Greene, Nelson H., House

The N. H. Greene House was built by Greene, a locally prominent merchant, banker, real estate promoter, and public official who was instrumental in the early development of Ritzville. An important social center during the early years of the century, the house continues to be stylistically the most fully developed example of residential architecture in the community.

Nelson H. Greene arrived in Ritzville during the first significant immigration to the area in 1883-1884. Throughout 1884, he shipped in stocks of building materials to the small settlement, and for many years thereafter he operated, with his son Orr, the building store of Greene and Son. He also opened the town's second store, a general merchantile establishment, in 1884 in partnership with Clark Long. The following year Greene built the frame structure, purchased by the county commissioners, which was to become the first courthouse. Also in 1885, he erected the First Congregational Church. Although not a builder by profession, Greene financed numerous projects, and his name is given in records of the period as the builder. He was also called upon for community and county leadership. In 1885 he was appointed the county school superintendent and sheriff, and a year later he was elected to the board of county commissioners. During the summer of 1888, a fire destroyed most of Ritzville's commercial district, including Greene's store. As a gesture of confidence, he immediately set to work constructing the first brick commercial building in town, which was completed the following year. In December, 1888, he filed his first addition plat, which was to become a major residential development. That same month, Ritzville was officially incorporated and Greene was appointed the first mayor. The area continued to grow, with immigrant groups settling the surrounding countryside and establishing wheat farms which were soon bringing in profitable crops. As a grain broker, Greene shipped much of the area's wheat to Eastern markets. With increasing assets gained from his many projects, he established the Pioneer State Bank in April, 1901. The remainder of his active work life in Ritzville was in banking.

Greene financed the building of his house in 1902, a year when Ritzville was experiencing a surge of physical and economic growth. At that time the town was declared the largest inland wheat-shipping port in the United States, an achievement accounting for its optimistic expansion and reflected in the building of numerous commercial blocks and fine homes, of which Greene's was the most ambitious. The first major residence of brick in Ritzville, the house is distinguished not only by the quality of its construction but also by its design concept. Its exterior combines the irregular massing and contrasting materials of the towered Queen Anne house type with references to Classical Revivalism in the pediments and columned portico. Inside is evidence of the late nineteenth-century taste for inviting interiors derived from the early colonial tradition, a trend which followed in the wake of the American Centennial. Visual warmth is produced by materials (gleaming hardwood finish) and design elements (inglenooks and the relationship of stair-hall to rooms, which opens up the floor plan somewhat). The status of the house as a social statement is retained, however, in the formalizing impact of room size, the rather monumental staircase, and the consistent application of classical motifs throughout, particularly the most graceful of the orders, the Ionic.