Coulter Cottage
Why it's listed
Built between 1897 and 1899 near the top of Helen Hill in Saranac Lake, this two-and-one-half-story shingled house was designed by William L. Coulter as his own home. Coulter, an associate of a New York City architectural firm, came to the village in 1896 after contracting tuberculosis, and he and his wife Violet both had the disease. He began his own practice in 1897 and designed many camps on the Saranac Lakes and Lake Placid, as well as village buildings. His house, rectangular in plan with a stone foundation and a cross-gabled gambrel roof, includes a sitting-out porch and several sleeping porches. These features made it a working cure cottage. After a 1917 health survey, it was leased to operators who ran it as a nursing cottage or boarding house. The house is regarded as an intact, representative example of cure cottage architecture, retaining its design, materials, setting and association.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues that the house is an intact, representative example of turn-of-the-century residential cure cottage architecture built for private use by a tuberculosis patient. It also reflects the career of Coulter, an early architect in the region who came to Saranac Lake with tuberculosis. It retains a high degree of integrity.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 92001438, listed November 6, 1992. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 34 Shepard Ave., Saranac Lake |
|---|---|
| County | Essex County |
| Listed | November 6, 1992 |
| Reference number | 92001438 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | ca.1897-ca.1940 |
| Architect / builder | William L. Coulter, Architect |
| Architectural style | Shingle style |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Health/Medicine, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still used as a single dwelling; a non-contributing late twentieth century garage is on the property. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | Helen Hill Historic District |
| Coordinates | 44.32554, -74.12585 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 92001438.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5176182
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.