| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Craftsman, Colonial - Colonial Revival |
Neighborhood: |
Wallingford |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1925 |
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| Significance |
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Property owner Claude H. Morton, a contractor who listed his address as 346 E. 55th Street on the permit application, erected this house in 1925. The designer of the structure is not known. The building permit notes that there was a garage in the rear, although it is not clear if construction of the garage occurred prior to construction of the house or at the same time.
Owner Christopher St. Luise wrecked an existing garage in 1950 and completed a new garage in 1952.
This structure is significant because it is an intact and well maintained combination of colonial revival and craftsman bungalow characteristic built in the middle of Seattle’s second north end building boom, a period during which this eclectic approach to the design of small houses was in vogue.
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| Appearance |
| This is a one-story, clapboard-clad frame residence on a concrete foundation over a full basement. The long, narrow, rectangular foot print of the house, the clipped gable roof, the narrow bargeboards, and the detailing of the windows as well as their pragmatic rather than formal organization suggest a design based on craftsman models. However, the enclosed soffits at the overhangs, the cornice returns at the gables, the frieze board at the base of the overhangs and the pediment suggested by the small gable roof protecting the front porch are all more indicative of a design based on colonial revival antecedents
The entry door and porch are located at the north end of the east elevation. The porch cover is gabled with comparatively large cornice returns. The soffit of the porch cover is a barrel vault that appears somewhat constricted within the confines of the small porch cover. The cornice return s form large platform from which the barrel vault springs; the platforms appear to be supported by large timber brackets that seem to project from the façade of the house.
A three-part bungalow type window is located in the east elevation to the south of the porch. It consists of the double hung units. The central unit is wider than the two flanking units and its upper sash is dived into one row of six rectangular lights. The upper sash of each of the flanking units is divided into three lights.
A driveway is located in the yard to the north of the house. Two double-hung windows, similar to the flanking units at the front of the house but with four lights in the upper sash, are paired at the east end of the north façade. An identical unit is located nearer the middle of the elevation. To the west are two small separate double hung windows, each with similarly divided upper sash. The frieze that wraps the house at the base of the soffits also functions as the head casing for each of these windows.
The frieze performs the same function at the south elevation. At the east end of the façade, two single sash windows, each divided into three tall rectangular lights, flank the brick chimney. A similar but somewhat wider single sash unit is located at the west end of the elevation. Two double-hung units identical to the larger units at the north elevation are paired near the middle of the south façade.
The west (rear) elevation is not visible from the street.
The front door has been replaced, a basement window has been moved, the porch has been modified and a metal railing has been added, window box has been removed, and the entry stairs have been changed from wood to concrete. No other significant modifications are apparent. |
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