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Summary for 2836 MOUNT SAINT HELENS PL / Parcel ID 5700003550 / Inv #

Historic Name: Common Name:
Style: Colonial - Colonial Revival Neighborhood: Mount Baker
Built By: Year Built: 1930
 
Significance
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.
Built in 1930, the building was designed by H. B. McKnight and owned by Ira H. Watson. The building was valued at $11,500. The New York Life Insurance Company purchased the property in February of 1934. By 1944 through 1958, James C. Bennett lived in the building. Harry B. McKnight practiced architecture in Seattle in 1929 and 1930. 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 1930, this Colonial Revival style single-family dwelling stands on a rectangular lot. The building is oriented to Mt Saint Helens Place South on a flat site at street level. This 1144 square foot, two-and-a-half story house with a full daylight basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 26’ by 44’, with a 4’ by 6’ stoop. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, brick-clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the side gable roof. Prominent eave returns on the sides of the house as well as at the cross gable break on the center of the side gable roof define the roofline. The front entry is off a stoop sheltered by a flat roof with iron railing. The windows are in groups of three with a single pane flanked by 6:6 windows. The uppermost half-story includes pie shaped windows on either side of the masonry chimney which services the house.

Detail for 2836 MOUNT SAINT HELENS PL / Parcel ID 5700003550 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Brick 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: two & ½
Unit Theme(s):
Integrity
Changes to Plan: Intact
Changes to Windows: Intact
Changes to Original Cladding: Intact
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."
Dietz, Duane, “Architects and Landscape Architects of Seattle, 1876 to 1959 and Beyond,” unpublished paper. University of Washington Libraries, July 1993.

Photo collection for 2836 MOUNT SAINT HELENS PL / Parcel ID 5700003550 / Inv #


Photo taken

Photo taken Nov 04, 2003

Photo taken Nov 04, 2003
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