Historic Properties of Spokane
Cohen House
The Ralph & Ella Belle Cohen House is architecturally significant as an excellent interpretation of the Craftsman style. The home demonstrates trademark features of the Craftsman aesthetic, including an accentuated horizontal emphasis and the use of organically integrated building materials. These features are evident in widely overhanging eaves that cast horizontal shadows on the planar wall surface of the house, exposed rafter tails, a wide front porch, a combination of irregular black basalt rock/course, stucco/narrow width wood clapboard siding, decorative horizontal bands that separate exterior cladding materials, and original 1/1 and multipaned windows. A fine blend of outdoor living and indoor open spaces, the design for the Cohen House epitomizes the Craftsman ideal with a large great room for living and dining that extends outside to a spacious covered front porch. Constructed for investor and mortgage broker Ralph Cohen and his wife, Ella Belle Cohen, the house was one of the first built in the Cannon Hill park neighborhood. The house reflects early twentieth century building and development trends associated with prominent residential neighborhoods in early Spokane.