1117 N 32 St

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.