Kirtland Cutter and the Arts and Crafts Movement

Kirtland K. Cutter

After the devastating Spokane fire of 1889, the city reinvented itself under the capable hands of architects like Kirtland Kelsey Cutter.  With 32 city blocks reduced to ashes, Cutter stepped up with architectural force and brilliant designs stretching from the Gilded Age to the Great Depression.

 
Kirtland Cutter's Chalet Hohenstein - Spokane, WA

Around the turn of the 20^th century, Cutter received great opportunities to design extravagant and luxurious homes for the city’s wealthy businessmen.  He was gifted in designing homes conducive to entertaining, such as the Finch, Corbin, and Clark homes.  Most of Cutter’s work was done in the Spokane area, along with several structures designed in Seattle, California, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, and New York.

Idaho Building - 1893 Chicago World's Fair


McDonald Lodge - Glacier National Park, MT


Glover Mansion - Spokane, WA

During his career, Cutter employed notable partners including John C. Poetz and Karl Gunnar Malmgren.  Rising to fame in 1893 at the Chicago World's Fair, Cutter was the architect of the Idaho building, which was hailed as the precursor of the arts & crafts movement.  He received many notable contracts throughout his career, including the Rainier Club in Seattle, the McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park, the Rookery Building on the corner of Riverside and Howard, the White House Store, the First National Bank and the law firm of Augustine, Bean and Hoyt.  Cutter also constructed the F. Rockwood Moore house (now the Moore Turner Memorial Gardens) and the James Glover Mansion, which is currently used for events.

Monroe Street Bridge - Spokane, WA

Cutter had a rakish ability to combine seemingly conflicting styles into delightfully unique finished spaces.  Notable examples include the Moorish-Oriental-French-Roman style used in the Patsy Clark home and the Gothic-Tudor homes of F. Lewis Clark and Louis Davenport.  Many of his designs are still visible and beautifully kept, especially the Davenport Hotel, the Spokane Club, Monroe Street Bridge, the Sherwood Building, the Chronicle Building and numerous mansions in and around Spokane.