
The houses and commercial buildings in this area, close to downtown Fairbanks, date from the first two decades of Fairbanks's history. Both First Avenue and Cowles Street have cohesive streetscapes, but even isolated buildings on neighboring streets serve to illustrate the early years of Fairbanks. The houses are one or two stories in height, of log or wood-frame construction, with gable or hip roofs. Porches and vestibules animate the fronts of the buildings, and the yards are wooded. The commercial buildings along First Avenue maintain a domestic scale.