Historic Name: |
|
Common Name: |
|
Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Prairie Style, Colonial - Colonial Revival, Italian - Italianate |
Neighborhood: |
Wallingford |
Built By: |
|
Year Built: |
1925 |
|
Significance |
|
This is one of a group of four similar but not identical duplexes located on the west side of Wallingford Avenue N. south of N. 40th Street. This particular structure was erected 1925. It was designed and built by the owner, Stephen Berg, whose business was located at 3402 Woodland Park (he lived with his wife Rachael at 1505 N. 43rd Street). The permit included construction of a detached garage at the rear of the lot entered from an alley. Berg was involved with the construction of numerous residential structures in the Wallingford neighborhood.
The property appears to have been acquired by the New York Life Insurance Company in 1934 and continued to be operated as a duplex (in 1938, Frederick Hanson occupied the units at 3913 and Harry F. Ketell lived at 3915). The garage was altered in 1962 by Roy J, Ihler, who acquired the property in 1959 according to the King County Property Record Card. John J. Crepeau, who lived at 4006 Greenwood in he late 1960s, acquired the duplex in 1967 and made improvements to the electrical system. The current owner, Frank A Geyer, purchased the property from James Edward Augerot in 1999.
This building is significant as an intact and well-maintained example of modest multi-family housing built in the years after the First World War when multi-family structures, particularly apartment houses, were becoming popular among Seattle residents. It is also significant as one member of a group of such structures built together on Wallingford Avenue on the block immediately south of N. 40th Street (very similar structures are located at 3917/3919, 3921/3923, and 3925/3927 Wallingford Avenue N.). Stephen Berg was a merchant builder active in Wallingford in the period following the First World War when Seattle’s north end underwent its second building boom.
|
|
|
Appearance |
This is a two story, clapboard clad, frame duplex on a concrete foundation over a full basement. The shallow pitch of the hipped roof and the bungalow style windows are elements of the structure commonly associated with the prairie style. However the pediment at the east face of the porch roof, the entasis of the columns supporting the porch roof – despite their square cross section – and the fact that the columns extend from the surface of the porch to the underside of the frieze at the base of the porch roof, the post supported shed roof over the side entry at the south elevation, and the simple whitewashed clapboard siding all are features of the structure associated with colonial revival design. The regular, although widely spaced, bracketing at the enclosed undersides of the roof overhang give the structure a slight Italianate flavor.
The layout of the elevations suggests that the duplex consists of two flats, one stacked above the other. The entry porch and the doors providing access to the two units from the first floor are located at the north end of the east elevation. A bungalow style double-hung window, consisting of a small upper sash divided into six lights organized in a 2 x 3 pattern over a larger undivided lower sash (a 6:1 unit) is centered over the southernmost entry door. In the wall to the south of the entry porch is a group of windows consisting of a central double-hung unit with an upper sash divided into eight lights in a 2 x 4 pattern (an 8:1 unit) flanked by two units similar to the double-hung window over the entry. An identical group of three windows is situated directly above the first group and illuminates the front of the second floor apartment. When surveyed by the Assessor in 1937, the front window openings were flanked by decorative shutters (since removed) that were probably intended to strengthen the colonial revival character of the design.
The chimney is located at the south elevation near the southeast corner of the house. It is flanked at both the first and second floor levels by two small, six pane, single sash windows placed in typical bungalow fashion. At the first floor level, near the middle of the south elevation west of the chimney group, is a pair of casement windows, each divided into eight lights organized in a 4 x 2 array. Directly above, a similar pair of casements serves the second floor, although the latter windows are undivided and may be replacement units. West of the casements at the upper level is a short but wide 8:1 double-hung unit. An identical unit is located at the fist floor level but is joined there by a door that opens to a small side deck protected by a shed roof.
The north elevation of the structure features seven 6:1 double-hung windows and a door. At the upper level, a single window is located at the west end of the elevation. Another single unit is located somewhat east of the center of the façade. Between the two single units is a pair of windows. The door enters the structure at grade (a few steps below first floor level) directly under the easternmost window. The remaining three windows serve the first floor and are located directly below their counterparts at the floor above.
The back (west) side of the structure is not visible from the street.
As noted above, some decorative shutters appear to have been removed and a pair of casements may have been replaced in kind at the south elevation. Storm windows have been added at the windows of the east and south elevations. No other significant modifications are apparent |
|
|