Old Phone Building
Kahn, Soares, & Conway Law Firm

A lot of people know that this is the Old Phone Building, but a little background on the building: Cousins, that had the tractor dealership and the pharmacy, upstairs in the pharmacy, the first Hanford phone company was upstairs in the building down the street. It had two operators and two switchboards and was strictly a local (Hanford only) operation. They didn't connect up with anywhere else. When they got ready to join up with a bigger company and connect up with the rest of the world, they were going to need a bigger building. Mrs. Howland over heard this conversation and she told her husband. Mr. Cousins said, "I've got some property over in this other block. I'll build a building. So he built this building for the phone company, about 1907.
On the north side was the phone company, the main floor and the second floor, and then they used the basement. This central part of the building used to come out to the sidewalk. There was a business on the lower level, and over the years there were different businesses. Upstairs, entered at the south side of the building, was the Cousins home. Sometimes when you have some time, go upstairs. Although, now used for law offices, you can tell where the upstairs was home until 1927. The home's fireplace, stained glass bookcases, skylight and beamed ceilings are still in tact. It's beautiful three bedrooms, three baths (actually only sinks within bedrooms), maid's quarters, balcony over the patio in back, and that was the Cousins' home. Some literature refers to it as "Hanford's Penthouse". The back door of this building opens up in to the beautiful Carnegie Museum of Kings County Courtyard.