Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Craftsman |
Neighborhood: |
Wallingford |
Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1915 |
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Significance |
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This house, now a duplex, was erected in 1915 in the last years of Seattle’s first north end building boom. It was built by owner G. W. Johnson, who gave his address as1124 Republican on the permit application. The designer of the structure is unknown, although it is likely that Johnson filled this role, building from stock plans or a pattern book. The house appears to have replaced a smaller residential cottage that was built by Johnson in 1902 and remodeled several times by him before being wrecked in 1915.
Although the building permit for the present structure indicates that it was designed as a one-story single-family bungalow, the Assessor’s record notes that the large attic had been converted to living space by 1937 and has thus been habitable for most of the building’s life. It is not clear when the building became a duplex.
The house is significant as a nearly intact example of a typical side-gabled craftsman bungalow, a style of housing popular in the years preceding the First World War. The completion of the attic to provide additional living space, and the eventual conversion of the house to duplex use, are representative of a pattern of such modifications to housing in Wallingford (and other north end neighborhoods) undertaken in the years of the Depression and during the Second World War.
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Appearance |
This structure is a 1-1/2 story, clapboard and shingle clad frame residence on a concrete foundation over a 3/4 basement. The upper “half floor” (which is actually about 85% the size of the main floor) was completed some time after the house was first built. The structure is now described as a duplex in the Assessor’s Property Characteristics Report.
The moderately sloped roof, wide barge boards, exposed rafter tails and simple rectangular footprint are all typical features of the early 20th century craftsman bungalow. Triangular knee braces support the bargeboards, although these braces are assembled from light framing rather than the heavier material typically employed for this purpose.
A shed roofed, shingle clad dormer is centered on the roof at the north (street) elevation. The rafter tails, bargeboards, and knee braces associated with the dormer are similar to the corresponding features at the main roof. Three windows are grouped together and centered in the north face of the dormer. Each unit consists of a single sash divided into six panes.
The entry porch occupies a notch at the northwest corner of the building. A single, built-up wood post, bearing on a brick pier extending from grade to porch rail height, supports the main roof of the house at the northwest corner of the notch. A small rectangular window, divided into six lights, is centered high in the back (south) wall of the porch. The house is entered through a door in the short wall at the east end of the porch.
An assembly of three identical double-hung windows is centered in the north elevation of the house to the east of the porch notch. Each unit consists of a small sash divided into six equal panes (2 x 3) over a larger undivided lower sash.
Two undivided double-hung windows are paired and centered in the east facing side gable. At the west end of the house, two similar units are placed a foot or two either side of the central axis. One of these windows is served by a metal fire escape that is almost certainly not original.
At both side gables, a horizontal trim band with a drip mould separates the shingles in the gable from the clapboard siding at the body of the house. At the west elevation, paired double-hung windows are located near the northwest corner and a single double-hung units is located near the southwest corner; a smaller double hung window is placed near the middle of the elevation. The main level of the east elevation can not be seen from the street.
The back of the house also cannot be observed from the street; however, a sketch plan of the structure completed in 1937 suggests that a rectangular wing or bay extends into the rear yard from the east end of the south (back) elevation.
A fire escape appears to have been added to the west elevation and a metal railing has been added at the entry porch. No other significant modifications are apparent. |
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Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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Cladding(s): |
Brick, Shingle, Wood, Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
Roof Type(s): |
Gable, Shed |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition-Shingle |
Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
one & ½ |
Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development |
Integrity |
Changes to Plan: |
Slight |
Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Major Bibliographic References |
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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