Filed Under Billings

1142 North 31st Street

North Elevation Historic District

A visit to Los Angeles, California, in 1929 to attend the Elks Club national convention may have inspired Charles and Nora Carroll to build this distinctive Monterey style home in 1930. The style, rarely built in Montana, was popular in Texas and California in the 1930s and 1940s. Derived from early-nineteenth-century houses found in the southeastern United States, the Caribbean, and the Bahamas, the Monterey style featured stucco walls and cantilevered balconies with exposed floor joists. The $7,000 home reflected the Carrolls’ social and economic status. Charles was a well-known civic, social, and business leader, dubbed the “dean of the insurance business in Billings.” He spent forty-six years selling life insurance, was an “exalted ruler” of the Elks Club, a second ward alderman, two-term Chamber of Commerce vice president, director on many boards and committees, and a forty-year chairman with the American Red Cross. Nora was active with the Elks Club, the American Legion Auxiliary, and hosted and attended many Bridge Club luncheons. After raising two children here, the Carrolls sold the home in 1948.

Images

1142 North 31st Street
1142 North 31st Street 1142 North 31st Street. Front view of the house, facing southwest near front sidewalk on North 31st Street. Winter photograph. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Unknown photographer Date: Jan. 2015

Location

1142 North 31 Street, Billings, Montana | Private

Metadata

Montana National Register Sign Program, “1142 North 31st Street,” Historic Montana, accessed March 28, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/2783.