Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 1439 E Prospect ST E / Parcel ID 1337300265 / Inv #

Historic Name: Bloch, William, House Common Name: Style: Arts & Crafts, Tudor Neighborhood: Capitol Hill Built By: Year Built: 1908   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 1908 by Arthur Loveless for William Bloch, a prominent member of the local German community and the owner of the Germania Café on Second Avenue. A Seattle Times article (2/14/1909) lauded it as a “magnificent new residence” whose exterior “scarcely gives a true idea of its beauties,” with a handsomely furnished and beautifully arranged interior. Not surprisingly for a restaurant owner, the rooms included an elegant basement rathskellar for entertaining, with handpainted scenes of Bloch’s native country, as well as a top story ballroom. The Blochs were said to have hosted seated dinners for 200 people. Later owners included John Allison Holmes, a mining engineer, and his wife Edith; the Holmes family owned the house from 1925 until the 1950s. It was then owned by Harry Majors, a Seattle University professor, and his wife Anna, from the 1960s into the 1980s. Arthur Loveless came to Seattle in 1907, after studying architecture (but not graduating) at Columbia University. For several years, he worked in partnership with Clayton Wilson, designing primarily larger residences. Perhaps their best known work is the Alexander Pantages house (1909) at 1117 36th Avenue E. Loveless then entered into a brief partnership with Daniel Huntington, and then practiced independently from 1915 until 1942. He is best known as a designer of eclectic houses (often in the Tudor revival idiom) and similar structures such as fraternity and sorority houses and his own Studio Building at 711 Broadway East. This neighborhood was one of prestigious in Seattle, as nearby 14th Avenue East, was known as Millionaires' Row, an “Avenue of Mansions” with the homes of many of Seattle's early business leaders. At that time, the street had a spectacular view, thanks to clearcutting, and it was a logical place to build after the west slope and First Hill were developed. The Olmsted Plan recommended that this be a parkway, forming a grand entrance to Volunteer Park. However, the property owners were given control of the street between Prospect and Roy streets. A median strip in the center was planted with shrubs, and each owner added street trees, creating the appearance of an avenue. It became a showplace, attracting dignitaries such as President Harding and busloads of tourists en route to the park. It was the main route for funeral processions going through the park to Lakeview Cemetery, north of the park. To deter the stream of traffic, an ornate gateway was built at Roy Street. But by 1924 traffic had become so bad that property owners petitioned the Park Department to take back control of the street. The gate and the median plantings were removed as a traffic hazard.   Appearance This house is in the English Arts & Crafts style, which shares many characteristics with the Tudor styles common Seattle. It is 2-1/2 stories with a hipped roof with two prominent gabled wings on the front. There is a shed roof dormer in the center of the main façade, and a gabled dormer on the east. The west elevation has a smaller shed dormer and a wing with twin gabled dormers. Cladding is clinker brick on the first floor with stuccos and half-timbering on the second and third stories. The entry, in the center of the main façade, has an arcaded porch with two pairs of wood columns and an open porch above. The original heavy wood door has leaded glass sidelights. The windows are multipaned leaded casements, with a pair in each gable end and groups of three or four on the first and second stories. The west end has two decorative brick chimneys.

Detail for 1439 E Prospect ST E / Parcel ID 1337300265 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: Cladding(s): Brick - Clinker, Stucco Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Hip Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition-Shingle Building Type: Domestic - Single Family Plan: Irregular Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: two & ½ Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture Integrity Changes to Windows: Intact Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Intact Major Bibliographic References Williams, Jacqueline B. The Hill with a Future: Seattle's Capitol Hill 1900-1946. Seattle: CPK Ink, 2001. Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996. Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972. City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development, Microfilm Records.

Photo collection for 1439 E Prospect ST E / Parcel ID 1337300265 / Inv #

Photo taken Feb 12, 2006