Thursday, December 20, 2012

Kirtland Cutter



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Kirtland Cutter, Architect
Born: Aubust 20, 1860, East Rockport, Ohio
Died: September 26, 1939, Long Beach, California
Lived in Spokane,Washington, 1886 - 1923
Fellow, American Institute of Architects, March 1923


Finding Spokane "architecturally savage" upon his arrival in 1886, Cutter became Spokane's most famous architect.  While he was not formally trained as an architect, his art studies as well as his extensive European travels enabled him to build a successful career.  His talent and sophistication impressed Spokane's new millionaires.  In business, he allied himself with men who possessed the technical skills to turn his drawings into working plans.  From 1889 to 1894, he partnered with John C. Poetz.  His longest and most prolific years were in partnership with Karl Gunnar Malmgren from 1884 to 1917.  Together, they brought Cutter's artistic visions to fruition.



Amasa B. Cambell House
2316 W. First Ave., Spokane, WA


Now a public museum, visitors to the Tudoresque Campbell House can view both the interior and exterior of a typical Cutter design.  European revival styles, a hallmark of Cutter's work, were popular with Spokane's millionaires.  Both the two homes adjacent on the west, the Mission Revival and the Neoclassical, were Cutter designs and exemplify Spokane's Age of Elegance.


Bozanta Tavern
1800 Bozanta Drive, Hayden Lake, ID


The Bozanta Tavern, now the Hayden Lake Country Club, echoes the appearance of Swiss chalets. Cutter designed many buildings in the Rustic Style, which he first used for his own home.  The public buildings often feature large halls sometimes supported by massive whole tree trunks with intact bark.  A similar structure is Cutter's Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier Park, Montana, built in 1912.


Lewis-Clark Hotel
111 Main Street Lewiston, ID


Lacking the decorative details of the Davenport Hotel, the smaller and simpler Lewis-Clark Hotel presents a stark yet elegant face and forecasts the direction of future Cutter designs.  After leaving Spokane in 1923 for Long Beach, California, Cutter continued to design in a Mediterranean style that adopted Mission, Spanish and Italian influences into a native California style.


Fairmount Cemetery Chapel
5200 W. Wellesley, Spokane, WA


Using local basalt and red cedar shingles, Cutter designed this mortuary chapel in the basic cruciform footprint common to Christian churches. Charming and rustinc, it exemplifies several principles of the Arts and Crafts movement: simple sturcture, use of native building materials and an emphasis on craftsmanship.

Washington Water Power Post Street Substation
N. Post, Spokane, WA


In sharp contrast to his ornate public structures, Cutter nevertheless designed a formal and well-porportioned facade for this structure whose purpose is entirely industrial.  the foundations of native basalt anchor the red-brick structure to the riverbed and actually bridge a portion of the river.


Patrick Clark House
2208 W. Second Ave., Spokane, WA


Built as the residence for a prominent Spokane mining millionaire, this mansion is the best example of Cutter's eclectic style.  It combines multiple design styles and imagery - Moorish, Art Nouveau, Louis XV - with rare and unusual building and decorative materials.  Many of the interior furnishings were specified by Cutter, who later added an interior design shop to his business.


Davenport Hotel
10 S. Post, Spokane, WA


Recently restored to the original opulence displayed when the hotel opened on Sept. 1, 1914, the davenport Hotel remains one of Cutter's largest and most ornamental commercial buildings in Spokane.  Both fantastic and functional, Cutter overlaid highly detailed motifs of many old-world styles on a modernistic foundation of steel-beam construction.

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