Filed Under Kalispell

Ernest M. Child Residence

East Side Historic District

Shed dormers, exposed rafter tails, wide eaves supported by brackets, a flared chimney, and a full-width front porch mark this circa 1913 home as a Craftsman style residence. Native rock and molded concrete ornament the full basement; interior features include built-in cabinets with leaded glass doors in the living and dining rooms, a fireplace of Kalispell brick, and walk-in closets (all but one with windows that open). The house was likely constructed for Frank Johnson, a cashier at the Conrad National Bank, who owned the residence until 1918. Ernest and Helen Child lived here from 1920 until Ernest’s death in 1941. Born in DeKalb, New York, Ernest was a prominent attorney who arrived in the Flathead Valley from Wisconsin in 1905. Helen, a Minnesota native, was called a “singer of note” at the time of their marriage in 1906. During the Childs’ occupancy, the exterior was elegantly landscaped; in 1936, the Kalispell News published a detailed description of the yard, which it called “the beautiful garden of another ‘Home Beautiful’.”

Images

Ernest M. Child Residence
Ernest M. Child Residence Ernest M. Child Residence. Front to side view of the house, facing east to northeast on 5th Avenue East. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: Oct. 1980

Location

233 5th Avenue East, Kalispell, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “Ernest M. Child Residence,” Historic Montana, accessed March 29, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/415.