Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 300 Dexter AVE / Parcel ID 1991201215 / Inv #

Historic Name: Wilderman Refrigeration Common Name: Lost Luggage/ Wilderman Refrigeration Style: Modern, Modern - International Style Neighborhood: South Lake Union Built By: Year Built: 1945   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). The building was built in 1945 for the Wilderman Refrigeration Company, which still occupies the south storefront. The original building was designed by McLelland and Jones and Associates, Architects and Engineers. The 1950 addition was designed by architect Kenneth S. Ripley, also responsible for other buildings, as well as additions to buildings, in the South Lake Union neighborhood. McLelland and Jones & Associates, a local Seattle architecture and engineering firm, was founded in 1933 and dissolved in 1946. In the South Lake Union neighborhood, they also designed 234 9th Avenue North (1940), which has streamline Moderne elements. While there does not seem to be much information on McLelland, except that he later joined with architect Hugo Osterman to form McLelland and Osterman, Victor Noble Jones went on to found Victor N. Jones & Associate, which lasted from 1946 to 1955. After the dissolution of McLelland and Jones, among projects for which Jones was responsible were the Administration Building (1947-1949) and the first Medical School Building at the University of Washington (1952), on which he collaborated with NBBJ. Subsequently, Jones was a partner in Jones Lovegren Helms & Jones, founded in 1956 and dissolved around 1965. He also was the architect of the Washington State Ferry Terminal in Seattle, designed between 1964 and 1967. Victor Jones was born in Exeter, Ontario and received a M.Arch. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1926. Kenneth S. Ripley was responsible for 818 and 820 John Street in the South Lake Union neighborhood   Appearance This is one story building, which was actually built in two phases, first in 1945, and then in 1950. It has concrete walls, with a veneer, mainly of red brick. There is also mustard colored ceramic tile around the storefront at the corner of Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street. The building has a flat roof with parapet and simple metal coping, which, based on original working drawings, is original (or a very good facsimile). The original building was constructed on the corner of Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street and had its longer elevation along Thomas Street. Virtually rectangular in plan, the building retains a distinctive corner storefront, set in an angled section of wall between the Thomas Street elevation and the Dexter Avenue North elevation. Here the storefront is high and is further emphasized by a narrow metal cornice, which is trapezoidal in section, with the wider base of the trapezoid on top. The angled storefront continues on both sides into both Dexter Avenue N and Thomas Street facades for about 4 feet. Thin metal mullions are set between large panes of angled glass, and also define an implied clerestory, just below the high cornice/ overhang. Below the cornice, the cladding is ceramic tile veneer, in shades of mustard brown. Above the cornice, in this section of the building and along Thomas Street, the cladding is red brick. The high overhang continues north along the Dexter Avenue façade. It shades an original double door set in a wooden frame (with two lite clerestory), as well as mustard colored ceramic cladding, and then stops a few feet north of the doorway. At this point, the metal cornice resumes at a lower level. Below it are two wide storefronts, each divided into two sections, by a thin, metal mullion. This is the extent of the first building along Dexter Avenue North. The slightly later addition, not as deep in plan as the original, (60’-2” vs. 100’), extends the lower overhang across the rest of the Dexter Avenue North façade, which only has red brick veneer cladding. The storefrontage is also resumed first with a large pane of plate glass, close in width to half of one of the neighboring storefronts to the south. This pane of glass is followed by two wider panes of glass flanking a door with a transom. The new storefront and door ensemble then ends with a series of six small windows, set just below the cornice. They are about four feet in length and slightly less wide and each has thin muntins that divide it into four lites, two over two. The cornice wraps around the group of small windows, becoming a trim piece at the north window jamb and in place of an extended window sill. From the angled storefront which begins on Thomas Street to the end of the Dexter Avenue façade, the various elements form a consistent whole and a long façade. The rest of the original 1945 Thomas St elevation now functions as a side street elevation. It consists of two window openings with industrial sash, set at a standard sill height, followed by wide window openings, also with industrial sash and a garage door. Only this garage door and the small entry door appear to be obvious replacements. Otherwise, a comparison with original construction drawings shows that the building is virtually intact or well restored. Currently, coping and metal cornices are brought out by a dark red paint, further unifying the architectural elements.

Detail for 300 Dexter AVE / Parcel ID 1991201215 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: LR Cladding(s): Brick, Concrete, Wood Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Flat with Parapet Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition Building Type: Commercial/Trade - Warehouse Plan: Irregular Structural System: Concrete - Poured No. of Stories: one Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce, Manufacturing/Industry Integrity Changes to Windows: Slight Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Slight Major Bibliographic References Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture, A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972. City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development, Microfilm Records.

Photo collection for 300 Dexter AVE / Parcel ID 1991201215 / Inv #

Photo taken Aug 22, 2005 Photo taken May 07, 2005