Historic Name: |
Stonecliff Apartments |
Common Name: |
Stonecliff Apartments |
Style: |
Colonial - Georgian Revival |
Neighborhood: |
Belltown |
Built By: |
|
Year Built: |
1923 |
|
Significance |
|
The Stonecliff was designed in 1923 by S. E. Sonnichsen for P. A. Tramontin. The entry has extensive cast stone and a lobby with marble floors, walls and stairs. The Stonecliff has 24 2-room apartments and 103-room units, each with a kitchen and bathroom. It is typical of the numerous apartment buildings that were constructed between the two world wars. In only twenty years, Seattle’s population had exploded from 80,671 (1900) to 315,312 (1920). After the regrading of Denny Hill between 1898 and 1911 opened this area up for development, developers soon constructed apartment buildings to meet the acute housing need. These buildings provided modest but comfortable accommodations that were affordable for the sales clerks, clerical staff and other workers in downtown businesses.
S. E. Sonnichsen (1879-1961) was born and educated in Norway, coming to Seattle in 1901. He worked as a draftsman and designer for local architects Somervell & Coté, John Graham, Sr., and B. Marcus Priteca, and designed a number of apartment buildings himself—sometimes for fellow Norwegians. He was also responsible for the design of Norway Hall (1915) and was consulting architect to the school Board of Vancouver, B. C.
|
|
|
Appearance |
This building is three stories plus a daylight basement, of brick construction faced with red wire-cut brick. The main entry is in the center of the three-bay main (west) façade, with a secondary entry toward the rear of the south elevation. The main entry has a plain painted wood door, marble stairs and a large cast stone surround in the Georgian style, with a segmented arch with a sunrise pattern, fluted pilasters and a dentilled cornice. The cast stone extends around a small second story window flanked by two scrolls. Other cast stone ornament includes prominent quoins, a belt course above the third story windows, a water table, window sills, and coping and shield cartouches along the parapet. Windows are in groups of three; newer vinyl windows with false muntins have replaced the original divided-light sash. |
|
|
Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
|
Cladding(s): |
Brick |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
Roof Type(s): |
Flat with Parapet |
Roof Material(s): |
Unknown |
Building Type: |
Domestic - Multiple Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
Structural System: |
Brick |
No. of Stories: |
three |
Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture |
Integrity |
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
Changes to Windows: |
Moderate |
|
Major Bibliographic References |
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.
|
|
|