| Historic Name: |
Sparger, Robert, House |
Common Name: |
|
| Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Craftsman, Tudor |
Neighborhood: |
Queen Anne |
| Built By: |
|
Year Built: |
1911 |
| |
| Significance |
|
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. |
|
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
|
In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
|
|
This half-timbered house was designed by Max Umbrecht for Robert Sparger, president of the Sparger Concrete Company. It was featured in the 1913 book "Houses and Gardens of the Pacific Coast," which called it a "modified Elizabethan type" and "classed with the finest designed homes in the city." It also notes that the entire first floor is a solid slab of reinforced concrete, no doubt evidence of the owner's business. The stepped brick wall was termed "one of the best pieces of masonry work in the city." The house bears some resemblance to another Umbrecht design, the Allen residence, at 1317 Willard Avenue West. A detached garage of reinforced concrete, measuring 20 by 24 feet, was added later in the year. A porch with an iron balustrade has recently been added at the top of the roof.
Max Umbrecht worked in partnership with Walter Spalding between 1908 and 1911. During this time they designed several notable mansions for some of Seattle's most prominent business leaders. Umbrecht came from the East Coast, practicing architecture in Syracuse and New York City before being sent to Seattle in 1900 by the Smith family of Syracuse, who later built the Smith Tower. He designed the first Smith Building (1900), the Colonial Block and the John W. Clise House in Redmond, now part of Marymoor Park.
In the 1930s the house was rented to Seizo Fukuda, manager of Mitsui & Company. In 1938 it was purchased by Andrew Olson, president of the Goodnews Bay Mining Company, and his wife Frida. Later owners included Richard Davidson, an airline pilot and his wife Rosemary (1946-1971) and Perry J. Jones, a dentist, and his wife Karen, who bought the house in the 1970s and whose family still owns it today.
|
|
| |
| Appearance |
| This is a Tudor/Craftsman design, clad primarily in stucco with a limited amount of half-timbering in the gable ends. The first floor has red and gray bricks set in a Flemish bond pattern. The house is prominently sited above the street, with a stepped brick wall surrounding the large sloping lawn. It has a cross gable form with a large gabled wing on the south side of the front (east) elevation. A large chimney with Tudor chimney pots rises at the angle of this gable and the main mass; adjoining the chimney is a small gabled wall dormer, clad in stucco. The entry, on the east side, is sheltered by a large pergola supported by two brick columns. A second smaller gable projects at the north end of the east façade. On the south elevation, facing the view, is a large square suspended bay with a newer picture window and large curved brackets; a similar window near the chimney and two others on the side are newer single pane sash. The west side has a first-floor sunroom with nine-light leaded casement windows. Above these are four tall twelve-light casements. Other windows are primarily double-hung, singly or in pairs. |
|
|
| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
|
| Cladding(s): |
Stucco, Brick - Flemish Bond |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable |
Roof Material(s): |
Wood - Shingle |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two & ½ |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture |
| Integrity |
|
Changes to Windows: |
Moderate |
|
Changes to Plan: |
Slight |
|
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
|
| Major Bibliographic References |
|
City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
|
|
King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
|
|
Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
|
|
Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture, A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
|
|
|
