| Historic Name: |
Andrews, C. House |
Common Name: |
Andrews House |
| Style: |
Queen Anne - Stick |
Neighborhood: |
Wallingford |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1892 |
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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 C. Andrews House was constructed about 1892. Clarence Andrews (1862-1948) was born and raised on a Willamette valley Oregon farm. In 1883, the US Post Office Department hired Andrews to clerk at the Seattle Post Office. He apparently got the job due to the influence Andrews' aunt who was the wife of Seattle Postmaster O. J. Carr. The Seattle Post Office has only three employees and the work was hard. During anytime of day lines were backed up at the general delivery and money order windows. The Post Office operated from 7 AM until 6 PM and the employees continued to work there sorting mail until at least 11 PM and sometimes till 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. By the end of the year, Andrews, tired of the workload, resigned and left Seattle to become an eastern Oregon cowboy. He later served as County Clerk for Morrow County, Oregon. In 1890, Clarence, with Ida, his second wife (his first wife died in 1886), returned to Seattle to work for the King County Auditor. In 1891 or early 1892 Andrews purchased, from O. J. Carr, some property on the north side of Lake Union near the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Edgewater train station. Carr was his former boss and his uncle in law. Andrews then hired his residence built, which was near the end of Seattle's first major building boom that lasted from late 1887 to about the beginning of 1892. The Green Lake streetcar line ran down Woodland Park Avenue, just three blocks from Andrews house. The 1893 Panic, one of the United States worst depressions, forced a reduction of Andrews's King County salary from $90 to $80 a month. Before the depression ended, Andrews, a Republican, lost his job when the Populists beat out the Republicans in the 1896 election. In early 1897, Andrews accepted a position with the Italian Duke of Abruzzi’s expedition to ascend Mt. St. Elias. He arrived at Alaska just ahead of the tidal wave of humanity seeking Klondike gold. After completing his obligation to the Duke he was hired by the US Custom Service to deal with the gold seekers. Ida Andrews remained in the Edgewater house with their three daughters until at least 1899 before moving to another Seattle residence. In 1903, while visiting some Heppner, Oregon relatives, Ida and children lost their lives in a tremendous flood. Andrews spent most of the next thirty years in Alaska working for various U.S. agencies and traveling all over the territory from the Arctic Circle to the Alaska Panhandle. He wrote dozens of magazine articles and at least five books on the history of Alaska. Andrews owned the house until 1906.
Later occupants. Apparently Andrews sold the house back to the Carrs, who had sold him the vacant land. The Carrs became landlords and rented the house for a number of years. In the late 1920s painter and decorator A.B. and his wife Imogene F. Culbertson lived in the house. In the late 1930s, Widow Gertrude M. Carr, a saleswoman, inherited the house. By World War II Wellesley W. and Amanda Marett moved in and remained there into the 1960s. In the late 1940s, the Maretts were joined by Widow Muriel I. Green, who lived with the Maretts at least through 1962.
In 1975 Historic Seattle conducted a survey of the Wallingford neighborhood and listed the residence as Significant to the City. A field survey of the residence was conducted by the 1979 Seattle Survey.
Very few residences exist intact from Seattle's first major housing boom (late 1887- early 1892). Due to the limited number of existing residences from this period, minimal alterations, and representation of vernacular Queen Anne style, the Andrews House appears to meet City of Seattle Landmark criteria.
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| Appearance |
| The C. Andrews House is a Queen Anne Stick style house. Gable wall dormer on south elevation. Box bay window on south elevation added in 1908 (Permit # A8084). On east elevation is a partially recessed porch with turned posts. According to the Sanborn maps a rear porch was enclosed between 1905 and 1919. Decorative shingles near gables. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Shingle, Wood - Drop siding |
Foundation(s): |
Post & Pier |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable, Pyramidal |
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 Plan: |
Slight |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Slight |
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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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City of Seattle. Seattle Inventory Field Form. 1979.
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Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. “Wallingford: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources.” Seattle: Historic Seattle, 1975.
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