Moving history forward

With spectacular views of the lake, this grand old home on the east end of Lakeshore Drive has for over 100 years enchanted timber executives, lumber buyers, women’s club members, senior citizens groups and, most recently, wedding and anniversary parties.

Yet, imagine the parties that might have been held during the Prohibition Era of the 1920s. Was there illicit alcohol? Ragtime music? Dancing near the beach? Flapper dresses? Unless the walls talk, we may never know.

What we do know is that the 7,000-square-foot house (now known as the Jewett House) was built for the Edward Rutledge Lumber Company on the east end of Sanders Beach and completed in 1917. The American Four-Square design and plans were created by Coeur d’Alene architect George Williams, whose work also includes Roosevelt School and City Hall.

The interior had an elegant central staircase with stained wooden railings and beamed ceilings. The second floor included six bedrooms and three bathrooms. The third floor was servant quarters. On the east end of the main floor was a covered drive-thru and the west end was balanced with a sun-room.

This house was built to be the new home of Huntington Taylor, the general manager for the new Rutledge Lumber Mill, and his family. Mr. and Mrs. Huntington Taylor lived at 1501 Lakeshore Drive from 1917 until 1930.

Huntington Taylor was an 1896 graduate of Yale and classmate of F. E. Weyerhaeuser, son of Frederick Weyerhaeuser. After college, Taylor accepted management positions with lumber and paper mills in Minnesota that were owned in part by Weyerhaeuser. In 1915, he moved to Coeur d’Alene to oversee the construction of the Rutledge mill facilities and his new home. His wife, Jane, and their three children Margaret, Sarah and James, joined him. The children attended school in Coeur d’Alene.

During her time in Coeur d’Alene, Mrs. Taylor was actively engaged in the Coeur d’Alene Golf Club and the Fortnight Women’s Club, committed to literary and social engagement, for which she entertained guests on the lawn of her lakefront home.

Besides his duties as general manager of the Rutledge Mill, Huntington Taylor was also elected to the Idaho Board of Education and served as president of the American Trust Bank in Coeur d’Alene. He also held executive positions in Weyerhaeuser Sales, the St. Joe Boom Company, Coeur d’Alene Timber Protective Association, Western Forestry and Conservation Association as well as others. He resigned in 1928.

George Jewett was named the successor and lived with his family in this house until 1937 when they moved to Spokane. The Rutledge Lumber Company, which had merged with Potlatch Lumber, then used the house to entertain company officials and international guests until 1972. In 1978, the Potlatch Corp. granted the house to the city for use by Coeur d’Alene senior citizens.

Experience the ambiance of a 1920s Gatsby Garden Party on the lawn of the Jewett House. Join the Museum of North Idaho for a fun-filled evening — July 7 from 6-10 p.m. — catered dinner, bar, dancing to live music by the fabulous Zonky Jazz Band, croquet, silent auction and presentation by Architects West. Tickets are sold at the museum or online at museumni.org/events/gala. All funds raised go toward the preservation of local history and building the new museum.