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Summary for 6721 ELLIS AVE / Parcel ID 3468800130 / Inv # 0

Historic Name: White-Dromey Company House Common Name:
Style: Vernacular Neighborhood: Georgetown
Built By: Year Built: 1919
 
Significance

Based on field work conducted in September 2014, this historic property retains its relationship to the streetscape, historic building form and a sufficient amount of exterior historic building fabric (design features, cladding and/or window sash/openings) to contribute to the distinct character of the Georgetown neighborhood.

This is an altered but relatively intact historic property that may possess some limited architectural and/or historic significance. This property exhibits some substantive changes to the exterior appearance since it was identified in the 1997 HRI project: cladding alteration (new vinyl) and window upgrade (new vinyl). 
 

(1997) This property is associated with an era of residential and commercial building between 1916 and 1942 which continued in Georgetown despite an acceleration of the trends toward the industrialization of the area. Significant changes came with prohibition and the closure of the brewery in 1916, the completion of the Duwamish Waterway in 1917, and the arrival of new businesses, such as the Boeing Airplane Company in 1916. In spite of the increasingly industrial nature of the area which had been zoned as such in 1923, residents of Georgetown continued to build new homes and businesses and to plan for a future in the neighborhood. This house appears to have been built by a building construction firm, the White-Dromey Company, as a speculative venture. The same firm also built houses at 6731, 6915 and 6921 Ellis Avenue South in 1919. They also obtained permits to build three other speculative houses nearby on Ellis Avenue South but never built them. The firm was headed by Asa E. White and James M. Dromey (who lived in Georgetown). By 1924, the house was owned by A.H. Swanson.
 
Appearance
A well preserved example of a hybrid hipped-roof vernacular house type. This small house type was commonly constructed throughout the American West during the later half of the 19th C and the early decades of the 20th C. This example exhibits distinctive design features and historic building fabric associated with popular architecture design modes during the late 19th C. and early 20th C: a traditional one-story cottage form accentuated by a low pitched hip roof, projecting front porch and double-hung windows with multi-pane (8/1) upper sash members. The house is clad with narrow cedar clapboard siding. It includes modest features popularly used in Colonial Revival and Bungalow residential designs during the first two decades of the 20th C: prominent soffitted eaves and prominent porch with tapered porch columns. The footprint of the principal portion of the house is 24’ x 36’ and includes a small rear porch. An original front entry door with sidelights remains in place. The entry sidelights in combination with the multi-pane sash and original porch design are indicative of the popularity of Colonial Revival design during this period. Exterior changes of note include the alteration of the porch which originally included a central rather than a side entry stair and three columns rather than one column at each corner. The central brick chimney remains in place. A one car garage designed in character with the residence (1942) is situated adjacent and to the rear of the house.

Detail for 6721 ELLIS AVE / Parcel ID 3468800130 / Inv # 0

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Wood - Clapboard Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured
Roof Type(s): Hip Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition
Building Type: Domestic - Single Family Plan: Rectangular
Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: one
Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce, Community Planning/Development
Integrity
Changes to Windows: Intact
Changes to Plan: Intact
Changes to Original Cladding: Intact
Major Bibliographic References
City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.

Photo collection for 6721 ELLIS AVE / Parcel ID 3468800130 / Inv # 0


Photo taken May 02, 1997

Photo taken May 02, 1997

Photo taken Sep 18, 2014
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