The house at 505 Sixth Ave. E. is a landmark of fashionable style and formidable stature. It’s the kind of home that often invokes superlatives.
Leading Kalispell architect Marion Riffo designed the home in a unique blend of Craftsman and Prairie styles. Riffo designed the plans and also supervised the construction of the home between 1909 and 1910.
Charles and Agnes Dobner initially owned the home. Charles was the treasurer of the Northwest Lumber Company, one of the larger sawmill operations in the area at the turn of the century. Indeed, the home was befitting of a man of such a position within such an enterprise, which employed roughly 100 timber workers at any given time.
William and Ellen Elliot were the next owners of the home. William Elliot’s name bears upon the listing of the home on the National Register of Historic Places, and likewise upon the early history of commerce in Northwest Montana. William and his brothers John and Tom operated the “Elliot Brothers Company” – an integral enterprise in the early history of commerce in Northwest Montana.
The Elliot Brothers operated general merchandise stores in the early 1900s. It was a time when many stores in Kalispell (as elsewhere) accepted tokens in trade – back when 5, 25, or 50 cents could pay for a variety of goods.
The Elliot Brothers were the successors to the Conlon Mercantile Co., which was perhaps just the start of the ever-expanding acquisition and expansion of their family enterprise.
William was the president of the Elliot Brothers Co. and president of the Flathead Wholesale Grocery while residing at the house, which was home for William and Ellen from 1917 through 1938. While their residency spanned little more than 20 years, it endured some of the most tumultuous times in local and national history.
The Elliots endured the upheavals of the 1910s, the roaring of the ‘20s, and the despair of the ‘30s. Certainly, the Elliots were among Kalispell’s elite citizenry – however, they were still surrounded by the inescapable hardships of the Great Depression, which certainly “hit home” and influenced the Elliot Brothers’ enterprise.
The late ‘20s were also a time when many Kalispell homes were transformed, remodeled, or somehow ever-so-slightly renovated in some way. Fortunately, the Elliots resisted the temptation to update or renovate. Consequently, the home has changed relatively little, and still maintains much of its original form atop its seemingly massive, pressed-concrete block foundation.
The alley behind the Elliot House also reveals some bygone history of early Kalispell. The carriage-house-turned-two-car-garage tells a story about the evolution of transportation in the Flathead Valley. It also plainly shows a common stylistic insistence of the era: the carriage house/garage must match the house.
Even the alley itself bespeaks a bygone era of Kalispell history, as an original “Kalispell Iron Works” manhole cover harks to a time when Kalispell still had such an iron works foundry.
The Elliot House is an icon of popular, early 20th-century architectural styles blended together in unique form. It’s also a landmark residence designed by one of Kalispell’s most prominent and prolific architects. And it’s a splendid reminder of the significance of Flathead Valley history and architecture.
Jaix Chaix is a technical writer who appreciates history and architecture. Share ideas and facts with him at [email protected] or facebook.com/flatheadvalleylandmarks.