| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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| Style: |
American Foursquare - Craftsman, Arts & Crafts - Craftsman, Queen Anne |
Neighborhood: |
Wallingford |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1911 |
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| Significance |
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This house was erected in 1911. It was built for owner Henry Y. Alcorn, a foreman at Seattle Lighting Company, by the partnership of Hedlund & Lauridsen. The address given for the partnership, 4227 8th N. E., is in fact the home address of carpenter Aug Hedlund. The address listed for the owner, 912 White Building, is actually the business address of the architect, Thomas L. West. The architect’s influence on design in Seattle may have been felt chiefly through the publication of a set of stock plans in a catalog called "The Architecture of Dose, West & Reinoehl" in 1908. The scheme for this particular house is not included among the stock plans but appears somewhat similar in layout to the four square scheme described as “Design No. 79” on page 19 of the catalog.
The house is significant as an intact example of a two-story craftsman design with elements of Queen Ann era foursquare work. It seems to represent a high style approach to craftsman design, integrating the elaborate detailing of late Queen Ann structures with the popular craftsman typology often associated with speculative housing in north Seattle in the course of that area’s first major building boom.
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| Appearance |
| This structure is a two story clapboard frame residence with stucco and false half-timbering in the gables. The house is built on a concrete foundation over a full basement. The moderate slope of the roof, the wide bargeboards supported by decorative “purlin extensions,” the unenclosed framing at the overhangs and the exposed rafter tails identify the building as an example of the craftsman style. However, the wide windows pushed into the corners hint at a design derived in part from late Queen Ann era foursquare models. The system of wood trim is elaborate and lends the surface of the relatively simple rectangular structure a level of sculptural relief more in keeping with the complex forms of the typical Queen Ann style residence.
Windows occur in a variety of sizes and configurations. Most are double-hung units with unequally sized sash. In almost every case, the upper sash is significantly smaller than the lower sash and is divided by lead muntins in a distinctive pattern that is utilized at every opening; the lower sash is much larger and undivided.
The distinctive pattern begins with a single horizontal muntin near the top of the sash crossed by a vertical muntin near each of the two sides. This results in two small square panes at the two top corners of the sash and three long rectangular panes at the top and two sides of the sash. Additional vertical muntins divided the portion of the upper sash below the horizontal bar into vertical rectangular panes equal in width to those at the top and sides of the sash.
The house is entered at first floor level through a notch at its northwest corner. Part of the porch is protected within the confines of this notch and is thus contained within the rectangular footprint of the house itself, but the porch does project toward the street and the projection is protected by a gabled porch roof with a slope somewhat shallower than that of the main roof above. The porch roof bargeboards are similar in appearance to those at the main gable but do not appear to be supported by extended roof purlins. A horizontal wood component forms the base of the gable; the gable itself is clad with stucco and false half timbering organized into a pattern of narrow vertical elements.
At each of the two outside corners of the porch, the base of the gable is supported by a group of three wood timbers tied together by cross pieces near their top and bearing on a square wood pedestals that also form part of the porch rail system. Heavy wood railings span between the pedestals and the walls of the house and between the pedestals and the newel posts at the top of the entry stair.
A drip mould wraps the house at porch rail height, forming part of the sill at first floor window assemblies. The largest of these is a group of three windows centered in the west wall of the house to the south of the entry. Two narrower double-hung units flank a wide central double-hung unit. The relative widths of the units can be gauged by counting the number of vertical divisions in the lower part of the upper sash. The central unit has 12 vertical panes; the two flanking units each have four.
The front facing fenestration at the upper floor is symmetrically organized. Two relatively small, vertically oriented rectangular windows are situated a short distance either side of the centerline of the elevation. Two much larger double-hung windows are located near the northwest and southwest corners of the structure; each of these is wide enough to allow fourteen vertical divisions in the upper sash. All four of these windows appear to be hung from an elaborate built up horizontal trim element that also functions as the base of the gable. The trim element projects from the face of the elevation and is visually supported by numerous wood brackets attached to the face of a flush trim board below the projecting element. Another trim piece forms a cap for the projecting element.
Similar large windows occur around the northwest and southwest corners of the house at the upper level of the north and south elevations, and an elaborate sill platform (or shelf) wraps around the two corners to tie the two windows at each corner together. This trim feature is suggestive of the corner bays found at the upper level of typical foursquare designs dating from this period. The shelf detail is part of another horizontal trim band that wraps most of the structure and coordinates the sills of almost all the upper floor windows.
The gable itself is stucco and false half timbering organized into a pattern of narrow vertical elements in a manner similar to the porch gable. A tall narrow attic vent is centered in the gable between two of the vertical half timbers.
To the east of the upper floor corner window on the north elevation, a very deep bay projects at least four feet from the face of the wall. This bay appears to be located at the half level between the first and second floors. Three double hung windows are symmetrically arranged in the north face of the bay. The center window is somewhat wider than the other two units. The windows are higher in the elevation than most of those at the main floor but lower than those lighting the upper level. This suggests that the bay houses the stairway and that the windows illuminate the mid-level stair landing. The drip mould wrapping the house at porch rail height is coordinated with the base of this bay. East of the bay, near the middle of the north elevation, a single double-hung window lights the upper level. Toward the back end of the house, another single double-hung unit illuminates a main floor space.
A chimney interrupts the horizontal trim bands at the westernmost third point of the south elevation and rises through the overhang. Below the second floor corner window at the west end of the south façade, a similar window lights the front room at the main level. A single double-hung window is situated near the back (southeast) corner of the house at the main level. Some distance to the east of the chimney, a small double-hung window floats above the horizontal trim band connecting the sills of the second floor window. Two double-hung units paired near the back end of the south wall conform to the typical pattern of association with this trim element.
The back (east) end of the house cannot be observed from the street.
A current resident of the house told the field recorder that the kitchen and the baths have been remodeled. It also appears that the entry stair has been modified and a stair rail added to both sides. No other modifications are apparent |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Stucco, 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: |
two |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Changes to Plan: |
Slight |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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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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Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
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Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture, A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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