1147 N 31 St

Rapid changes in technology, industry, and social customs marked the Jazz Age of the 1920s. In the face of short skirts and speakeasies, many Americans longed for a supposedly simpler past. The Tudor style’s story-book charm and emblematic decorative half-timbering, prominent chimney, steeply pitched gable roofs, and multi-paned windows appealed to this nostalgia.

While the exterior design reflected suburbanites’ ambivalence toward modernity, the homes themselves offered all the modern conveniences. The style was popular nationwide in the 1920s but is rare in the North Elevation neighborhood. By 1930, the one-story stucco and brick cottage was home to Henry and Mabel Coleman and their two children.

A prominent Billings attorney, Henry arrived in Billings as a young lawyer in 1909 and dedicated himself to his adopted community as an avid booster, serving as an active Rotarian, alderman, and president of the Billings Commercial Club. Mabel was gifted golfer and bridge champion. The Colemans lived here until their deaths, Henry’s in 1962 and Mabel’s in 1969.