Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 4229 Bagley AVE / Parcel ID 0510004435 / Inv #

Historic Name: Common Name: Style: Arts & Crafts - Craftsman, Queen Anne Neighborhood: Wallingford Built By: Year Built: 1911   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. This house was erected in 1911. It was designed and built by owner Victor Anderson, who apparently lived at 8625 Burke Avenue N. when he applied for the building permit. According to the descendants of Mr. Anderson, who still own the house today, Mr. Anderson was, on occasion, employed by other builders in the area to assist with construction. He apparently worked in this capacity on the large Tudor style house at 1918 N. 41st Street, designed by Andrew Willatzen. Anderson added a garage to the property at 4229 Bagley in 1915-16 and enlarged it in 1928. A two-car garage with an extension into the back yard presently stands at the southwest corner of the property. The house is significant as an intact and well-maintained example of the eclectic approach to detailing employed by some North End builders in the years of the area’s first building boom. This particular structure combines the roof form, massing, and Tudor style elements associated with houses built late in the Queen Ann period with details developed by designers working in the emerging craftsman bungalow style.   Appearance This is a 1-1/2 story clapboard-clad frame residence with stucco and false half-timbering in the gables. The house is built on a concrete foundation over a full basement. The steeply sloped roof, the cross gables associated with the upper story dormers, and the stucco and false half-timber gables are all design elements associated with late Queen Ann or early Tudor revival work. However, the ganged double-hung windows, wide bargeboards supported by triangular timber knee braces, and the exposed framing at the undersides of the overhangs are characteristic features of the craftsman style. The height of the structure is increased by the apparently high-ceilinged main floor interior spaces, giving the structure a vertical bias unusual in craftsman style residences. At the main level of the east (street) elevation, an assembly of three double-hung windows is located near the middle of the southern half of the façade. The central unit consists of an upper sash divided into 24 small lights arranged in a 3 x 8 pattern over a much larger undivided lower sash. It is flanked by two units, each featuring a 3 x 3 pattern of lights in the upper sash over a larger undivided lower sash. In the center of the front gable above, four double-hung windows are ganged together, each with nine lights in the smaller upper sash and an undivided larger sash below. The continuous sill connecting these four windows continues across the gable as a drip mould and forms the upper component of a horizontal trim band that separates the stucco and false half-timbering of the gable from the clapboard siding at the body of the house below. It also provides a sill for the single, relatively small six pane casement windows at either end of the gable façade. The casings of the casements as well as the ganged double-hung units are carefully coordinated with the half timbering, as are the brackets supporting the bargeboards. A porch is attached to the face of the house and projects toward the street from the northern half of the east elevation. As with the house as a whole, the porch exhibits characteristics of both late Queen Ann and early craftsman design. The steep slope of the roof, the full height built up wood post supporting the porch cover, and the design of the entry door are all typical of Queen Ann work. The unenclosed soffits at the overhangs, the exposed rafter tails, and the wide bargeboards with supporting braces are all craftsman elements. The pairing of the supporting posts at the two outside corners of the porch deck and the false half-timbering of the porch gable are characteristics of the porch structure that are ambiguous in their stylistic associations. A wide water table wraps the house at porch deck height, separating the clapboard siding above the water table from the face of the foundation below. The face of the foundation is finished to resemble rusticated stone block. A small, two-part basement window is approximately centered under the three-unit window assembly at the main level. At the south elevation, a large double-hung window anchors the east end of the façade. The window is similar in size to the central component of the three-window assembly at the east elevation and its upper sash is similarly divided into 24 small lights in a 3 x 8 pattern and is situated over a larger, undivided lower sash. West of the centerline, a hip-roofed bay -- with sidewalls canted at 45 degrees in plan – projects into the side yard. A single double-hung window (with sill set at about the same height as the unit at the east end of the elevation) is centered in each of the facets of the bay. The upper sash of the unit in the south-facing wall is divided in a 7 x 3 pattern; those of the windows in the two canted walls feature a 4 x 3 pattern. The water table wrapping around the house from the east elevation also wraps the base of the bay. A basement window is more or less centered in the foundation under the bay; another basement window is roughly centered under the window at the east end of the elevation. A wall dormer, lighting the upper floor, interrupts the eave line at the middle of the south elevation. Two double-hung windows are paired and centered in the face of the dormer. Each unit has an upper sash divided in a 5 x 3 pattern and a larger undivided lower sash. The upper component of the trim band at the base of the two windows serves double duty as sill and drip mould. As at the front gable, this trim band divides the stucco and false half-timbering of the upper portion of the dormer from the clapboard siding at the body of the house. The window casings, half-timber elements, and bargeboard knee braces of the dormer are coordinated. A single story sunroom or enclosed porch appears to be attached to the west (back) elevation near the southwest corner of the house. Only the south wall of this structure can be seen from the street. The paired posts at the southwest corner of this small appendage and the projecting trellis-like timber elements at roof level suggest that this space may have originally been unenclosed. Two pairs of casements – each leaf divided into eight lights in a 4 x 2 pattern – illuminate the space with south light. The north elevation is much less formal in its organization and the windows appear to have been placed to address purely pragmatic considerations. In addition, the window casings and half-timber elements are not as well coordinated at the north-facing dormer as they are at the south elevation. The upper component of the horizontal trim band at the belt line of the dormer again serves double duty as sill and drip mould, but only for the double-hung window at the west side of the dormer. The trim band dividing the stucco and false half-timbering of the upper portion of the dormer from the clapboard siding at the body of the house is interrupted by another double-hung window to the east that is mounted lower in the wall. The latter window is nearly centered over a door that enters the house at the half level between the basement and the first floor. This door and the window above it most likely serve stair landings. To the west of the door are two small cased openings that may once have functioned as kitchen vents. Just west of these openings is another double-hung window that appears to be aligned with the westernmost dormer window above. At the west end of the north elevation, a large rectangular fixed window, divided by wood muntins into twelve large panes, illuminates the back of the house. The rear (west) elevation cannot be observed from the street. The front steps were replaced in the 1960s; the sidewalls that once framed the steps were apparently omitted from the renovated structure. No other significant modifications to the structure are apparent.

Detail for 4229 Bagley AVE / Parcel ID 0510004435 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: Cladding(s): Stucco, Wood, Wood - Clapboard Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Flat, Gable, Hip 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 Changes to Plan: Slight Changes to Windows: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Intact Major Bibliographic References City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records. King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.

Photo collection for 4229 Bagley AVE / Parcel ID 0510004435 / Inv #

Photo taken Aug 17, 2004