Description

Workers are seen inside one of the Curtis Cottages during demolition of the building in 1989.

George W. Curtis came to Prescott from California in 1864, and in 1867 purchased an interest in a sawmill. He purchased a building in Granite Creek on South McCormick Street and he enlarged and modified it in 1878. This building was known as Curtis Hall and was used as the meeting place for the Territorial Legislature from 1879 to early 1885 and as City Hall. It was described as a "mammoth frame house" which "overshadows every edifice in town." This building was apparently gone by the mid 1880s at which time the Curtis Duplex was built at the same location. It appears in an 1885 photograph of Prescott. It was a one-story wood frame building with a porch across the front, covered with shiplap siding. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Around 1881 the Curtis brothers built three 'cottages" along South McCormick Street to the North and South of the Curits Duplex. One of these cottages still stands at 125 South McCormick and is listed in the National register of Historic Places. the Curtis Duplex and one of the cottages were demolished in 1989.  Another cottage was moved to Chino Valley.

NOTE: Sharlot Hall Museum has more photos of the Curtis Cottages demolition that are not online.  Contact the SHM Library and Archives to view them.