Historic Name: |
Gifford, Yale & Marvel, House |
Common Name: |
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Style: |
Colonial - Colonial Revival |
Neighborhood: |
Queen Anne |
Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1936 |
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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). |
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This house is an example of a stripped-down modernist version of Colonial Revival, with little detailing. Elements typical of this style include the projecting second floor and the dormer set into the eave. Although it was designed by an architect, the name is illegible on the building permit. It was built by contractor Gunder Birkeland, who is also listed as the owner. He emigrated to Poulsbo from Norway in 1905, and founded the Birkeland Brothers Logging Company. He later turned to real estate, developing much of downtown Bremerton. In 1930 he moved to Seattle and built several houses on Queen Anne. He died in 1976 at the age of ninety.
Birkeland may have lived here briefly while completing the house next door at 1416 Bigelow Avenue North, where he moved in 1937. The next identified owners were T. D. McVicar, of the Richmond Heating Oil Company, and his wife Anne, who lived here from 1938 to 1948. Later owners were Susan O’Brien (1940s-50s), and Gaylen Blackford, station manager of KJR radio, and his wife Mary (1960s). The primary owner has been Yale Gifford, a vice president of Seattle First National Bank, and his wife Marvel, who lived here from 1969 into the 1990s.
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Appearance |
This simple house has a gable-front-and-wing form with two shallow gabled projections. Cladding is primarily white-painted brick, with clapboard on the second floor. The south two-thirds of the façade has a gabled section projecting slightly; the entry is at the north end of this gable. The entry is very simple, with a stoop but no porch or hood. This doorway and the two major first floor windows all have scalloped openings. Two small windows, one with bottle glass, are to the south of the door, with a small circular window in the gable end. Projecting from this gable, on the south end of the façade, is a smaller gabled projection that contains the garage door. The northern portion has a gabled wall dormer with a single six-over-six window; this section projects about two feet and has simple brackets; another six-over-six windows with shutters is on the first story. |
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