4,750 down and $50 a month.
Lodewyk Lens, manager of the Spokane Flour Mill, bought the house in 1908.
Rob Brewster Jr. purchased the house in 2001.
The house has the original wood clapboard and shingle siding, leaded-glass windows, oak floors, living room fireplace and built-in buffet and china cabinets in the dining room.
The kitchen and bathrooms have been remodeled with architecturally compatible cupboards, countertops and new leaded-glass windows.
A double-garage with second-story studio, designed to match the style and materials of the house, is under construction.
Larsen-Lindholm House 1243 S. Wall St.
Current owners Keith and Janie Slater continue to maintain the 1909 house with its original features intact.
The house cost $5,000 to build and is one of the finest examples of the Arts and Crafts design in Spokane.
The design harmonizes with nature and the environment and, like the Craftsman style, uses natural building materials such as brick, stone, wood and ceramic tile. The Arts and Crafts tradition also incorporated architectural elements from around the world, such as Asian flared roof forms, Tudor (English) false half-timbering, and Swiss Chalet cut-out balustrade designs.
The Larsen-Lindholm House is an eclectic mix of Arts and Crafts elements and is well-preserved with its original design, materials, floor plan, lighting, built-ins and quality oak woodwork.
Thomas-Dodds House 1211 S. Wall St.
This Craftsman-style house, built in 1911, originally cost $8,000.
Edward Thomas, Spokane Board of Education secretary, and his wife, Hortense, were the original owners.
In 1919 George Dodds, managing editor of The Spokesman-Review, and his wife, Kate, bought the property, where they lived until 1945.
After that the property changed hands several times until 2003, when the current homeowners, Damon and Stacie Saunders, bought it.
Basalt rock, clay brick, coarse stucco, wood shingles and hand-polished interior woodwork were used in building the home. Horizontal lines were emphasized, giving the house a low-slung appearance.
The house has a low-pitched roof, a wide, covered front porch, wide eaves, basalt rock foundation, and exterior walls that flare out along the lower edge.