Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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Style: |
Arts & Crafts |
Neighborhood: |
Mount Baker |
Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1921 |
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Significance |
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
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Built in 1921, this building was owned by John D. Hall. He added a garage later that same year. Kenneth R. Fisher moved into the building ca 1929. Mr. Fisher worked as a salesperson for Fisher Flouring Mills Company. In June of 1933, Continental Security Company purchased the building. Ca 1936, Leo M. and Rose Koenigsberg moved into the building. Mr. Koenigsberg was a partner in the law firm Koenigsberg and Sanford and was involved with the Western Adjustment Agency. By 1943, Samuel W. Elmore lived in the building. In August of 1952, Shirley G. and Martha E. Mues purchased the building for $12,500. By 1954, Earl Trotsky lived in the building. The Polk directories list Shirley Mues as the resident again in 1958 after purchasing the building in December of 1957. In October of 1959, the building sold for $13,000.
The Mount Baker neighborhood comprises two north-south tending ridges located southeast of downtown Seattle along Lake Washington. Initial development of the area occurred relatively late, post-1900, following the construction of the Rainier Avenue Electric Street Railway in the 1890s. York Station on Rainier Avenue and the Dose Addition were developed earlier than the Mount Baker Park Addition, platted in 1907 by the Hunter Tract Improvement Company. The Mount Baker Park Addition represents the core of the neighborhood and is its primary character-defining feature. Mount Baker Park is one of Seattle’s earliest planned residential communities that successfully integrated the natural environment and a relatively exclusive residential neighborhood in its layout of lots, streets, boulevards, and parks. The houses, primarily built between 1905 and 1929, reflect a variety of eclectic and Northwest-based architectural styles, and include designs by many prominent local architects.
Other important influences were the streetcar connection with downtown Seattle, the integration of local parks and boulevards into the Olmsted system, the construction of Franklin High School in 1912, and the building of the Mount Baker tunnel and Lacey V. Murrow Floating Bridge to Mercer Island in 1940. Today this middle-to-upper income neighborhood remains predominantly residential, is home to an ethnically diverse population, and retains much of its planned character.
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Appearance |
Built in 1921, this compact, Arts & Crafts style, single-family dwelling stands on a rectangular lot. The building is oriented to Thirty-Third Avenue South on a flat site 4’ above street level. This 1232 square foot, single-story house with a three-quarter daylight basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 52’ by 28’, with a full width front porch. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, clapboard-clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the low-pitched side gable roof. Modest closed eave and gable overhangs with slight cornice returns and multiple-lite eyebrow dormers define the roofline. Multiple-lite wood sash windows provide day lighting. Two flights of stairs lead from the sidewalk to the front porch. Classically-inspired columns without railings support the outer edge of the extended roofline over the front porch. An elliptical roof projection highlights the entrance. A gable end brick chimney services the building. The porch and entrance configuration set this building apart as unique within the Mount Baker, North Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill neighborhoods. |
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Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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Cladding(s): |
Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
Roof Type(s): |
Gable |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
one & ½ |
Unit Theme(s): |
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Integrity |
Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Major Bibliographic References |
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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City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
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Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
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Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
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Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."
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