Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 320 W Kinnear PL W / Parcel ID 388090-0070 / Inv #

Historic Name: Matzen, George, House Common Name: Style: Arts & Crafts - Prairie Style 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). This house was designed in 1909 by Andrew Willatzen for George Matzen, the president of the Matzen Manufacturing Company, a producer of skirts, cloaks and suits in Pioneer Square. He and his wife Irene lived here into the 1930s. There were several subsequent owners, notably Frank Nickerson, the editor of The Teamsters Record, and his wife Mary, who lived here from 1964 until the 1990s. Willatsen came to the United States from Germany in 1900, working first as a carpenter. In about 1902 he began work at Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio, where he remained intermittently until 1907. This was the studio’s most creative period, and he had the opportunity to work on such well-known buildings as the Darwin Martin house in Buffalo and the Larkin Building. In 1907 he moved to Spokane, and the following year came to Seattle as a representative of Cutter and Malmgren to supervise construction of the Seattle Golf Club. In 1909 he formed a partnership with Barry Byrne. They completed the Northwest’s most prominent Prairie style works, including the Handschy House, a designated landmark on Queen Anne, The partnership dissolved in 1913, and Willatsen then designed the J. C. Black House (demolished 2004) on Queen Anne. He remained in practice until 1959, designing eclectic houses and commercial buildings as well as those such as this one that show the Prairie influence. The house has been slightly altered, since the open porch was once enclosed with windows, as shown in the 1937 Tax Assessor's photo.   Appearance This house features many characteristics of the Prairie style, including a hipped roof; deep boxed eaves; stucco cladding and strong horizontal lines reinforced by the banks of windows on each floor, the belt courses above and below the windows, and the strong form of the hipped-roof porch. The main volume of the house sits high above the street, with only the upper bank of windows easily visible. The porch (originally a room surrounded by windows) covers much of the front, with very large square stucco-clad columns topping a high stucco wall. The main entry is through a door toward the rear and to the west of the porch. Windows have a three-over-one configuration, with four pairs on the second floor and on the porch. There is a large stucco-clad chimney on the east elevation.

Detail for 320 W Kinnear PL W / Parcel ID 388090-0070 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: Cladding(s): Stucco 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 Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture Integrity Changes to Plan: Slight Changes to Windows: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Intact Major Bibliographic References King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives. Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996. Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture, A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.

Photo collection for 320 W Kinnear PL W / Parcel ID 388090-0070 / Inv #

Photo taken Mar 14, 2004