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Summary for 2011 30th AVE / Parcel ID 1498303990 / Inv #

Historic Name: Common Name:
Style: Tudor - Cottage Neighborhood: Mount Baker
Built By: Year Built: 1930
 
Significance
Built in 1930, this building was purchased by Bosina Milani in October of the same year. In October of 1939, Reynold C. Johnson bought the property. Nick M. Praticula bought the property in August of 1944 for $10,000. Louis Menasche purchased the building in February of 1945 for $11,000. Ownership of the property transferred to Mrs. Menasche in 1951. The Menasche’s remained in the house through 1968. R. Charles purchased the building in September of 1971 for $18,500. A neighborhood of Italian immigrants and their businesses developed in the North Rainier Valley and northeast Beacon Hill. Starting around 1900, Italian immigrants came to Seattle to work in coal mines and as construction laborers and farmers. The Italian immigrants may have settled in this area because of its inexpensive housing, convenient location near downtown, and potential for small farm plots in the North Rainier Valley. This neighborhood, which became known as “Garlic Gulch” or “Little Italy,” centered on South Atlantic Street and Rainier Avenue South. In 1915, about 200 families lived in a 90-square-block area along Rainier Avenue from Lane Street on the north to Mount Baker Park on the south. Many Italian-owned businesses were located in the area, including food imports, Borracchini’s Bakery, Oberto Sausage Company, produce stands, grocery stores, a nursery (Malmo’s), drug stores, and other shops. Our Lady of Mount Virgin Catholic Church at 1531 Bradner Place South, built in 1913, was the hub of the Italian community and operated a Catholic School that offered Italian lessons. Most of the remaining structures in the Italian neighborhood were razed during construction of I-90 in the 1970s and 1980s. The Mount Baker neighborhood comprises two north-south tending ridges located southeast of downtown Seattle along Lake Washington. Initial development of the area occurred relatively late, post-1900, following the construction of the Rainier Avenue Electric Street Railway in the 1890s. York Station on Rainier Avenue and the Dose Addition were developed earlier than the Mount Baker Park Addition, platted in 1907 by the Hunter Tract Improvement Company. The Mount Baker Park Addition represents the core of the neighborhood and is its primary character-defining feature. Mount Baker Park is one of Seattle’s earliest planned residential communities that successfully integrated the natural environment and a relatively exclusive residential neighborhood in its layout of lots, streets, boulevards, and parks. The houses, primarily built between 1905 and 1929, reflect a variety of eclectic and Northwest-based architectural styles, and include designs by many prominent local architects. Other important influences were the streetcar connection with downtown Seattle, the integration of local parks and boulevards into the Olmsted system, the construction of Franklin High School in 1912, and the building of the Mount Baker tunnel and Lacey V. Murrow Floating Bridge to Mercer Island in 1940. Today this middle-to-upper income neighborhood remains predominantly residential, is home to an ethnically diverse population, and retains much of its planned character.
 
Appearance

Detail for 2011 30th AVE / Parcel ID 1498303990 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Brick Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured
Roof Type(s): Gable - Clipped Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition
Building Type: Domestic - Single Family Plan:
Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: one & ½
Unit Theme(s):
Integrity
Changes to Plan: Intact
Changes to Original Cladding: Intact
Changes to Windows: Intact
Major Bibliographic References
City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."
Nicandri, David L. Italians in Washington State: Emigration 1853-1924. Olympia, WA: Washington State American Revolution Commission, 1978.
Roe, Nellie Virginia. “The Italian Immigrant in Seattle,” Master of Arts Thesis, University of Washington, 1915.

Photo collection for 2011 30th AVE / Parcel ID 1498303990 / Inv #


Photo taken Dec 15, 2003
App v2.0.1.0