Home added to state register

The 1914 Florence Ferguson house on N. Mill Street in Colfax has been added to the Washington Register of Historic Places by a unanimous vote of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation last week.

The Ferguson house is owned by Tim Ely and Ann Marra.

The council met Oct. 14 in the public library in downtown Spokane to review 17 properties that had applied to be on the list.

The council also voted to forward the home for listing on the federal Department of the Interior’s National Register of Historic Places. Marra said the state council’s recommendation virtually guarantees a spot on the national registry.

Listing on the state and federal historic registries does not forbid demolition or remodeling of properties, according to Michael Houser, the state’s architectural historian.

Houser said the main benefit is to spotlight historically significant or unique pieces of architecture that exist in a community.

Marra and Ely were given a certificate recognizing the home’s listing on the state registry. National listing comes with a brass plaque that is posted outside the historic property.

Three other Colfax buildings on the national list are the post office; the Perkins House and the Heilsberg Homestead ranch at Wilcox.

Those three properties and seven others in the area are listed on the state registry. They are the Main Street Historic District, George Darling Barn, Mackleit Farm, Manning-Rye Covered Bridge, Heidenreich Barn, the Heilsberg Farm and the Kroll Barn.