There are a handful of modern intrusions in the area, including the Kenneth and Edna Brooks house built in 1956, which was listed individually on the NRHP on its own merit in 2004.

[2] The historic district's location along and atop a cliff overlooking the city center played a prominent role in its development.

Wealthy residents in the then nascent city of Spokane built mansions in the Browne's Addition neighborhood, along flat land just west of downtown.

[2] The Marycliff section of the historic district is located on sloping land below a basalt cliff on the bottom flank of Spokane's South Hill.

Development in the area began in the late 1880s and it quickly became one of Spokane's most elite neighborhoods, home to many of the young city's most prominent and wealthy families.

Homes in the area were built facing northward, down the hill, which offered commanding views of the city center below as well as the surrounding terrain for miles around.

[2] Its location helped spur its growth in its early decades during Spokane's "Age of Elegance" from the late 1880s until World War I.

At that time, almost every mansion in Marycliff had been converted from single-family use and many had been razed altogether to make way for newer development.

[4] On the east side of Marycliff, the Corbin property was donated to the city on condition that it be maintained for public use.

Its northern elevation looks out over the city center with a symmetrical façade behind a wrap-around porch contained behind balustrades and Tuscan columns.

Corbin's fortunes were made through his network of railroads which connected the mining districts in the nearby Silver Valley of North Idaho and the Kootenays of British Columbia with the commercial center of Spokane.

[8] Located at 815 W. Seventh Ave., the Austin Corbin house is a Colonial Revival home built in 1898 and designed by Kirtland Cutter.

The younger Corbin worked in his father's business as vice president of the family's three railroad lines, a sugar company, and irrigation ventures.

Located on a seven-acre lot overlooking the city, the northern façade features a two-story portico at the central entrance with six Ionic columns supporting the pediment.

Prior to the construction of Marycliff High School in 1929, the manicured lawns and gardens sloped down from the house to Seventh Avenue, where a gatehouse was located.

[2] The home was built for F. Lewis Clark, a Harvard educated businessman from a wealthy East Coast family who arrived in Spokane in 1884.

After diversifying his investments into mining as well as milling, Clark constructed an estate at Hayden Lake in North Idaho and sold the Undercliff House to B. L. Gordon for $100,000 in 1909.

After the death of Gordon, his widow gave the home and its seven-acre property to the Catholic diocese to be used as part of Marycliff High School.

[2] After the closure of the high school in 1979, the Undercliff House, along with the rest of the campus, was developed into an office park.

[6] The Cliff Park area is distinct from Marycliff not only geographically, but also by the market of homeowner it served as it was being developed.

All four homes front Sumner Ave. on the south, but they are laid out to take advantage of the view to the north, where the cliff falls off almost immediately beyond their property lines.