| Historic Name: |
Terry Stewart Apartments/ The Oronoco |
Common Name: |
The Williamsburg Apartments |
| Style: |
Colonial |
Neighborhood: |
Denny Triangle |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1912 |
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| Significance |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
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This apartment building, known formerly as the Terry Stewart Apartments, was built in 1912. It is represented on a 1912 Baist Map and called the Oronoco Apartments. Currently called the “Williamsburg Apartments,” this is the only extant apartment building, which retains the essential elements of its original design, located in the Denny Triangle neighborhood. In Seattle, it is also a rare example of an apartment building, designed to resemble a large Colonial house and, considering its age, is relatively intact. Based on historical photos, it is fairly certain that windows on Terry Avenue were replaced. In general, the standard double-hung window replaced 6 over 6 multi-pane double hung windows. Also, according to a black and white photo, in the 1930s, the roofing material exhibited very visible seams, which only appear today on a small portion of the metal roofing, on the alley elevation. Apart from this, the cladding and detailing, particularly the brick veneer and wood cladding, appear as they did in historical photos. The building remains a significant example of early multi-family housing in Seattle.
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| Appearance |
| This is a three story frame building with an H-shaped plan. At least from Stewart St, the building resembles an oversized Colonial house. Two longer wings, topped by gambrel roof shapes, are set perpendicular to a central bar, with a similar profile. The exterior of the building is primarily clad in brick veneer, with wood shingles at the top dormer level and dark green composition roofing. A central courtyard, framed by the gable ends of the two longer wings, faces north along Stewart Street. The gables have noticeable eave returns. Also, on the gable end walls, at three levels, fenestration consists of a single rectangular opening, filled with a horizontal row of three double-hung windows. Between the two wings, in the recessed portion of the elevation, notable features include: the central doorway, emphasized by a Colonial style broken pediment; above this doorway, at the second level, groupings of two smaller, paired double-hung windows, flanked by a horizontal row of the three double-hung windows; at the third level, corresponding groupings of smaller windows flanked by projecting dormers, each with the typical arrangement of three double-hung windows. The typical dormer is characterized by a jerkinhead roof and projecting rafters, with rounded tails, below it. The longer Terry Avenue elevation includes four equally spaced dormers, topped by a side view of a gambrel roof. Between each set of dormers are two groupings of paired double-hung windows.
At the second and ground levels, there are window openings which correspond to those at the dormer level. The window openings under the dormers are larger, in this case, a square opening, with a 2 over 2 arangement. It is likely that each of the large 2 over 2 windows is a replacement for a pair of double-hung windows; however, original historical photos are not clear enough to prove this. As a rule, between the large windows, there are two sets of paired double hung windows. The alley elevation facing east is similar to the Terry Avenue elevation, although it is clad in horizontal wood shingles. The back south facing courtyard is deeper than the main front court along Stewart Street and is not accessible to the public. |
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