| Historic Name: |
Greer, Robert P. and Charlotte, House |
Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Colonial - Georgian Revival |
Neighborhood: |
Capitol Hill |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1910 |
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| Significance |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
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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, which was noted in the city’s 1979 historic resources survey, displays the work of some of the city’s most prominent designers. It was designed in 1910 by Charles Haynes, for Robert and Charlotte Greer. Greer was a chemical engineer who established the Pacific Ammonia and Chemical Company on the north shore of Lake Union, one of the largest industrial facilities in that area. In 1923 Bebb and Gould designed a rear addition and a new garden plan, installed by Otto Holmdahl, an important landscape architect of the period. The addition at the east end replaces a modern flat-roofed one designed by Paul Thiry, a pioneering Modernist architect who lived nearby. The house is still owned by the original family.
This stretch of Federal Avenue is a tree-lined avenue with a fine collection of large homes, designed by major local architects for some of Seattle’s leading families. The street was well located for development, as it is only one block from the Broadway/10th Avenue streetcar line and the open space of Volunteer Park and Lakeview Cemetery is nearby. Although the southern two blocks were platted as part of the 1883 Phinney’s Addition, little development occurred until the first decade of the 20th century, about the time that Volunteer Park was redesigned by the Olmsted Brothers. The landscape architecture firm continually encouraged the city to purchase the property on the west side of the park, so that it would extend all the way to the street; obviously, this was never done.
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| Appearance |
| This house is basically Georgian Revival in form and style, but with variations. It is 2-1/2 stories with a tall side-gabled roof with a dentilled cornice. Cladding is red brick with quoins. The original façade is symmetrical, with a projecting gabled bay (rather stark, with no eaves) in the center. The arched entry portico has unusual columns with alternating bands of brick and terra cotta. Each floor has a pair of six-over-six windows. Above are two six-over-six windows, with an arched window in the gable end. The roof has two arched dormers with six-light casement windows. The west end has a prominent brick chimney, flanked by six-over-six windows on each story. The rear ell, designed by Bebb & Gould has similar windows, with a glass-enclosed sunroom on the ground floor. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Brick |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable, Hip |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
L-Shape |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two & ½ |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Manufacturing/Industry |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Plan: |
Moderate |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
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Calvert, Frank. Homes and Gardens of the Pacific Coast. Vol. 1, Seattle. Beaux Arts Village: Beaux Arts Society Publishers, 1913.
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Booth, T. William and William H. Wilson. Carl F. Gould, A Life in Architecture and The Arts. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995.
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Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972.
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