The distinctive gambrel roof defines the Dutch Colonial style. The style takes its name from farmhouses Dutch settlers built in rural New York and New Jersey in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. However, twentieth-century Dutch Colonial Revival style homes only loosely resembled their historical counterparts. The style had the advantage of economy: the roof shape created second-story living space without the added expense of constructing full second-story walls. Equally, its simplicity appealed to twentieth-century builders looking for alternatives to the highly decorated Queen Anne style. The heavy oak doors, leaded and beveled glass windows, and stone fireplace of this circa 1910 home reflect the early-twentieth-century emphasis on quality materials and craftsmanship over ornamentation. Henry E. and Lura Wright were the home’s first known residents, and Henry—a house painter and sometime contractor—may well have had a hand in its construction. Henry came to Montana in 1883 to work as a cowboy. Later, he watched survey crews plat the town of Kalispell. The Wrights moved to Missoula in 1908 and lived here into the late 1930s.
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