The foundation of the Heritage House dates back to 1863 where a log cabin stood until the Great Fire of 1897 consumed the whole city block. In 1898 Phillip Nutting bought the foundation and built the beginning of what is now the Heritage House. The house was originally a two story concrete block structure with bedrooms upstairs and an outside staircase. The house at 0310 3rd Street is now a two-story frame bungalow that was stuccoes and added to with concrete block sections on the north and east side between 1918 and 1928. The house has a low gable roof, exposed rafters, figure four brackets, multiplane windows and two lions in couchant flanking the front stoop. Representative of the bungalow style, the house is a sole survivor of domestic buildings and small domestic industry in downtown Lewiston. The presence of houses scattered among commercial buildings was typical of Lewiston during the period before the dense commercial development beginning 1910. The Nutting family lived in the house from 1898-1954, while maintaining the nearby Lewiston Laundry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     In 1963, the Nez Perce County Historical Society moved in to the house after purchasing the residence from Mrs. Inez Button, a Nutting daughter who had inherited the house from her parents. The building was the last residence in the old part of Lewiston. In the 1970s, the Society and the museum moved next door leaving the Nutting house empty.

     The historical value of the house was noted and it was included in the Lewiston Downtown Historical District in 1985. It was then included on the National Register of Historic Places and added to the honorary list in Washington, D.C.     

     Nez Perce County Historical Society Board approved changing the name from Nutting House to Heritage House in 1987. Also, the board agreed that the house would be furnished with Victorian décor. It is no longer available for rent and is now being developed as a historic house museum.

     As of 2015, a handicapped accessible updated bathroom was built on the ground floor. Since the house dates to about 1900, and after much consideration, the board of directors decided to preserve and decorate the house to reflect that era.  Tours of the house depend on staff availability, and is included in the museum admission.