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Male, US, born 1860-08-20, died 1939-09-26
Associated with the firms network
Cutter and Baume, Architects; Cutter and Lewis, Associated Architects; Cutter and Malmgren, Architects; Cutter and Plummer, Interior Furnishers and Decorators, Incorporated; Cutter and Poetz, Architects; Cutter, Kirtland Kelsey, Architect; Cutter, Malmgren, and Wager, Architects
Résumé
Principal, Kirtland Cutter and Company, Architects, Spokane, WA, 1887-1889.
Partner, Cutter and Poetz, Architects, Spokane, WA, 1889-1894. In 1889, the partnership was known as "Kirtland K. Cutter and Company" with an office in the Washington Building according to the R.L. Polk Spokane City Directory of 1889; it became known as "Cutter and Poetz" in 1890; at this time, the firm operated from offices on the sixth floor of the 1st National Bank Building in Spokane.
Partner, Cutter and Malmgren, Architects, Spokane, WA, 1895-1917. In 1908, Cutter and Malmgren occupied an office on the 6th floor of the Exchange Bank Building in Spokane. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Spokane, Washington, City Directory, 1908, p, 333.)
President, Cutter and Plummer, Incorporated, Interior Furnishers and Decorators, Spokane, WA, 1909-1910. Cutter operated this interior design business with Frederick W. Plummer, vice-president and James J. Sanders, secretary-treasurer. In 1909-1910, its studio was located at 719 6th Avenue. (See R.L. Polk and Company’s Spokane, Washington, City Directory, 1909, p. 318 and R.L. Polk and Company’s Spokane, Washington, City Directory, 1910, p. 356.)
President, Cutter Studio, Incorporated, Spokane, WA, c. 1913. In 1913, Cutter was the president, L.M. Davenport the vice-president and James J. Sanders, secretary and treasurer. Llewellyn Marks "Louis" Davenport(1868-1951) opened the renowned Davenport Restaurant in 1913, designed by Cutter. Davenport established his Davenport Hotel a year later on 09/01/1914. The Cutter Studio operated at the same address as Cutter and Malmgren, Architects, in 1913, at 1023 Riverside Avenue. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Spokane, Washington, City Directory, 1913, p. 417.) The studio may have begun as a result of his work with Davenport, who needed furntiure to furnish his restaurant and hotel.
Partner, Cutter, Malmgren and Wager, Architects, Seattle, WA, 1902-1904. In 1903, Kirtland Cutter also had an office in Portland, OR, in Room #2 of the Chambers Building. (See Portland, Oregon, City Directory, 1903, p. 866.)
Partner, Cutter and Baume, Architects, Spokane, WA, c. 1919.
Principal, Kirtland Kelsey Cutter, Architect, Spokane and Seattle, WA, 1918-1923.
Principal, Kirtland Kelsey Cutter, Architect, Long Beach, CA, 1923-1938.
Professional Service
Patron, Seattle Architectural Club, Seattle, WA, 1910.
Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Washington Chapter, 1910-1911. At this time, he was the only member from Spokane, WA. He was a charter member of the AIA, Washington Chapter, in 1894, and an officer in the Washington Chapter between 1908-1911.
Cutter was granted a certificate to practice architecture in the State of CA in 05/1924. (See "Granted certificate to practice architecture," Southwest Builder and Contractor, 05/16/1924, p. 45.)
Professional Awards
Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1923.
Archives
The 4,000 drawings making up "The Cutter & Malmgren (Spokane, Wash.) Records, 1889-1923," were housed originally at the Eastern Washington State Historical Society Archives, and were transferred to the Eastern Washington State Historical Society / Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Joel E. Ferris Research Library and Archives, 2316 W. First Avenue, Spokane, WA, 99201. Tel: 509.363.5313 (2014). (See the "Guide to the Cutter & Malmgren (Spokane, Wash.) Records, 1889-1923," a
In 1999-2000, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Poper donated approximately four linear feet of archival materials on Cutter, including eight books from his professional library, to the University Museum of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). According to the UCSB museum: "The Kirtland Kelsey Cutter papers span 4 linear feet and date from 1913 to 1998. The collection primarily contains material related to Cutter's work in Southern California and is composed of black-and-white photographs of Southern Californian residences that Cutter designed, newspaper clippings and ephemera about Cutter that date from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Cutter’s handbook on architectural practice dated 1928, architectural drawings (primarily presentation drawings) as well as architectural reprographic copies. A few files hold information about buildings in Washington State." (See UCSB, University Museum, Architecture and Design Collection, "Finding Aid for the Kirtland Kelsey Cutter papers, circa 1913-1998 0000126," accessed 03/28/2016.)
