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Summary for 3210 S BYRON ST S / Parcel ID 1282300031 / Inv #

Historic Name: Common Name:
Style: Art Deco - Streamline Moderne Neighborhood: Mount Baker
Built By: Year Built: 1956
 
Significance
Built in 1956, this building was started in 1952. The residence was first occupied in March of 1953 by Aage and Ellen A. Jensen. The Jensen’s remained in the building through 1968. Mr. Jensen was retired by 1968. In September 1912, on the date of the opening of Franklin High School, there were four elementary schools in the survey area. Listed from north to south, the elementary schools were Colman, Beacon Hill, York (renamed John Muir in 1921) and Hawthorne. All of these schools were built as a direct result of trolley lines making the North Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill accessible for residential development, and all of the schools were located close to trolley stops. In 1876, King County School District #18 was formed, covering the North Rainier Valley. This district merged with the Seattle School District in 1907 when the city annexed the North Rainier Valley. Prior to annexation, the district, also called the Columbia District, was six miles long along the streetcar line and one mile wide on either side of the track. Prior to 1912, high school students in the North Rainier Valley attended Franklin School, which was located at the present Washington Middle School site, or the Columbia School, which went through the high school level. The opening of Franklin High School at 3013 South Mount Baker Boulevard in 1912 was a momentous occasion for the Mount Baker community and the North Rainier Valley. The building was designed by Seattle School architect Edgar Blair in the Neoclassical style and was once considered the most beautiful school west of the Mississippi. It contained forty-two classrooms, two gymnasiums, a lunchroom on the third floor and a detached manual training room. In 1916, the school district purchased the former Malmo nursery property adjacent to the school for use as a playfield. Filled to capacity from the beginning, it was enlarged and modernized in 1958-59 and restored in 1990, based on a design by Bassetti Architects. 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 1956, this compact, Ranch style, single-family dwelling stands on a rectangular lot. The building is oriented to South Byron Street on a flat site above street level. This 1291 square foot, single-story house with a full basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 27’ by 45’, with a small front stoop. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, brick-clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the hip roof. Closed eave overhangs with minimal trim define the roofline. Large fixed sash windows provide day lighting. A short flight of stairs leads to the recessed front stoop. A metal railing wraps along the outer edge of the stoop. An exterior brick chimney services the building. This building represents a good example of 1950s infill in the Mount Baker neighborhood.

Detail for 3210 S BYRON ST S / Parcel ID 1282300031 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Brick Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured
Roof Type(s): Hip Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition
Building Type: Domestic - Single Family Plan: Rectangular
Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: one
Unit Theme(s):
Integrity
Changes to Plan: Intact
Changes to Original Cladding: Intact
Changes to Windows: 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."
Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "North Rainier Valley Historic Context Statement."
Centennial History, Columbia City, Rainier Valley, 1853-1991. Pioneers of Columbia City, 1992. Carey Summers, contributing author.
Thompson, Nile and Marr, Carolyn J. Building for Learning, Seattle Public School Histories, 1862-2000. Seattle School District No. 1, 2002.
Calkins, Kenneth L. The Name on the Schoolhouse. Washington State Retired Teachers Association, 1991.
The Rainier Valley Citizen Annual, December 25, 1915. Facsimile Reproduction, the Shorey Bookstore, 110 Union Street, Seattle, Washington, 98101, 1979.

Photo collection for 3210 S BYRON ST S / Parcel ID 1282300031 / Inv #


Photo taken Nov 05, 2003

Photo taken Nov 05, 2003
App v2.0.1.0