Filed Under Billings

1117 North 32nd Street

North Elevation Historic District

One of sixty Craftsman style residences in the North Elevation district, this circa 1916 home features many hallmarks of the style. These include triangular knee braces, exposed rafter tails, and, at the time of construction, a full-width, open front porch. This style—popularized in California—relied on porches to connect the occupants to the natural world, but many Montanans chose to enclose their porches. Located in an early automobile suburb, the home at one time had a narrow drive-in basement garage. In 1920, restaurant owner Samuel Roberts and his wife, Clara, an elocution teacher, rented the home. In approximately 1929, Chas. B. and Katherine Hurd, later of Hurd Lumber Co., bought the residence. They lived here with their daughter, Marian, while they built a new home nearby on Locust Street. In the 1930s, dentist Raymond Kelley and his wife Edna purchased the home, where they lived for over twenty years. During World War I, Raymond had served as a second lieutenant in France while Edna worked with injured veterans at Fort McHenry in Baltimore in the new field of physical therapy.

Images

1117 North 32nd Street
1117 North 32nd Street 1117 North 32nd Street. Front view of the house, facing northeast from the front sidewalk on North 32nd Street. Winter photograph. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Unknown photographer Date: Jan. 2015
1117 North 32nd Street
1117 North 32nd Street 1117 North 32nd Street. Side/front view of the house, facing east near the sidewalk on North 32nd Street. Winter photograph. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Unknown photographer Date: Jan. 2015

Location

1117 North 32nd Street, Billings, Montana | Private

Metadata

Montana National Register Sign Program, “1117 North 32nd Street,” Historic Montana, accessed March 28, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/2726.