| Historic Name: |
McCauley-Cutting Company |
Common Name: |
509 Dexter Avenue North |
| Style: |
Commercial |
Neighborhood: |
South Lake Union |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1930 |
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| Significance |
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This small warehouse building was completed in 1930. There appear to be no records of original extant drawings, but microfiches from the Department of Planning and Development of the City of Seattle, which show drawings from a 1974 remodel, call this the “Eberharter Building.” That Eberharter, who commissioned similar buildings in the South Lake Union area in the late 1920s and 1930s, including 513 Dexter Avenue N, was the initial owner of this one, is corroborated by notes on the original King County Tax Assessor’s Record Card. (The last name of the latest owner is also Eberharter).
Typical of the design of these warehouses, which all date from the 1920s or 1930s, is the symmetrical composition, brick cladding, pilasters signaling the edges of a bay or of the façade and cast stone trim, including ornamental shields. What is missing here is the rug brick in similar, but various shades of brown and the original storefronts. The façade appears to have lost its original industrial sash glazing, so that its integrity is in question. At the same time, it retains enough of its original detailing to suggest that it may well be one of many warehouses designed for A. J. Eberharter by W. R. Grant who designed several extant warehouses in the vicinity of this building and on Dexter Avenue itself.
By the late 1930s, the building was associated with the automobile industry and repair. Polk’s Directory from 1938 indicates that the building housed McCauley-Cutting Company Auto Repairs. By the early 1940s, a related auto repair company, McCauley & Rock Auto Repairs is listed as the main tenant.
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| Appearance |
| Located south of 513-517 Dexter Avenue North, this is a one story building, with one main façade, clad mainly in smooth red brick, with ornamental trim in cast stone. The façade has a symmetrical composition, with pilasters that divide it up into three bays. The parapet walls are horizontal with cast-stone coping, which is set slightly higher at the central bay. Pilasters have cast-stone bases, with ornamental shields of cast stone, set in the location of a capital. These capital/ornamental shields are set at the level of the cast-stone parapet coping and rise slightly above it.
Large industrial sash storefronts have been replaced by new multi-pane storefronts, divided into many small rectangular lights, but with thick, metal muntins (appear to be rectangular in section). What appears to be a central storefront, when the store is closed, consists of a roll-up door and an entry door, with similar frame and muntin detailing. |
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| Status: |
No - Altered |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
INV |
| Cladding(s): |
Brick, Concrete, Stone - Cast |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Flat with Parapet |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Industry/Processing/Extraction - Manufacturing |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Mixed |
No. of Stories: |
one |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce, Manufacturing/Industry |
| Integrity |
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Storefront: |
Extensive |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Slight |
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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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Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
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City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development, Microfilm Records.
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