| Historic Name: |
|
Common Name: |
|
| Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Prairie Style |
Neighborhood: |
Mount Baker |
| Built By: |
|
Year Built: |
1924 |
| |
| Significance |
|
|
|
Built in 1924, this building was constructed after Gustav E. and Eline Rasmussen purchased the property in July of 1918. The building was designed by Seattle architect, Andrew Willatzen and its value was estimated at $10,000. In 1923, Andrew Willatzen designed a retaining wall. In 1927, he designed a roof over an existing porch and an enclosed conservatory. P. C. Nielsen was the contractor. In 1932, Mr. Rasmussen hired Mr. Willatzen again to design a 9’ by 15’ addition on the rear of the residence. P. C. Nielsen was the contractor. Mr. Rasmussen was manger of the Washington Bakeries Corporation in 1926 and manager of the Continental Baking Company by 1938. By 1943, Thomas Scalzo lived in the building. In March of 1944, the building sold for $18,000. By 1954, Willis F. Hawkins lived in the building, and Robert A. Anderson purchased the building in October of 1954 for $24,500. In 1962, the owner added a pool.
Andrew Willatzen (1876-1974) practiced architecture in Seattle from 1908 until 1959. Willatzen came to the United States in 1900 and changed the spelling of his name to Willatsen in about 1918 due to anti-German sentiment after World War I. He worked in Frank Lloyd Wright's Studio in Oak Park, Illinois from about 1902-1907. He came to Seattle in 1908 and formed a partnership with Barry Byrne, another studio employee, in 1909. Initially, Willatsen designed buildings in the Prairie style, but he also worked in a wide variety of styles, particularly after 1915. Willatsen's best work in Seattle dates from 1909 to about 1925.
The Mount Baker neighborhood comprises two north-south tending ridges located southeast of downtown Seattle along Lake Washington. Initial development of the area occurred relatively late, post-1900, following the construction of the Rainier Avenue Electric Street Railway in the 1890s. York Station on Rainier Avenue and the Dose Addition were developed earlier than the Mount Baker Park Addition, platted in 1907 by the Hunter Tract Improvement Company. The Mount Baker Park Addition represents the core of the neighborhood and is its primary character-defining feature. Mount Baker Park is one of Seattle’s earliest planned residential communities that successfully integrated the natural environment and a relatively exclusive residential neighborhood in its layout of lots, streets, boulevards, and parks. The houses, primarily built between 1905 and 1929, reflect a variety of eclectic and Northwest-based architectural styles, and include designs by many prominent local architects.
Other important influences were the streetcar connection with downtown Seattle, the integration of local parks and boulevards into the Olmsted system, the construction of Franklin High School in 1912, and the building of the Mount Baker tunnel and Lacey V. Murrow Floating Bridge to Mercer Island in 1940. Today this middle-to-upper income neighborhood remains predominantly residential, is home to an ethnically diverse population, and retains much of its planned character.
|
|
| |
| Appearance |
| Built in 1924, this substantial, Prairie style-influenced, single-family dwelling stands on a rectangular lot. The building is oriented to Cascadia Avenue South on a flat site 12’ to 15’ above street level. This 1278 square foot, two-story house with a full daylight basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 43’ by 28’, with a 9’ by 28’ back porch. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, brick- (first story) and stucco- (upper story) clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the shallow hip roof. Broad, closed eaves with prominent fascia define the roofline. Wood sash windows provide day lighting. A short flight of stairs leads to the elliptical, arched, highly-detailed, main side entrance. A substantial exterior brick chimney services the building. A significant one-story addition projects off the building’s east end. The substantial presence, broad closed eaves, entrance detailing, and brick-clad lower story set this building apart from other buildings constructed during the 1920s in the neighborhood. |
|
|
| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
|
| Cladding(s): |
Stucco, Brick - Common Bond |
Foundation(s): |
Unknown |
| Roof Type(s): |
Hip |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two |
| Unit Theme(s): |
|
| Integrity |
|
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
|
Changes to Windows: |
Moderate |
|
Changes to Original Cladding: |
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.
|
|
City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
|
|
Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
|
|
Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
|
|
Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."
|
|
Dietz, Duane, “Architects and Landscape Architects of Seattle, 1876 to 1959 and Beyond,” unpublished paper. University of Washington Libraries, July 1993.
|
|
Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
|
|
|
