Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Craftsman |
Neighborhood: |
Mount Baker |
Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1915 |
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Significance |
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
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Built in 1915, this building was purchased by H. L. Nelson in October of 1931. Harold M. and Elizabeth W. Shettle moved into the building ca 1937. Mr. Shettle was assistant manager at E. A. Pierce and Company. By 1943, Cecil A. Gholson lived in the building. The property sold in 1943 for $12,000. Maul F. Langley bought the building in October of 1945 for $21,500. The following year in July of 1946, John Nalper purchased the property for $21,500. By 1958, Ben A. Maslan lived in the building.
Architect Elmer Ellsworth Green worked in Seattle from 1907 through 1922. He advertised the sale of house plans in Seattle as early as 1907. Green published a book of house plans, Practical Plan Book, in 1912, described as an “attractive catalogue of plans with drawings and photographs for 60 different houses that cost up to $10,000.” Green designed dozens of houses and apartment buildings in Seattle neighborhoods including Mount Baker, Capitol Hill, and the Central Area, such as the William W. Felger residence (1915) and the Ben Lomond Apartment Hotel (1910). Among the houses he designed in Mount Baker are the Clifton A. Stuart house (1913), 3105 Cascadia Ave South and the Hillman house, 2330 34th Ave South (1912).
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 1915, this Craftsman-influenced, Arts and Crafts style, single-family dwelling stands on an irregular lot. The building is oriented to Cascadia Avenue South on a flat site at street level. This 1935 square foot, two-and-one-half story house with a full daylight basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 52’ by 49’, with a 10’ by 32’ porch. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, brick-clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the clipped gable roof and modified M gable dormer projecting off the center of the front façade. Massive brackets support the front porch roof and eaves of this house. Multiple-pane double hung wood sash windows provide daylighting. This house has a view of Lake Washington. |
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Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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Cladding(s): |
Brick |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
Roof Type(s): |
Gable - Clipped |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Square |
Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two & ½ |
Unit Theme(s): |
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Integrity |
Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
Changes to Original Cladding: |
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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Dietz, Duane, “Architects and Landscape Architects of Seattle, 1876 to 1959 and Beyond,” unpublished paper. University of Washington Libraries, July 1993.
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Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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