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Summary for 4110 Bagley AVE / Parcel ID 9178600430 / Inv #

Historic Name: Common Name:
Style: Colonial - Dutch Colonial Neighborhood: Wallingford
Built By: Year Built: 1916
 
Significance
This Dutch colonial residence was erected in 1916. It was designed and built by the owner, J. B. Barber, who listed his address as 3934 Eastern Avenue N. on the permit application. A detached garage, located in the back yard at the northeast corner of the property, was added to the site in 1933. E. C. Karst built this structure for owner Sidney MacDonald, who had acquired the property the previous year according to the Assessor’s survey completed in 1937. The present owners undertook a number of renovation projects in the period from 1984 to 1987. These included alterations and additions to the first floor and particularly the remodeling of the kitchen. Despite the changes made in recent years, the house is significant as an intact and well-maintained example of a slightly unusual but by no means unique approach to siting Dutch colonial structures on mid-block lots in Wallingford. The front door and the associated portico, located in the middle of the building’s long elevation, open onto a side yard driveway. As a result, the elevation facing the street is actually one of the gable ends of the structure.
 
Appearance
This structure is a two-story shingle and clapboard clad residence on a concrete foundation over a full basement. The gambrel style roof, the moderate extension and enclosed soffits of the overhangs, the symmetrical organizations of the major facades, and the hip-roofed porch at one end of the structure are all common elements of the Dutch colonial bungalow. The building is actually a two-story box rather than a true gambrel structure. The two ends of the structure (one facing west towards the street and the other facing east to the back yard) are configured to display the archetypal gambrel form; however, the walls of the “dormers” are built directly over the outside walls of the body of the house below so that the floor area of the upper level space under the gambrel roof is identical to that of the main level. This was a common design strategy utilized by the builders of Dutch colonial style houses in north end neighborhoods. In this particular case, the sidewall shingles of the “dormers” flare out at the base of the upper floor to roof the lower extension of the implied gambrel, accentuating the illusion that the “dormers” are rooftop elements rather than sidewall extensions. The entry façade is the north wall of the structure. It faces onto a driveway placed in the side yard (the street runs north and south to the west of the house). This arrangement mimics in miniature the forecourt one might find expect to find at the street side of a house on a much larger country estate. The north elevation is rigidly symmetrical. The body of the house below the eaves of the gambrel roof is clad with clapboard siding. The wide entry door and associated sidelights – which appear to be of recent vintage – are centered in a notch at the middle of the main level and are approached across an entry porch six steps above driveway level. An entry gable extends slightly from the face of the structure, forming a classical pediment with entablature that appears to be supported by two large, engaged piers that abut the body of the house just outside the corners of the notch made for the entry. Two pairs of low masonry pedestals with stone or concrete caps flank the porch and entry stairs. At either end of the main floor elevation is a pair of double-hung windows. Each of the individual units consists of an upper sash divided into eight nearly square lights (2 x 4) over a much larger undivided lower sash. Two basement windows are situated at the top of the foundation either side off the entry porch. At the upper level, in the middle of the north-facing, shingle-clad “dormer,” a wide but short double-hung window with an unusual upper sash consisting of one row of four lights, is centered over the entry pediment. A pair of double-hung units, similar in size and configuration to those at the main level, is located at either end of the dormer. The hip-roofed porch is situated at the west end of the structure and, thus, is located on the street façade. This elevation is characterized by a high degree of symmetry. A chimney is centered in the wall of the main house and extends through the peak of the gable end. The large one-story porch, accessed through two pairs of double doors in the end wall at the main floor level, is also centered in the elevation. Three large, square, built-up wood piers support the outside edge of the hipped porch roof. The entablature borne by these piers is continuous with the frieze that wraps the house below the eaves of the gambrel roof, and the fascia and gutter at the edge of the porch roof are continuous with the corresponding elements at the body of the house. Heavy wood porch rails span between the piers, and from the outside corner piers to the body of the house. The double doors are symmetrically placed either side of the end wall chimney. At the upper level, two individual double-hung windows (similar to in size and configuration to those ganged together at the north elevation) have been symmetrically placed at either edge of the “gable” where they are tucked under the apparent overhang of the gambrel roof. The back (south) side of the house, which actually opens into the side yard, is much less regular in it organization. Two double hung windows, each with six panes in the smaller upper sash, are paired near the center of the upper floor. To the west is a single double-hung window of similar configuration; to the east, another similar but slightly shorter single double-hung unit is located very near the southeast corner of the house. Between the central pair and the unit at the east end of the façade is a much smaller double-hung window. At the main level, east of the centerline of the south façade, a simple porch cover extends from below the eave of the gambrel roof. A door and at least two casually placed windows are associated with the porch cover; however, this group of openings cannot easily be observed from the street because of mature plantings. The east elevation cannot be seen at all from the street. The swinging “barn doors” that originally provided access for vehicles entering the detached, clapboard-clad garage have been replaced with a single overhead door of much more recent vintage. The two double-hung windows that were once grouped together and centered over the entry at the north elevation have been replaced with a single, relatively small double-hung unit. The present entry door and sidelights may be recent additions. Other than these adjustments, no significant modifications to the exterior of the structure are apparent.

Detail for 4110 Bagley AVE / Parcel ID 9178600430 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Brick, Shingle, Wood, Wood - Clapboard Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured
Roof Type(s): Gable, Gambrel, Hip, Shed Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition-Shingle, Wood - Shingle
Building Type: Domestic - Single Family Plan: Rectangular
Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: two
Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development
Integrity
Changes to Original Cladding: Intact
Changes to Windows: Intact
Changes to Plan: Slight
Major Bibliographic References
City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.

Photo collection for 4110 Bagley AVE / Parcel ID 9178600430 / Inv #


Photo taken Aug 16, 2004
App v2.0.1.0