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Summary for 1514 4th AVE / Parcel ID 080900-0380 / Inv #

Historic Name: Gaston, Lynn & Shirlee, House Common Name:
Style: American Foursquare - Spanish Neighborhood: Queen Anne
Built By: Year Built: 1909
 
Significance
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places.
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.
In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local).
Despite alterations, this is a good example of an American Foursquare or Classic Box, one of the most popular house types on Queen Anne and Capitol Hill during the first decade of the 20th Century. The house was noted in a 1970s historic resources survey. It is one of the few Classic Box houses on Queen Anne that shows a Spanish Mission influence, seen in the arched front windows. Unfortunately, the Mission-arched dormer that was originally on the south elevation has been replaced. The house was built in 1909, but the builder and original owner are not known. It may well have been based on a pattern book design, as many similar designs are found in books such as the Western Home Builder published in Seattle by Victor Voorhees. The first identified owner was Leland Houghton, a lumberman, who purchased the house in the 1920s. Charles Brooks, a printer, and his wife Ida bought the house in 1937. Lynn and Shirlee Gaston bought the house in 1960, and lived here until 1999.
 
Appearance
This Foursquare has the typical hipped-roof form with a hipped dormer on the front, with deep eaves and curved brackets. The recessed porch at the southwest corner has a flat-roofed portico with two round columns; a third column is at the house's northwest corner. Above, a wall dormer has two lattice windows with wide surrounds. To the south of porch is a three-part bay with one-over-one windows. The most notable feature is in the center of the second floor, with a grouping of four small windows with very wide arched surrounds, painted white; below them is a window box with prominent curved brackets. This is flanked by two large windows. A projecting bay at the northwest corner also has large curved brackets. The north elevation has a shallow two-story square bay; the south elevation has a new gabled bay and porch. Some windows, including those in the corner bays, have been replaced, with single pane replacing the original one-over-one. Cladding is narrow clapboard with a water table and a belt course below the second floor windows.

Detail for 1514 4th AVE / Parcel ID 080900-0380 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Wood - Clapboard Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured
Roof Type(s): Hip Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition-Shingle
Building Type: Domestic - Single Family Plan: Rectangular
Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: two & ½
Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture
Integrity
Changes to Plan: Moderate
Changes to Windows: Moderate
Changes to Original Cladding: Slight
Major Bibliographic References
King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.

Photo collection for 1514 4th AVE / Parcel ID 080900-0380 / Inv #


Photo taken Sep 04, 2004
App v2.0.1.0