From its earliest days this richly decorated house was known as Cliff Cottage, a name that is also fitting for many of the town’s houses constructed as they are on steep hill-sides. Built for W. B. Brown, a mayor of Eureka Springs, Cliff Cottage is one of several residences in the town for which plans and building materials were purchased by mail order from a catalog. All the materials—lumber, flooring, exterior decorative trim, shingles, and window glass—came here by rail, and local carpenters assembled the house. The building’s projecting front bay, with recessed sides, defines it as a “prow” house.