Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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Style: |
Arts & Crafts |
Neighborhood: |
Mount Baker |
Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1925 |
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Significance |
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Built in 1925, this building was owned by Stanley Ralkowski by 1937, and he remained through 1940. Mr. Ralkowski was a salesperson for the New York Bakery Incorporated. By 1951 through 1953, Warren Morgens lived in the building. James D. and Katheryn L. Sullivan resided in the building by 1955 and remained through 1968.
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.
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Appearance |
Built in 1925, this Arts & Crafts style single-family dwelling stands on a rectangular lot. The building is oriented to Lake Washington Boulevard South on a sloping site at street level. This 1426 square foot, one-and-a-half story house with a full basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 31’ by 46’, with a small front stoop. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, clapboard and shingle clad superstructure with gable end half-timber detailing. Asphalt composition roofing covers the gable roof. Broad eave and gable overhangs with exposed rafters, purlins, braces and prominent bargeboards define the roofline. Wood sash multiple-pane windows with painted wood casings provide day lighting. A direct flight of stairs leads to the front stoop. A brick chimney services the building. |
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Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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Cladding(s): |
Shingle, Stucco, Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
Roof Type(s): |
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Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
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Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
one & ½ |
Unit Theme(s): |
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Integrity |
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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Major Bibliographic References |
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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Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
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City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
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Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
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Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
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Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."
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