Education
Cutter studied illustration at the Art Students' League, New York, NY, c. 1880. He traveled in Europe before 1886, and was known to have studied in Dresden, Germany, and Florence, Italy.
Relocation
Born in East Rockport Ohio, Cutter spent his childhood in this Cuyahoga County town located on the south shore of Lake Erie. First settled in 1809, it became a prosperous agricultural town by Cutter's time, the southern portion of which focused on general farming and milling, the northern part devoted to fruit growing. The eastern portion of Rockport became renamed "Lakewood" in 1889, and was a comfortable western suburb of Cleveland in later years.
He settled in Spokane, WA, in 1886. The architect was set up in business by his uncle, the banker, Horace L. Cutter (b. 1846), and by Austin Corbin (1827-1896), the Long Island Rail Road tycoon, who was, himself, the son of the mining tycoon, Daniel Chase Corbin (1832-1918).
The 1910 US Census located Cutter and his family residing at 628 7th Avenue in Spokane. The household included his wife, step-daughter Kathryn and two household servants, Hilma Olson (born c. 1886 in Sweden) and Mary Nelson (born c. 1868 in Sweden). The census listed his profession as "artist." This may have been because Cutter opened a sidelight interior and furniture design business called the "Cutter Studio, Incorporated." (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Spokane Ward 2, Spokane, Washington; Roll: T624_1670; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0167; FHL microfilm: 1375683, accessed 09/03/2021.) The Cutters continued to dwell at 628 7th Avenue in 1913. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Spokane, Washington, City Directory, 1913, p. 417.)
He lived and worked in Spokane until the early 1920s.
Cutter relocated to California at the end of his career, from 1923 until 1939. He first moved to Palos Verdes Estates, CA, in 1923. The following year, he and his wife, Katharine, resettled in Long Beach, CA, where they continued to live in 1928.
He passed away in Long Beach, CA. The architect along with his wife and step-daughter were buried in the Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery Kealakekua, Hawaii County, HI.
Parents
Cutter's family members were pioneers in what was then the Connecticut Western Reserve portion of the US, that included approximately 3.3 million acres of land, demarcated on the north by Lake Erie, on the east by PA, on the south by the southern boundary of what became Huron County (at 41 degrees north latitude), and on the west to a line drawn 120 miles from the PA border, at roughly Sandusky Bay. The State of Connecticut sold about 2 million acres east of the Cuyahoga River to the Connecticut Land Company in 1795 for $1.2 million, and this private entity went about surveying and selling land in this section between 1796 and 1800. In 1800, the US Federal Government took over political jurisdiction from the State of Connecticut over the whole parcel.
Spouse
Kirtland married Katharine Phillips Williams (born 11/25/1868 in Reading, PA-d. 10/10/1933 in Long Beach, CA) on 02/19/1906 in Spokane, WA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Washington State Archives; Olympia, Washington; Washington, Marriage Records, EA332-2-0-29, accessed 09/02/2021.)
Katharine had wed once before, c. 1890 to a bookeeper, John W. Williams (born c. 04/1867 in OH), and had a daughter Kathryn Phillips Williams Walker (born 01/24/1898 in WA-d. 1963) by her first husband. Katharine and John Williams lived at 1829 1st Avenue in Spokane in 1900. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Spokane Ward 3, Spokane, Washington; Page: 15; Enumeration District: 0066; FHL microfilm: 1241751, accessed 09/03/2021.)
Biographical Notes
Spokane's Great Fire of 08/1889 greatly expanded Cutter's business, and he rapidly became the most sought-after architect in the city.
A passport application signed by Cutter on 02/17/1896, indicated that he was planning to go to Europe "for a few months" and that his "permanent residence" was in Cleveland, Ohio.
Between 01/04/1928 and 01/08/1928, Cutter and his wife, Katharine, traveled via steamship from Honolulu, HI to San Francisco, CA. The architect, Charles Dickey, also was on board this ship.
PCAD id: 1930
