| Historic Name: |
Fire Station No. 9 |
Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Modern |
Neighborhood: |
Fremont |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1953 |
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| Significance |
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Completed in 1953, this modern brick veneer fire station currently serves the Fremont and Wallingford neighborhoods. Until 1949, the combination of financial difficulties due to the economic depression of the 1930s and shortages of labor and materials brought on by the Second World War had halted construction of any new fire stations for a fifteen-year period. By the later 1940s, many of the department’s older wood frame fire stations were very much in need of replacement. The original Fire Station No. 9 had been built in 1901 on the same mid-block lot. This two-story wood frame building inaugurated the provision of professional fire protection services to the Fremont district ten years after Seattle had annexed the area in 1891.
In the late 1880s, the town of Fremont had been platted on the north shore of Lake Union. Within a few years, its citizens voted to annex themselves to Seattle. However, no formal fire protection was provided for the new city district until its citizens petitioned City Hall. The response was the formation of the Fremont Volunteers as Hose Company 8 in October of 1893. The new volunteer fire company occupied rented quarters in the vicinity of Linden Avenue North and North 34th Street. Eight years later, Fire Station No. 9 opened in December of 1901 several blocks to the north. This fire station served an extensive area, which included all of Fremont and Wallingford until 1914 when Fire Station No. 11 opened in Wallingford at Densmore Avenue North and North 45th Street. Fire Station No. 11 operated in this location until its closure in 1965.
When the fire department decided to replace the old wood frame station, they chose to build the new station on the existing site, which forced the station’s engine company to move into temporary quarters with Station No. 11 in Wallingford. Architect Fred B. Stephen prepared a Modern design for the new building. Frederick Bennett Stephen was the son of the prominent Seattle Architect James Stephen, best known for his work as the primary architect for the Seattle School District from 1899 to 1909. In 1908, Fred Stephen entered into partnership with his father after earning an architectural degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Stephen & Stephen designed school buildings throughout Washington as well as numerous commercial and residential buildings. In 1917, William G. Brust, a former classmate of Fred Stephen, joined the partnership, which continued for another ten years. After James Stephen retired in 1928, his son pursued an independent practice. During the 1950s, Fred Stephen designed all six of the new fire stations built in Seattle. In 1986, Fire Station No. 9 was closed for extensive renovations, which substantially altered the appearance of the building. Despite these alterations, the fire station is significant for its design and for its associations with the development of the Seattle Fire Department and the Fremont neighborhood.
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| Appearance |
| Completed in 1953, this one-story gable roof structure faces east and occupies a mid-block lot on Linden Avenue North between North 39th Street and Fremont Way North. Featuring a roman brick exterior, this building’s appearance is similar to the other fire stations built during the late 1940s and 1950s from designs by Architect Fred B. Stephen. The building is comprised of three sections, creating a T-plan footprint. The taller engine bay occupies the northeast corner of the building and measures 34 feet 46 feet. A one-story office adjoins the engine bay on the south and measures 28 feet by 20 feet. Measuring 74 feet by 20 feet, a one-story crew quarters lines the rear west elevation and extends 12 feet beyond the north elevation of the engine bay. This section of the building has a lower basement level accessible by a recessed entrance at the southern end of the west elevation.
Covered by a low-pitch front gable roof, the projecting engine bay dominates the principal east elevation and contains a pair of overhead entrance doors separated by a wooden pier. The fire station’s number "9" neon sign is centered in the gable end. Horizontal wood siding clads this gable end as well as the columns framing the engine bay. Originally, this bay featured a single large recessed opening with one overhead door flanked by brick clad piers. During a 1986 renovation, the height of the apparatus doors was raised, and two separate doors were installed. Large window openings on the north and south elevations of the engine bay contain multi-paned windows. A wide side gable roof covers the office at the front and the crew quarters along the rear. On the east elevation, the office has a recessed entrance door north of center adjacent to a wall of windows at the northern end abutting the engine bay. Three window openings line the south elevation below the wide gable end clad with horizontal wood siding. The rear west elevation has a row of seven window openings at the upper floor level above a single window at the lower basement level. Six of the seven openings contain a pair of windows. Well maintained, this building retains good physical integrity. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Brick, Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Government - Fire Station |
Plan: |
T-Shape |
| Structural System: |
Unknown |
No. of Stories: |
one |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Politics/Government/Law |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Other: |
Extensive |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Slight |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
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King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
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Seattle Fire Department, Centennial Commemorative, 1889-1989. Portland, OR: Taylor Pub. Co., c1989.
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