An 1888 Kirtland Cutter mansion built for Spokane's founder, long a private events venue, tied to the memory of Susan Glover.
321 W 8th Ave, Spokane, WA 99204
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Private events venue; public access limited to booked events and occasional public programs.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic Tudor Revival home on a sloped Cliff/Cannon lot; interior has stairs between floors.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1888 · Designed by noted Northwest architect Kirtland Cutter, 1888 · Built for James N. Glover, credited founder of Spokane · Survived the Spokane fire of 1889 · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 1973
The Glover Mansion was built in 1888 in the Cliff/Cannon neighborhood of Spokane, designed by the architect Kirtland Cutter for James N. Glover, the developer widely credited as the founder of the city in 1873. The English Tudor Revival house, reported at roughly 12,000 square feet, survived the Spokane fire of 1889 and has remained standing through the city's growth.
Glover's fortunes turned during the Panic of 1893; the mansion, which had cost about $100,000 to build, was sold for roughly $30,000 as financial hardship forced him to give it up. Over the following century the building served multiple roles, including a period as home to Spokane's Unitarian Universalist congregation.
The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973, and to the Spokane Register of Historic Places in 1995. For about two decades Red Rock Catering ran it as a wedding and events venue and staged occasional ticketed public programs, including immersive theatrical and dance performances in its period rooms. In 2026 Red Rock sold the mansion to a Seattle-Tacoma area law firm, with booked events honored through that fall, leaving the building's public use in transition.
Sources
The Glover Mansion's ghost story is inseparable from the documented and difficult history of Susan Glover, James Glover's first wife. After the couple separated and divorced, Susan was committed to Eastern State Hospital, where she lived for the final years of her life and was buried in an unmarked grave in 1921. Spokane Historical and the mansion's own histories record her institutionalization and the way her story was largely erased from the public record.
From that history grew a tradition, repeated on Spokane ghost tours and in a KREM news segment, that a woman moves through the halls of the house she once called home. Accounts attached to the mansion's events-venue years describe slamming doors, sharp temperature changes, and the sound of a child on the stairs, with some retellings citing a clergy blessing of the house in the 1970s.
These phenomena are anecdotal and come largely through tour and television sources rather than formal investigation. The most substantiated part of the story is the historical record of a woman confined and forgotten; the entry treats Susan Glover's life with that weight rather than as a haunted-house caricature.
Notable Entities
View the 1888 Tudor Revival mansion from West 8th Avenue. The interior has long been a private events space; with a 2026 ownership change, public access is in transition, so general visits are best limited to the exterior unless a booked event or program is confirmed.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Spokane, WA
Designed by Kirtland Cutter for Irish-born copper-mining magnate Patrick 'Patsy' Clark, the 12,000-square-foot mansion was completed in 1898 in Spokane's Browne's Addition. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as 'Clark Mansion' in 1975. After eras as a residence, restaurant, and event venue, it was rescued from deterioration in 2002 by a law firm.
Port Townsend, WA
Holly Hill House was built in 1872 and purchased in 1884 by Colonel Robert Cosby Hill and his wife Elizabeth. The home remained in the Hill family until 1980 and operated for years as a bed and breakfast; it is now a private residence in the Port Townsend Historic District.
Washington, DC
Built in 1818-1819 by Richard Cutts for his wife Anna Payne Cutts (Dolley Madison's sister), the Federal-style townhouse on Lafayette Square was acquired by former President James Madison in 1828. After Madison's death in 1836, Dolley Madison lived there until her own death on July 12, 1849. The house was later home to the Cosmos Club and is now part of a federal courts complex housing chambers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.