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In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. |
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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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In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
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This is a particularly ornate example of an American Foursquare house, and one of the earlier houses in the area. The short turret at the front corner evokes the earlier Queen Anne style, reflecting the house's early date and perhaps the original owner's reluctance to wholeheartedly adopt the more modern Classic Box. It also features fanciful Moorish windows and ornate trim above the porch.
This part of Capitol Hill has the city’s greatest concentration of American Foursquare houses—often called the Classic Box or Seattle Box, because of its local popularity. They were built primarily between 1905 and 1910. Most of these houses were not designed by an architect, but were built by local builders from patterns purchased from magazines. Most have a wide front porch with heavy posts or columns and a hip roof, often with dormers. There are typically eight main rooms on two floors--living room, hall, dining room and kitchen downstairs and four bedrooms upstairs. Two reasons for their popularity were that they provided a large amount of space for reasonable cost, and that they could be personalized depending on an owners taste and budget. This neighborhood has numerous variations, from simple unornamented versions to elaborately detailed ones with multiple columns, beveled leaded glass windows and, like this one, exotic accent windows.
This is one of the original Capitol Hill plats of James A. Moore, who gave the area its name. In 1900 Moore, who had already developed other Seattle neighborhoods, purchased and began platting 160 acres, roughly between 11th and 20th avenues, from Roy Street north to Galer. Before selling lots for construction, he graded and paved the streets (eliminating the dust that plagued many sections), installed sidewalks, water mains and sewer lines, and planned for street lights and telephone poles. Lots went on sale in 1901, heavily promoted to attract local business leaders as residents. This was the first part of Seattle developed in this way. Moore did not build houses for sale, but sold improved lots to builders or to people who then hired a builder to construct a home to their own taste. Covenants required that homes cost at least $3,000 to build and be at least 24 feet from the sidewalk. The 800 lots sold quickly to company owners, managers, executives, bankers, doctors, and attorneys. The lots grew in value by 300% over the next 12 years.
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