Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 25, Anchorage

The Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 25, located on West Third Avenue in Anchorage, is a two-story wood-frame building designed with a low-pitch gable roof and exposed rafter tails under its wide eaves. Constructed in 1917 by the Alaska Engineering Commission (AEC), the cottage is part of a group of homes built to accommodate the Commission’s employees after Anchorage’s transformation from a tent city to a railroad hub in 1916. Cottage No. 25 initially housed the townsite engineer, later promoted to townsite manager, and became one of the few federal buildings retained beyond 1926, eventually used by the U.S. Army Signal Corps and later by the Army and Coast Guard.

This cottage exemplifies the simple yet durable design of the AEC’s early Anchorage housing, with many original cottages built in clusters along Third Avenue and Christensen Drive. While several AEC cottages were dismantled over time, Anchorage has preserved a handful in the downtown area and the Government Hill neighborhood, some of which have been repurposed as offices or even restaurants.

Cottage No. 25 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 and is currently owned by the Municipality of Anchorage, remaining a well-preserved artifact of the city’s early development. Together with other iconic structures, like the Leopold David House and Oscar Anderson House, Cottage No. 25 contributes to Anchorage’s historical landscape.