Changing architectural tastes are central to the story of this elegant home, built for Henry and Leah Greenhood. A successful liquor wholesaler and real estate developer, Henry was one of Missoula’s early Jewish residents, arriving here by 1904. He married Leah in 1908, and the following year they hired Missoula’s best-known architect, A. J. Gibson, to design a home in the prestigious Hammond Addition. Gibson responded with plans for a grand two-story residence with ornate classical details, including balusters on the porch roof, classical columns on the front porch, and dentils beneath the porch cornice. The home was built soon thereafter. Trends in architectural fashion quickly made the house seem outdated, so in 1914 the Greenhoods hired Gibson’s successor, Ole Bakke, to update the look. Bakke replaced the classical flat porch roof with a Craftsman style hipped roof and the classical porch supports with tapered Craftsman style piers. Leah had only a few years to enjoy the renovation. In 1920 she died of typhoid at age thirty-six, survived by her husband and two children, ages nine and four.
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