Ray E. Taylor House

After working as a chauffeur for the entrepreneurial Conrad family of Kalispell, Ray E. Taylor moved to Whitefish in the 1920s and operated a bus service between Whitefish and Kalispell for many years. Taylor demonstrated great skill as a vernacular architect and craftsman in this house especially, and in several other Whitefish buildings.

He designed “The Castle,” as this home came to be called during construction, and did most of the work himself from 1929 to 1931. The stone work, including interior fireplaces and the exterior skirting, was done by local stone mason C. C. McArthur, a master at his trade, utilizing locally collected stone.

Taylor’s design is predominantly Tudor Revival styling, with massive chimneys, steeply pitched roof and cross gables, large end-wall parapets, and crenellated dormers. To support the extensive stone work of the main and upper floor fireplaces and the three-story chimney tower, Taylor ingeniously used a pair of railroad tracks running more than nineteen feet under the tower.

The builder lived here only six years, using the first floor and renting the second, before selling the house to Dr. John B. Simons.