| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Craftsman |
Neighborhood: |
Wallingford |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1922 |
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| Significance |
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This house was erected in 1922. It was designed by the owner, Emma D. Wickersham according to the permit application, and built using day workers. Curiously, an address -- 716 N. 61st Street -- is listed for the day workers on the permit application. The name of the agent who filed the application is difficult to decipher (it appears to have been A. Kraulsiner). A retaining wall was added to the property the same years but under a separate permit.
Mrs. Wickersham lived at the house with her husband, William Q. Wickersham, who was a real estate agent. Mrs. Wickersham still owned the property when the Assessor surveyed it in 1937. The upper half-floor appears to have been in use by that time.
Maude R. Bonnin apparently acquired the property in 1958. Various members of the Robinson family have owned the structure since it was purchased from William and Elizabeth Spelger in 2000.
The basement garage appears to have been an original component of the design
This structure is significant as an intact and well-maintained craftsman bungalow built in the middle years of Seattle’s second north end building boom. The structure exemplifies the flexibility of bungalow designers when faced with the task of placing a front gabled craftsman bungalow on a corner lot. The two-faced entry porch, the position of the entry stair, and the forward placement of the north wing greatly increase the typological ambiguity of this design, and also its formal interest.
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| Appearance |
| This is a 1-1/2 story, shingle clad frame residence on a concrete foundation over a full basement. The moderate slope of the roof, the fly rafters (barge boards), the unenclosed soffits and exposed rafter tails, the shed roofed dormer, and the detailing of the windows and the entry porch all are typical of craftsman bungalow design.
The porch cuts a notch into the southeast corner of the house and is entered from the south. The ambiguity of the structure’s layout makes it difficult to say if this is the front of the house, or one of the side elevations; However, the prominence of the two east facing gable (one of which is the main gable of the porch roof), the fact that the porch extends toward Latona Avenue to the east, and the fact that the small gable centered over the entry stair appears to be a decorative element set on top of the roof, all suggest that the east elevation is the front of the structure. Capped brick pedestals mark the bottom and top of the entry stair. The brick sidewalls of the entry stair are laid up to form an upper surface with a gentle reversing curve. The two pedestals at the top of the stair, and an identical pedestal at the northeast corner of the projecting porch, provide bases for the three battered, built-up wood piers that support the porch roof.
The entry door is centered in the west wall of the porch where it is flanked by two double-hung windows. A single sash window is centered high in the north wall the porch. The upper sash of each of the double hung windows, and the single sash windows all feature a muntin pattern closely associated with the bungalow style. A single horizontal muntin extends across the sash a few inches below the top and vertical muntins extend from top to bottom an equal distance from each side forming a six light pattern; a large central light with narrow rectangular lights at the top and two sides and small square lights at the two upper corners. This muntin pattern is used at every window in the structure.
A group of three typically configured double-hung windows (a large central unit flanked by two narrower units) is centered in the south elevation. A shed-roofed dormer with four single sash windows is situated on the same axis at the south-facing slope of the main roof above. A garage door allows access to the basement at the west end of the basement level.
The east end of the main house projects a few feet beyond the face of the concrete masonry unit (CMU) foundation. A three-unit window assembly similar to that at the south elevation is situated to the north of the projecting porch
Planter boxes with rakishly cut ends are placed under the three unit window assemblies at the east and south elevations.
A gabled wind extends to the north. A notch at the northeast corner of the wing contains the back porch, which is visually separated from the street by a delicate wood screen. Two small double-hung units are centered in the wall between the back porch ad the main house. The north wall of the wing features a single double-hung window in the gable. At the man level west of the porch notch are three windows, a small single sash unit centered in the wall between two double-hung units that vary in size and are located near the corners of the structure.
A chimney is located in the southern end of the west elevation. The north and west elevations at the back of the house cannot be observed from the street.
The original garage doors appear to have been replaced. No other significant modifications are apparent. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Brick, Concrete - Block, Shingle, Wood |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Block |
| 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: |
one & ½ |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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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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