| Historic Name: |
309 8th Ave N/ West Coast Quilt Neet Inc. |
Common Name: |
309 8th Ave N/Woodworking Building |
| Style: |
Modern - International Style |
Neighborhood: |
South Lake Union |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1949 |
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| Significance |
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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 historic property is no longer extant. Based on field examination conducted in January - February 2014, it has been demolished. Specific demolition date has not been established.
309 8th Ave. North was designed a “store building” by Seattle architect W. H. Whiteley at the end of 1948 and completed in 1949. An example of International Style Modernism, its construction and detailing are simple, but original in the design of the tiled overhang and storefront sill base on the east façade. Based on original construction drawings and an early photograph, the façade appears to be intact. Early on, the building housed West Coast Quilt Neet Inc. and has housed a variety of businesses since then. While there does not seem to be much specific biographical detail concerning William H. Whiteley’s birth or education, we do know that he was one of the architects whom developer Frederick Anhalt hired early on, when Anhalt started the Western Building and Leasing Company in the mid-1920s. (Frederick Anhalt, as a contractor and developer, was responsible for many extant apartment buildings on Capitol Hill, which frequently combine elements from Medieval English architecture and Norman country houses). For the Western Building and Leasing company, Whiteley designed a Mediterranean Revival stucco courtyard apartment building, which still stands on 18th Avenue East and Thomas Street on Capitol Hill and was completed in 1927. On Beacon Hill, for the same company, he also designed the Cora M. Graham Store Building, which is brick clad and has classical detailing and was completed in 1926. Whiteley also produced a half-dozen buildings for Anhalt’s former partner in the Western Building and Leasing Company, Jerome B. Hardcastle, Jr. While these examples show that Whiteley was versed in historical styles, the design of 309 8th Avenue North clearly shows that by 1949, he was experimenting with the International Style.
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| Appearance |
| This one story building is located mid-block, facing east on 8th Avenue North. While its main façade is along 8th Avenue North, its north and south elevations have no real distinguishing characteristics and no openings, although a brick chimney, not shown in original construction drawings, is engaged in the north elevation. The building has exterior frame walls, which sit on a concrete perimeter foundation, as well as individual footings on the interior and a concrete slab floor. The walls are mainly covered with stucco on metal lath, but ceramic tile veneer over wood, shiplap or plywood, (depending on the location or situation), is predominant on the main, east facade. The building has a flat roof with a parapet on the north and south elevations and, also at this level, a partially cantilevered overhang over the main façade along 8th Avenue. The overhang is trapezoidal in section and runs the length of the façade. Below the overhang, the symmetrically composed facade consists of storefront, parallel to the street, divided into eight, tall, vertical lights, set on a low base. The storefront and base then angle back at each side to a recessed wooden door with a clerestory. Thin cylindrical, 4” pipe columns are set at each end of the façade, under the overhang. What sets the building apart is the profusion of fluted, terra cotta colored tiles, which cover the base of the façade below the storefronts and well as the entire fascia and angled portion of the overhang. Coping and storefront hardware, which appear to be original, are of aluminum. The back elevation, clad in stucco, includes a series of punched windows in aluminum sash. Pairs of low, square openings are set symmetrically at the center of the elevation, while wider, rectangular windows, set at a higher level, flank this grouping of square windows. |
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