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Summary for 2502 30th AVE / Parcel ID 5700000135 / Inv #

Historic Name: Common Name:
Style: Tudor - Cottage Neighborhood: Mount Baker
Built By: Year Built: 1927
 
Significance
Built in 1927, this building was constructed after Charles and Minnie Sorensen purchased the property in August of 1926. Mr. Sorensen worked as a plaster contractor. The Sorensen’s resided in the building through 1931. In 1938 and 1940 Polk directories, the building is listed as vacant. By 1943, Forbes R. Beck lived in the house. Justus F. NePage lived in the building by 1955 through 1965. George I. Thompson, Junior bought the building in April of 1966 for $17,500. The Mount Baker neighborhood comprises two north-south tending ridges located southeast of downtown Seattle along Lake Washington. Initial development of the area occurred relatively late, post-1900, following the construction of the Rainier Avenue Electric Street Railway in the 1890s. York Station on Rainier Avenue and the Dose Addition were developed earlier than the Mount Baker Park Addition, platted in 1907 by the Hunter Tract Improvement Company. The Mount Baker Park Addition represents the core of the neighborhood and is its primary character-defining feature. Mount Baker Park is one of Seattle’s earliest planned residential communities that successfully integrated the natural environment and a relatively exclusive residential neighborhood in its layout of lots, streets, boulevards, and parks. The houses, primarily built between 1905 and 1929, reflect a variety of eclectic and Northwest-based architectural styles, and include designs by many prominent local architects. Other important influences were the streetcar connection with downtown Seattle, the integration of local parks and boulevards into the Olmsted system, the construction of Franklin High School in 1912, and the building of the Mount Baker tunnel and Lacey V. Murrow Floating Bridge to Mercer Island in 1940. Today this middle-to-upper income neighborhood remains predominantly residential, is home to an ethnically diverse population, and retains much of its planned character.
 
Appearance
Built in 1927, this substantial, Tudor Revival style, single-family cottage stands on a rectangular lot. The building is oriented to Thirtieth Avenue South on a flat site 3’ above street level. This 1152 square foot, one-and-a-half story house with a full basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 26’ by 38’, with a 6’ by 4’ front stoop. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, stucco-clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the gable roof. Modest eave and gable overhangs with minimal trim define the roofline. Wood sash multiple-pane windows provide day lighting. A short flight of stairs flanked by low, stucco-clad cheek walls lead to the front stoop. Round arches frame the entrance. The extended roofline of the main roof shelters the stoop. The massing and overall composition of this intact building set is apart as a distinct example of a Tudor Revival cottage within the Mount Baker neighborhood.

Detail for 2502 30th AVE / Parcel ID 5700000135 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Stucco Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured
Roof Type(s): Gable Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition
Building Type: Domestic - Single Family Plan: Rectangular
Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: one & ½
Unit Theme(s):
Integrity
Changes to Original Cladding: Intact
Changes to Windows: Intact
Changes to Plan: Intact
Major Bibliographic References
City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."

Photo collection for 2502 30th AVE / Parcel ID 5700000135 / Inv #


Photo taken
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