Bringing back the glory days

A stately, grand house at the southwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Manito Place might be as white as snow on the outside, but its interior is almost as colorful as its feisty owner. The dining room’s walls are covered in red leather and floral tapestry. Custom-made sconces – small brass dragons holding up glass shades – illuminate the den, while enormous crystal chandeliers reign over other rooms. And a life-size replica of the ancient Greek Venus de Milo statue stands guard over the main staircase.

“As soon as I get a little money, I’m going to get her a bra,” deadpans George French, 79, who rescued the home 19 years ago after decades of neglect.

French, a New Orleans native, spent six years repairing floors, installing windows and re-covering walls in the home. He converted a second-floor bedroom into a master bathroom, the centerpiece of which is an antique dining table plumbed to hold two sinks.

French also knocked out a wall between a butler’s pantry and the original kitchen to create one large kitchen space on the home’s bright south side. The kitchen now has black and white checkered floors, and the walls are covered in matching toile paper.

The new pantry holds hundreds of herbs and spices, which French uses in the Cajun cooking he does at his six-burner Wolf range. During the reconstruction phase, French says he treated his crew of 11 workers to a home-cooked lunch every day.

There was plenty of work to be done. The house was designed by Harold Whitehouse, the same architect behind the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist several blocks away, but it fell into disrepair, and was used as a soup kitchen at one time. French was told that squatters used to cook their food over a fire on the parlor floor.

Banks repossessed the house four times, and its original splendor had long faded by the time French took over.

“It was a tacky house, and I untacked it, I think,” he says.

“Several hundred-thousand dollars” later, French’s home is one of the most recognizable in Spokane.

“A lot of people stand outside and take pictures, and I say, ‘Come on in,’ ” he says.

French has gotten some interior decorating help here and there, but made most of the design decisions on his own. He’s modest about the changes, though, saying things like “I’m not colorblind; I’m just color dumb,” and referring to one intricate coffee table as “just something to hold the ashtrays and magazines.”

French recently held an over-the-top party at the house, catered by the Glover Mansion and complete with lobster, ice scuptures and an array of exquisite desserts.

“I’ve been to many cocktail parties in Miami … but this outdid anything I’ve ever been to in my life,” he says.

After growing up in New Orleans, French spent most of his adulthood in Florida, where he served as mayor of two cities – Fort Meyers and Islandia. He bought and restored several houses during that time, including one he sold to singer Julio Iglesias for $1 million.

“He wrote that check like you were scribbling,” French says.

French moved to Seattle, and then Spokane, about 20 years ago for a change of pace.

“When I moved here, I called Spokane ‘Hicksville,’ but now I’m almost sorry about the growth that’s come,” he says.

French has put his Spokane house up for sale a few times, but as soon as potential buyers started talking about putting “Aunt Suzy’s cabinet over here” and making other changes, he got sentimental and took the for-sale signs down.

“I hope I live here another 10 or 15 or 20 years, and I’m trying to talk my son into coming to Spokane so I can give him the house,” he says.