Historic Name: |
Nelson, V. House |
Common Name: |
Nelson House |
Style: |
Italian - Italianate |
Neighborhood: |
Fremont |
Built By: |
|
Year Built: |
1890 |
|
Significance |
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
|
The V. Nelson house was constructed about 1890. Two years earlier Swedish immigrant Victor C. Nelson (b. ca 1863) and his wife (b. ca 1865) arrived in Seattle and moved to the Belltown neighborhood. Nelson drove a horse drawn wagon delivering laundry for Cascade Steam Laundry, the largest laundry in Seattle. By the end of 1889, he mortgaged some property in Fremont to finance the construction of a house. By spring 1890 the Nelsons moved into the house. Nelson continued to work for Cascade Laundry until the Panic of 1893, one of the nation’s worst depressions, which probably forced Nelson out of the laundry business. For the next four years Nelson tried operating a Belltown grocery on Front Street (renamed 1st Ave). It was an easy commute for Nelson. He caught the Fremont streetcar on Woodland Park Avenue just two blocks from his house and rode the streetcar through Fremont along the west side of Lake Union to Belltown. In 1897 Nelson caught gold dust fever and tried mining for a couple of years. The Nelsons moved from the house in 1900 and left town the following year.
Later occupants. By 1905 sisters Inga (b. ca 1864) and Agnes (b. ca 1866) Knudsen purchased the house and would own it for about 25 years. They moved into the house just two years after they arrived into the United States from Norway. The sisters established a seamstress business which they ran out of the house until 1919. To supplement their income they rented out one or two rooms. In 1910, Norwegian immigrants Adolph Anderson (b. ca 1875) and a Mr. Lund (b. ca 1880), rented rooms. The two men worked as coopersmiths and Adolph Anderson was the Knudsen's nephew. In 1919 the Knudsens moved from the house and apparently rented it for five years before Agnes moved back. Agnes lived in the house for about six more years before she sold it.
Doris A. Hoyt purchased the house in 1932. By 1938 bartender Roy A. and his wife Jessie M. Longenberger purchased the house and moved in. From World War II into the 1950s cooper George H. Tinkham and his wife Laura E. lived there. Tinkham worked at Western Cooperage and Sweeney Cooperage. Because housing was so tight during World War II the Tinkhams rented to electrician Oscar Preszler. By 1962, after the Tinkhams left, Vlademir P. Sergeeff moved in.
In 1975 Historic Seattle conducted a survey of the Fremont neighborhood and listed the residence as Significant to the City. A 1979 Seattle Historic Resources Survey described the house as a "very unusual two story frame Queen Anne dwelling."
The Nelson House was constructed during Seattle's first residential building boom that lasted from 1888 to 1891. Very few intact buildings from this era exist in Seattle. A limited number of Italianate style houses exist in Seattle. Due to the building age, minimal alterations, and representation of vernacular Italianate style, the Nelson House appears to meet City of Seattle Landmark criteria.
Variant address: Prior to ca. 1918 the building address was 911 Kilbourne Street.
|
|
|
Appearance |
Front gable and wing Italianate style residence. A large two story three sided bay window with a hip roof on north elevation and one story three sided bay window with a hip roof and roof brackets on east elevation. North elevation porch with shed roof. 18 x 23 foot shed addition to rear (south elevation). Double hung windows with tear drop sash corners. |
|
|