| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Craftsman |
Neighborhood: |
Wallingford |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1923 |
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| Significance |
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Construction of this house began in 1922 according to the public record and was probably completed in 1923. The permit for this house (permit #217597) was acquired at the same time as those for the similarly designed structures next door at 4303 Meridian (permit #217598) and 4311 Meridian (permit #217596), which were erected at about the same time. The initial owner, designer and builder of all three of these structures was the prolific Wallingford merchant builder Stephen Berg.
Berg appears to have sold the new house to Mrs. Mabel Baker, a Christian Science practitioner. A 9 x 16 platform for a sleeping tent was added to the property in 1924. Although Mrs. Baker is listed as the owner of the property on the permit (#232593), it was John H. Lovetinsky who signed the application. Curiously, Mrs. Baker’s house number is listed in Polk’s Seattle Directory for that year as 4309 rather than 4307. Mrs. Baker was apparently widowed by 1930 and it appears she was no longer living at 4307 Meridian after 1934.
Washington Mutual Savings Bank was the fee owner by 1935. LeRoy H. Bradley and his wife Violet appear to have lived in the house from 1936 or 1937 until at least 1944; Mr. Bradley is listed as the contract purchaser of the property on the King County Property Record Card begun in 1937. Mrs. J. E. VanNice resided at the house from the late 1940s until at least 1951 but may have been a tenant rather than a homeowner. Lyle O. Taylor lived at the house in the mid 1950s.
Frank C. Smith appears to have purchased the property in 1958 and installed a new gas furnace in 1966. He was still at this address in 1977. Albert Kloehn lived at 4307 Meridian in 1978 and 1979, and Chu Chen lived there by 1980.
The house was vacant in 1985, according to city directories; however, a new owner, Mark Defebach, upgraded the electrical service in 1986. He and his wife Christina owned the house until 1993 when it was acquired by the Merlino family. Various members of the Merlino family owned the property until the current owner, Peter J. Petrucci, bought it in 2000. Air conditioning was installed for Petrucci in 2000-2001 and the electrical service panel was again upgraded at about the same time.
This structure is significant as an intact example of the craftsman style housing being erected in Wallingford by merchant builder Stephen Berg just after the First World War in the initial years of Seattle’s second north end building boom. The house is also is significant as one of three adjacent structures built by Berg in similar styles and at the same time.
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| Appearance |
| The building is a one story, clapboard clad frame residence on a concrete foundation over a less than full, partially finished basement. The moderate slope of the clipped gable roof, the wide barge boards supported by triangular timber knee braces, the open soffits and exposed rafter tails, the bungalow style double-hung windows and four unit, front facing window assembly (consisting of a square fixed window flanked by two narrower rectangular windows and surmounted by a long transom unit with leaded glass), and the battered built up wood piers standing atop waist high square brick pedestals at the eastward extension of the inset entry located at the northeast corner of the house are all characteristic components of the craftsman bungalows built by Berg in Wallingford. No modifications are readily apparent. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Hold |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Brick, Wood, Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable - Clipped |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition-Shingle |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Irregular |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
one |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
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King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
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Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
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