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Summary for 2816 31st AVE / Parcel ID 5700000475 / Inv #

Historic Name: Common Name:
Style: Arts & Crafts Neighborhood: Mount Baker
Built By: Year Built: 1919
 
Significance
Built in 1919 as speculative housing, this building was owned by Hunter Tract Improvement Company. Seattle architect Charles Haynes designed the building and it cost $4000. In October of 1929, George L. and Dorothy H. Buck purchased the building. The Buck’s previously resided at 3326 34th Avenue South. Mr. Buck was a partner in Peterson & Buck, general agents for Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In September of 1940, J. O. Kyome purchased the building. By 1943, Paskey A. Dedomenico lived in the building. Evelyn H. Shanstrom lived in the building from ca 1954 through 1958. 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.
 
Appearance
Built in 1919, this compact, Colonial Revival-influenced, Art & Crafts style, single-family dwelling stands on a rectangular lot. The building is oriented to Thirty-First Avenue South on a flat site 5’ above street level. This 1387 square foot, one-and-a-half story house with a three-quarter basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 46’ by 28’, with a recessed front porch. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, shingle-clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the side gable roof and hip roof dormers. Modest gable overhangs with a pronounced cornice and cornice returns define the roofline. Tall, leaded wood sash windows with painted wood casings provide day lighting. A short flight of stairs leads to the front stoop. Decorative columns support the extended roofline over the stoop. An internal brick chimney services the building. The window and porch detailing and its overall stylistic composition set this building apart as unique within the Mount Baker neighborhood.

Detail for 2816 31st AVE / Parcel ID 5700000475 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Shingle 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):
Integrity
Changes to Windows: Slight
Changes to Plan: Intact
Changes to Original Cladding: Slight
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.
City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."

Photo collection for 2816 31st AVE / Parcel ID 5700000475 / Inv #


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