| Historic Name: |
800-810 Harrison Street |
Common Name: |
Harrison Apartments |
| Style: |
Vernacular |
Neighborhood: |
South Lake Union |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1911 |
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| Significance |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
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This is an early 1911 apartment building, which has managed to retain the most important elements of its architecture. This type of wood apartment building was very prevalent in Seattle in the early 1910s, but in general, not many are still extant and certainly not near downtown Seattle. Those that do remain have frequently been remodeled to the point where they are no longer recognizable. This rather solid-looking, early residential, multi-family building is now unique within the South Lake Union area.
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| Appearance |
| This is a two-story wood frame apartment building from 1911, with original frame windows, a parapet in wood, as well as a short, angled overhang set a few feet below the top of the parapet on the main elevations. The south, main facade is a hundred and twenty two feet in length, while east and west elevations are about forty five feet at the widest point. The plan is a long rectangle, with two small rectangles - small courts set between two story porches - cut out along the north back alley, which is closed off to the public.
The long facade has a symmetrical composition, characterized, at the second level, by eleven bays. Starting from the second bay, every other bay is a protruding rectangular bay, with a row of ornamental brackets below it. Below the two outer protruding rectangular bays and the central one, are three well spaced low entry porches, accessed by a few steps and shielded by a lattice railing. At the landing level of each porch, there is a wide rectangular entry, with wood surround, leading to a small exterior alcove. Doors to various units are visible through the alcove. Each rectangular bay has a single double-hung window and where there is no porch below, the first floor window is also a single window. Pairs of spaced windows are set at both floors in the intervening bays in the plane of the façade wall.
The angled overhang, set a few feet below the top of the parapet, is also marked by repeated wood brackets. Horizontal clapboard siding has been covered by new siding in a horizontal pattern, but this is not that obvious, except on closer inspection. East and west side elevations are basically mirror images of each other with a pair of windows flanked by a single window at each floor, (although the east elevation has some added basement windows with what appears to be original surround). In general, roof elements, doors and windows and surrounds and the disposition of porch stairs, (despite some changes to the low railings), and even of back stairs are remarkably intact. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
INV |
| Cladding(s): |
Other, Wood |
Foundation(s): |
Post & Pier |
| Roof Type(s): |
Flat with Parapet |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Multiple Family |
Plan: |
E-Shaped |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Moderate |
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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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King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
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Drawings, Microfiche Files, Department of Planning and Development.
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