Gilbert Gilbertson House

Built circa 1910, this transitional residence is distinguished by open-air porches and balustrades on the first and second stories and reflects a moment when architectural tastes were changing. Its asymmetrical Victorian-era Queen Anne style appears in its steeply pitched gable roof, elegant stained-glass transom, bay window on the south, and classical Tuscan columns, while a shed-roofed dormer on the north hints at the newly emerging Craftsman style. It was the longtime home of Norwegian immigrants Gilbert O. and Malene Gilbertson. Gilbert settled in Minnesota, farmed successfully for thirty years, and served as a state senator. After his first wife died in 1887, Malene Hoines came from Norway to serve as housekeeper, and the two married in 1889 and added four more children to the family. They moved to Flathead County in 1907 and built the home circa 1910. Shortly before Gilbert’s death in 1925, the couple’s widowed daughter, Ida Keeling, and her young son Clyde moved in. Ida married Charles Kretlow in 1936, and after Malene’s death in 1937, the Kretlows maintained the home into the 1940s.

Kalispell, Montana · United States