| Historic Name: |
Treat, Harry Whitney, House |
Common Name: |
Gable House |
| Style: |
Arts & Crafts, Tudor |
Neighborhood: |
Queen Anne |
| Built By: |
|
Year Built: |
1905 |
| |
| Significance |
|
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. |
|
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
|
In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
|
|
This house, one of Seattle's largest, has both architectural and historic significance. The original owner, Harry Whitney Treat, was a Northwest representative of the Rockefeller family, heavily involved in local business activities and real estate. His developments in North Seattle include Loyal Heights (named for his daughter), Sunset Hill and much of Blue Ridge. Treat built the house as his in-city retrat, at the tremendous cost of $101,000. After his sudden death in 1922, his wife donated Golden Gardens to the city for parkland. The house was too large for the small family and in 1923, it was purchased by George Lemcke & Company, and converted to apartments. It was used alternately as apartments and a single family residence until 1975, when it was purchased by Gary Gaffner, a Queen Anne preservation advocate, who renovated the 64 rooms into 15 apartments. The house is also notable as it still contains the controls for the "Counterbalance," the name given to the cable car that ran up adjacent Queen Anne Avenue. The exterior is largely intact, although some alterations have been made in the dormers and windows on the south elevation, and a porch has been enclosed. A garage addition was made in 1914, designed by Bebb & Gould, the successor firm to the original architects. Charles Bebb and Louis Mendel were the most prominent architects of their period, specializing in mansions for Seattle business leaders. Bebb was educated in private schools in England and Switzerland, and studied civil engineering in London. After working for a period on construction of a railroad in South Africa, he became an engineer at an Illinois terra cotta company, where he developed commercial fireproofing materials. He served as construction superintendent for Chicago's Auditorium Building, designed by Adler and Sullivan. The firm sent him to Seattle to superintend construction of the Seattle Opera House, which was never completed due to the 1893 Financial Panic. Bebb returned to Seattle to work for the Denny Clay Company and opened an architectural practice in 1898. He worked for Spokane architect Kirtland Cutter superintending construction of the C. D. Stimson House on First Hill, which introduced him to prominent local business leaders. He was in partnership with Louis Mendel from 1901 until 1914, when he went into partnership with Carl Gould. Louis Mendel came to the United States from Germany in 1882, working in Cleveland and in several west Coast cities before settling in Seattle in 1899. He initially worked as a draftsman for Charles Bebb. They formed a partnership in 1901, and until 1914 were prolific designers of homes, hotels and commercial buildings for local business leaders. Among their extant work is University Heights School, the Schwabacher Hardware Company warehouse (1905), the Walker-Ames House (1907), the Hoge Building (1911) and many residences. After his partnership with Bebb dissolved, Mendel continued to practice, designing primarily residences and other small projects.
|
|
| |
| Appearance |
| The 17,046 square foot house currently has 15 apartments, averaging 1072 square feet. Materials are typical of Bebb and Mendel designs, with red brick on the first floor, buff brick cladding on the second floor and stucco and wood half timbering above. It is basically side gable in form, with a large projecting gabled bay on the front. There are several small gabled dormers, two to the west of the center gable and one to the east. Most windows are double-hung sash, with some casement windows; most are leaded glass with either tulip or mushroom patterns. East of the entry is a group of four leaded glass windows; above are two groups of three leaded double-hung windows. The third floor gable end has a group of four small windows with large brackets below. The recessed entry has been modernized, with steel and glass doors. The south elevation has deep eaves with curved brackets and mostly newer windows, with a deck added between two gables. The east gable end has curved bargeboards and a dormer with tulip-patterned casement windows; lower floors have tulip-patterned double-hung windows and mushroom-patterned casements. Also on this side, along Queen Anne Avenue, are the original garages and a tall clinker brick wall descending the hill. At the northwest corner, next to the busy street, is a small enclosed entry porch with arched doors with strapwork and leaded glass. |
|
|
| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
|
| Cladding(s): |
Brick, Stucco |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Masonry - Unreinforced |
No. of Stories: |
two & ½ |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce |
| Integrity |
|
Changes to Windows: |
Slight |
|
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
|
: |
|
|
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
|
| Major Bibliographic References |
|
City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
|
|
Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
|
|
Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture, A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
|
|
Reinartz, Kay F. Queen Anne: Community on the Hill. Seattle: Queen Anne Historical Society, 1993.
|
|
"Elegant Suites with a Family Heritage," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 26, 1977.
|
|
|
