| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Craftsman, Queen Anne |
Neighborhood: |
Wallingford |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1907 |
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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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This house was erected in 1907 (according to the Assessor’s survey of the property in 1937) or 1909 (according to the King County Assessor Property Characteristic Report, November 2004). Nyberg and Steinbrueck suggest a construction date of 1906 in "Wallingford: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources;" however, their dating must be regarded as somewhat less reliable than the public record.
A permit to build a “1 – 2 story frame dwelling 34 x 28” at this site was issued in 1902; however, it is not clear if this is the permit for the existing structure, which measures 24 x 52 overall according to the Assessor’s 1937 survey. A notation found on the permit suggests that the 1902 structure was destroyed in 1903, although it is possible that this notation refers to the approved drawings of the building, rather than the building itself. The designer and builder of the present structure are not known; the owner of the property listed on the permit application is Alfred Watson.
A garage was added to the site in 1910. The names of the owner and the builder are recorded on the permit application form but are only partially legible.
Alterations to the building, including but not limited to additions to the kitchen and deck, were undertaken in 1977-79. Evidence of this work is visible at the east elevation and at the southeast corner of the house. The cladding of the structure is in very good condition, suggesting that it may have been renovated or replaced in kind at some point in the building’s life.
The house is significant as an intact and well-maintained example of the late Queen Ann style, a mode of building that was declining in popularity when this house was erected in the years just prior to Wallingford’s first building boom. It is especially interesting because it represents a transitional period in the history of local residential architecture during which Seattle area designers began to incorporate elements of arts and crafts detailing and modern residential engineering in their work. The house is also remarkable because of its size, which is substantially greater than that of most residences being built in Wallingford at the turn of the century. In "Wallingford: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources," this house is described by Folke Nyberg and Victor Steinbrueck as a building of significance to the entire City of Seattle that warrants further evaluation for designation as an historic landmark.
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| Appearance |
| This is a two-story, clapboard-clad frame residence on a concrete foundation over a full basement. The steep side-gabled roof (and the resulting large unoccupied attic), the numerous gabled dormers and bays, the semi-circular trim elements in several of the gables, and the “X” pattern found in several details (such as the muntins at some of the glazed openings and the railings at some of the decks and porches) all suggest a late Queen Ann or Shingle Style approach to the design. Elements of the emerging craftsman style are suggested by the ganged double-hung windows and the triangular knee braces supporting the relatively plain but wide bargeboards at the gables.
The west façade is the front of the house. A porch stretches across this elevation at the main level. It is set into the body of the house rather than projecting from it. Four built-up wood piers support the upper floor at the open west edge of the porch. All four piers bear on the solid, clapboard-clad porch rail; however, the piers are neither equally spaced nor coplanar. The two northernmost piers are the most widely spaced and are situated directly under the two outside corners of the larger of the two west-facing wall dormers enclosing the second level above. In fact, the larger dormer and the portion of the entry porch protected by the dormer (including the two piers and the section of porch rail supporting them) project about a foot west of the plane defined by the remainder of the piers, porch rail and facade elements of the house, forming a wing extending from the north end of the west elevation toward the street.
At the upper floor, a deck carves out a cubic volume behind the face of the larger dormer. A light wood guardrail, featuring an “X” pattern of wood elements between the upper and lower rails, stretches between two engaged newel posts at either end of the open side of the deck. The deck is accessed through a glazed door with muntins arranged in an “X” pattern. The door is centered in the back wall of the deck. The door is flanked either side by a double-hung window with a small upper sash divided into nine lights in a 3 x 3 pattern over a taller lower sash. This window configuration is the typical configuration for double-hung units around the house. A small fixed glass transom in the shape of a circle segment is centered over the door.
