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Summary for 1701 N 48th ST N / Parcel ID 4083801705 / Inv #

Historic Name: Bungalow Court Common Name:
Style: Tudor - Cottage Neighborhood: Wallingford
Built By: Year Built: 1930
 
Significance
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.
This 16-unit housing development was constructed in two parts. The easternmost of the two apartment buildings was built in 1929, the westernmost in 1930. Work on each of the apartment structures appears to have been accompanied by construction of a detached, multi-bay garage. The buildings of the complex were designed by architect Harry B. McKnight for owner Jessie S. Richards. Richards also erected the buildings and lived in the development with his wife Mabel. Their unit was addressed as 4719 Wallingford Avenue N. and is located in the first of the two apartment structures to be completed. Although other multi family cottage or bungalow court developments are located in Wallingford, this group of buildings is the most extensive and best known. Its location, on a half block site abutting Wallingford Avenue near the center of Wallingford’s retail commercial district and across the street from a relatively large church and school complex, increases its visibility. Its eclectic character is more fully developed than other local examples of the type, and its appearance is more iconic. The development was described as significant to the community in “Wallingford: An Inventory of Historic and Urban Design Resources.” Its most significant feature may be the combination of row house typology and bungalow court styling that it represents.
 
Appearance
The development consists of 16 apartments in two “L” shaped buildings occupying the northern half of the block bounded by Wallingford Avenue N. on the east, N. 47th Street on the south, Densmore Avenue N. on the west, and N. 48th Street on the north. The two buildings are located at the northwest and northeast corners of the half-block. Although the development is described in the Assessor’s record as a bungalow court, the individual apartments are actually entered from the street rather than through a courtyard. The small stoops serving each unit project into a shallow yard at the corresponding street elevation, presenting more the character of a group of row houses than that of a group of cottages on a courtyard. On the other hand, the buildings do not have the form of the typical American row house development. The apartment buildings are brick veneer and stucco clad frame structures on concrete foundations with 1/4 basements. The steep roofs, close cornices and rakes, overlapping front gables – some with brick veneer, others with stucco and false half timbering – and the attempt to disguise the essentially rectilinear character of the footprint with a layering of façade projections are all characteristic elements of Tudor cottage style work. The brickwork features raised star and diamond patterns formed by darker bricks; the character and regularity of the patterning varies somewhat between the two buildings. Each of the two structures has a brick gable at its south facing end and a stucco and half-timber gable where the two buildings face each other. Small dormers appear to light the attic. The inside corner of the elbow formed by each “L” is marked by a chimney. The outside corner of the elbow formed by each “L” shaped building is softened by a wall turned at 45 degrees to the two main axes of each of the structure (and of the intersecting streets). A bay (with brick gable also oriented at 45 degrees to the axes of the streets) projects from this beveled corner. The bay at the northwest corner of the development features a centered brick chimney. Most of the wood windows installed when the complex was built have been replaced with anodized aluminum units that mimic the proportions of the original fenestration fairly well. However, the dark bronze color of the replacements is a significant departure from the creamy white of the original windows. The majority of the replacement windows are double hung units occurring singly or in groups of two, occasionally in groups of three. The upper sash and lower sash are typically of equal size. The upper sash appears to be divided into six panes (though these replacement windows do not have true divided lights). The lower sash is undivided. Eight pane casements occur at the outside corner of each “L” shaped building, where a wide diagonally oriented bay projects from the each building. The dormer windows, and the tall slit windows at the brick gables, appear to be original and were apparently designed to illuminate the attic. Both the dormer windows and the gable windows feature leaded glass. At almost every street side entry, a style and rail door with a single large translucent textured glass light centered over two small wood panels opens into the building, although in a few cases the light is divided into a number of small, clear panes. Three of the entries appear to have been recently refitted with multi-panel wood style and rail doors without glazing. The small projecting porch cover at each entry features a pointed wood arch supported by wood brackets projecting from the wall. A driveway passes between the two “L” shaped buildings from N. 48th Street at the north side of the development. Two identical, single story, flat roofed rectangular brick clad frame garage structures stand behind the apartment buildings along the southern boundary of the site. Each of the garage structures consists of seven parking bays (potentially leaving one of the eight housing units in each apartment building without an enclosed parking space). The original pair of swinging, glazed garage doors at each parking bay has been replaced with a solid-core wood overhead door. As noted above, most of the original wood windows have all been replaced with aluminum units, and a few of the doors have been replaced. No other significant modifications are apparent.

Detail for 1701 N 48th ST N / Parcel ID 4083801705 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Brick, Stucco, Wood Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured
Roof Type(s): Gable Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition-Shingle
Building Type: Domestic - Multiple Family Plan: L-Shape
Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: one
Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development
Integrity
Changes to Original Cladding: Intact
Changes to Windows: Extensive
Changes to Plan: Intact
Major Bibliographic References
City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.

Photo collection for 1701 N 48th ST N / Parcel ID 4083801705 / Inv #


Photo taken Feb 19, 2004

Photo taken Feb 19, 2004

Photo taken Feb 19, 2004
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