Mary Lee Davis House/Alaska Heritage House (1916)

Mary Lee Davis House/Alaska Heritage House (1916). 410 Cowles Street. , In 1916 Arthur Williams began construction of this house, a variation of the popular bungalow home featured in printed guides that came to Alaska. Windows, doors, and some finishing items were ordered from Seattle and installed, so the term "catalog home" was sometimes used. Much of the construction material was from Alaska because shipping costs were high. Mr. and Mrs. Williams lived in the home for several years until his death. His widow then sold the home to Mary Lee and John Davis., Mary Lee Davis, author of We Are Alaskans, commented: "This was really a charming cottage, gray painted and green roofed...we loved it...we built a hearth, the first open fireplace in our part of the country.", Additional amenities in the house, unusual for Fairbanks in the 1920s, included a hardwood oak floor, built-in bookshelves, a lawn with landscaping, a dark room for photography, and a central vacuum system. The Davis family was the first to convert from wood to coal heat when the Alaska Railroad freighted coal to town. With these improvements, this home was considered one of the most elegant homes in Fairbanks between World Wars I and II., Several owners have lived here over time; the Fairbanks Exploration Company once owned and used this house for supervisory personnel. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 31, 1982. Today it is named THE ALASKA HERITAGE HOUSE for its historic exterior and antique interior furnishings., [Photo caption reads] Mary Lee Davis House, date uncertain, but note board sidewalk. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , This property , has been placed on the , National Register , of Historic Places , by the , United States , Department of the Interior.