The dominant feature of the larger dormer’s west elevation is the semi-circular wood arch that, together with a number of associated trim pieces, appears to support the bargeboards. The wood arch is centered in the gable. It springs from two horizontal elements, one at each shoulder, that are each supported by a pair of triangular knee braces; the outboard brace of each pair also supports the lower half of the adjacent bargeboard. At the top of the arc, a vertical element extends up to support the peak of the gable where the two bargeboards meet. The bargeboards at the smaller dormer are supported by a knee braces at each edge of the dormer, and what appears to be an extended roof purlin at the ridge. The semi-circular wood arch lends the trim system the character of Queen Ann era design, while the braces and bargeboards are clearly elements of the craftsman style.
The smaller wall dormer is situated at the south end of the west elevation. It appears to be supported by and visually coordinated with the two southernmost of the four entry porch piers. Because this dormer is not as wide as that to the north, the two supporting piers are more closely spaced than those supporting the larger dormer. A low section of upper level wall between the two dormers is coplanar with the face of the smaller dormer and spans between the two porch piers nearest the center of the elevation. This piece of wall, the decorative railing atop it, the low fixed window and unusable deck behind it, the gap between the centermost piers at the porch below, the entry stair, and the front door of the house all share the same centerline.
Two double-hung windows utilizing the typical configuration for double-hung units noted above (a small upper sash divided into nine lights in a 3 x 3 pattern over a taller lower sash) are ganged together and centered in the gable at the smaller west facing wall dormer,
The wide entry door at the entry porch below has a nearly square glazed opening in its upper quarter. Three typically configured double-hung windows are ganged together and centered in the wall separating the porch from the interior of the house to the north of the entry door; two similar units are paired and centered in the wall to the south of the door.
A large, bullnosed trim piece wraps around the house, accompanied by other components of the trim assembly that caps the entry porch railing. At the south elevation of the structure, this assembly becomes the resting point for the sills of two sets of ganged windows. Each of these window groups consists of three double-hung units utilizing the typical configuration described above. The westernmost group is located near the front corner of the house; the other group is located about in the middle of the back half of the building. In the center of the elevation at the upper level, a gable-roofed bay, supported by floor joist that appear to extend through the wall of the house at the base of the bay, projects south from the face of the façade. The bargeboards associated with the bay roof are supported by a semi-circular wood arch nearly identical to that at the large dormer on the west side of the house. Two typically configured windows are paired and centered in the projecting bay. To the west of the bay, two more of the typically configured windows are ganged together. A small single sash unit is placed in the section of wall between the bay and the pair of double-hung units. Another pair of the typically configured units is located just to the east of the bay. A smaller single sash unit is located under the eave further to the east. Six irregularly spaced small rectangular windows are aligned horizontally near the top of the concrete foundation wall, lighting the basement.
At the north elevation, which faces N. 41st Street, three groups of main level windows rest on the bullnosed trim piece that forms part of the extended railing cap wrapping the house. One group of three typically configured units is situated in the western half of the elevation; another group of three is located in the eastern half of the façade and a group of two is situated near the back end of the building. A gable-roofed bay, similar to that projecting from the south elevation, is situated in the middle of the north wall at the upper level. One pair of typically configured windows is located to the west of the bay; another is situated to the east. Further east is a single sash window unit. Five irregularly spaced small rectangular windows are situated in the top of the concrete foundation wall to light the basement.
The east façade is not easy to observe from the street. A pair of typically configured windows is located around the corner from the north elevation at the main level. To the south of these two windows, a shed-roofed element (probably an addition to the original structure) appears to stretch along the back of the house, and a deck with a solid railing appears to extend this element some distance beyond the southeast corner of the house. An east facing gable in the south half of the east elevation features two bands of windows, offset from one another, that appear to consist of sliders of relatively recent vintage.
A two-car garage with west facing clipped gable is located at the southeast corner of the site. Its back (east) wall is constructed of concrete masonry units(CMU) and glass brick, suggesting that the structure was substantially altered at a relatively recent date. A new shed -- or small pavilion -- has been erected in the northeast corner of the site.
The back (east) end of the house appears to have been substantially altered, and the entry stairs at the front of the house appear to have been rebuilt. However, the remainder of the structure looks much as it did in the early years of the 20th century. No other significant modifications are apparent. |
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