| Historic Name: |
Crockett House |
Common Name: |
Crockett House |
| Style: |
Colonial - Colonial Revival |
Neighborhood: |
Queen Anne |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1888 |
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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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The Crockett House was constructed in 1888 and had a significant remodel in 1906. In May 1851, at the age of 10 months, Samuel Crockett’s (1850-1922) family departs Iowa for the overland journey to Oregon. After a seven month journey on the Oregon Trail, the Crocketts reach Oregon Territory and winter near Olympia (in 1853 this would become Washington Territory). Early in 1852, the Crocketts head north and settled on Whidbey Island near Isaac Ebey's homestead. In late 1850, Ebey had established a farm on Whidbey, the first US citizen to settle north of Nisqually. After attending the local school, Samuel Crockett left Whidbey Island for the University of Washington which, at the time, was not much more than a college prep school. In 1873, after he transferred to Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, he married Lydia Chamberlain (1853-1907). The Crocketts returned to Whidbey Island and farmed until 1881 when they moved to Seattle. The following year Crockett and three others established the Hall and Paulson Furniture Company. Within two years the company employed 75 with a sawmill on the White River, a furniture factory at the south end of Commercial Street (1st Avenue South) near King Street, and a store on Commercial south of Yesler Way. By 1888, he became Secretary-Treasurer of the furniture company. The same year, perhaps in response to his promotion and increased salary, Crockett had his house built on Olympic Place, which the Crockett family moved into by the summer 1888. The family included Samuel, Lydia and daughter Bertha (b. 1877). Within a couple of years after the Crocketts moved into the house the Kinnear Park streetcar line started running along Olympic Place past the Crocketts house.
The following year the Paulson Furniture Company went up in flames when downtown Seattle burned down in the Great Fire of June 1889. With the flames eliminating his job, Crockett started working as a bookkeeper for Rohlfs & Schoder Lumber Company where he remained for 12 years. Then he returned to his former company, which owned some prime Seattle real estate and under the corporate name Seattle Security Company developed the company property holdings. In 1906, the Crocketts had a major remodel done on the house.
Lydia Crockett died in December 1907 and a year later Samuel Crockett married Nellie Wood (b. ca 1861). In 1910 besides Nellie and Samuel Crockett, their servant Bertha Hurstad (b. ca 1874) lived in the house. Born in Norway about 1874, Bertha had immigrated to the United States in 1900. Samuel Crockett lived in the house for the remainder of his life. Widowed in 1922 Nellie Crockett lived there for two more years before she moved.
Later occupants. In the late 1920s lawyer I. L. and Agnes C. Bronson; by 1934 Charles P. and Emmie K. Chester moved in and lived there through the mid 1950s. Charles Chester worked for Chester Brothers Research Engineers, superintendent for Duroply Products, and as a machinist. He died just after the end of World War II. Jocke Soderberg, president-manager of Scenic Lighting, also lived there in the early 1940s followed by Henry and May Hainert and Frederick and Nelson saleswoman Gertrude Mitchell in the late 1940s. In 1958 welder Rodney R. and Carol C. Lewis purchased the house.
Variant Addresses: 459 Olympic Ave in Sanborn Seattle maps 1893.
The 1979 Seattle Historic Resources Survey inventoried the building.
The Colonial Revival residence appears to meet City of Seattle Landmark criteria due to the age of the structure (over 100 years old) and minimal alterations since 1906.
Sources (see Reference below for complete citations):
"Samuel D. Crockett" Bagley, History of Seattle. Vol. 2, p. 713-714.
"Samuel D. Crockett" Meany, Living Pioneers of Washington. p. 99.
"Samuel D. Crockett" Hanford, Seattle and Environs. Vol. 3, pp. 139-141.
"Noted Pioneer Dies, Samuel Crockett, Here 40 Years, Passes Away." Seattle Times, July 8, 1922. Clipping Files. Special Collections, University of Washington Library.
"Member of Pioneer Family Here Dead." (Matilda Lloyd Crockett) Seattle Times, December 21, 1928. Clipping Files. Special Collections, University of Washington Library.
"Samuel Crockett Succumbs Here." Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 9, 1922. Section 'I' p. 16 col. 1 Clipping Files. Special Collections, University of Washington Library.
"Mrs. Crockett's Rites Are Held" Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 23, 1922. Clipping Files. Special Collections, University of Washington Library.
"Samuel D. Crockett" Washington, West of the Cascades. LOOKUP
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| Appearance |
| In 1888 Samuel Crockett's house was built on the south side of Queen Anne Hill. During the summer of 1906 there was a significant remodel of the house. The Seattle Building Department issued Crockett a permit to "Remodel 2 story frame residence by putting in new foundation, changing partitions, constructing porch and making other alterations & repairs" (permit # 43202). The remodel included additions to the north (front) and to the south (rear) elevations. The west side of the north elevation is a two-story addition with a three sided bay window on the first floor. Added to the east side of the same elevation was a porch with Doric columns set in sandstone plinths which support a flat roof balcony. An 18 x 12 foot rear addition with a wrap around porch was also added to the original structure.
On the west elevation is large two-story bay window which likely was part of the 1888 house. A hip roof dormer on the north elevation. Numerous windows have leaded glass in upper sash. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Shingle, Wood - Clapboard, Wood - Drop siding |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Hip |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Irregular |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
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King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
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Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
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Bagley, Clarence B. History of Seattle. Chicago: S.J. Clarke, 1916.
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City of Seattle. Seattle Inventory Field Form. 1979.
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Meany, Edmond S. Living Pioneers of Washington. Seattle, Seattle Genealogical Society, 1995.
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Hunt, Herbert & Floyd Kaylor. Washington, West of the Cascades. Seattle: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1917. 3 volumes
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Hanford, Cornelius H. (ed.) Seattle and Environs, 1852-1924. Chicago: Pioneer Historical Publishing Co., 1924.
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