Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 1017 E Blaine ST E / Parcel ID 1130000065 / Inv #

Historic Name: Dovey, Thomas, House Common Name: Style: Colonial - Georgian Revival Neighborhood: Capitol Hill Built By: Year Built: 1911   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). This house, noted in the city’s 1978 historic resources survey, has a number of strong historical and architectural connections. It was designed in 1910 by Carl Gould for Thomas Dovey, president of Seattle Engineering, Inc. In 1946 it was purchased by Mrs. Emma Baillargeon Stimson. Mrs. Stimson, herself from a prominent Seattle family, was the widow of Thomas D. Stimson, son of C. D. Stimson, one of Seattle’s most important business leaders. Thomas’ untimely death in 1931, shortly after his father’s death, gave his widow an important role in his business operations, including the C. D. Stimson Company, one of Ballard’s most important mills. During the time that she lived in this house, Mrs. Stimson became an important patron of the Northwest School and of the Seattle Art Museum, donating more than 150 works to the museum. From the 1960s through the 1980s the house was owned by Paul Thiry and his wife Mary; Thiry designed the Modernistic sunroom addition on the west side. Thiry (1904-93) was a prominent architect who introduced European Modernism to the Pacific Northwest in the 1930s. Thiry was born in Alaska and, in 1928, received his architecture degree from the University of Washington, where he was trained in traditional Beaux Arts architectural concepts. His early work was apartment buildings and small residences in the Colonial or French Norman styles. During the Depression a year-long trip around the world and meetings with important architects in Europe and Japan opened his eyes to other ideas. He designed his own house and a small number of others, including this one, in the Modernist style. His houses designed in partnership with Alban Shay used a softer regional variant, with sloped roofs and wood siding. During World War II, Thiry worked with other on wartime housing projects He also became active in planning issues, resigning from the Seattle Planning Commission in 1961 over plans for I-5. From 1957-62 he was principal architect for the Century 21 world’s fair, responsible for site planning and the design of the Coliseum (now KeyArena). Among his best known works are the Northeast Branch, Seattle Public Library (1953-54), The Washington State Library (1954-59 (Olympia), Mercer Island Presbyterian Church, 1960-63, and St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 1964-68. In these structures he was particularly noted for his innovative use of concrete. According to Booth, Carl Gould's design for this house is derived from the late Georgian style, possibly based on the Elias Hasket Derby House by Charles Bulfinch in Salem MA. Gould (1873-1939) was one of Seattle’s most prominent architects, and one with a significant impact on Capitol Hill. Gould was born in New York and graduated from Harvard and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He immediately aligned with some of the most celebrated people in the profession, interning with McKim, Mead & White and working on Daniel Burnham’s plan for San Francisco. He moved to Seattle in 1908 and, as one of the best educated architects in the relatively young city, associated with Daniel Huntington in 1909. Together they designed numerous residences, apartments and mixed use buildings, and Gould independently designed additional houses and commercial buildings. In 1914 he became associated with Charles Bebb, a well-established local architect, and over the next twenty years the firm designed nearly three hundred projects including residences, schools, hospitals and commercial buildings. Perhaps their best known work is the campus plan for the University Washington (1915) and the design of eighteen campus buildings between 1915 and 1938, including Suzzallo Library, in the Collegiate Gothic style. In 1914 Gould founded the Department of Architecture and served as its head until 1926. In the late 1920s, Gould’s designs turned toward the Modern and Art Deco, and he produced two of his most important works, the U. S. Marine Hospital (now Amazon.com, 1930-32) and the Seattle Art Museum (now the Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1931-33). This stretch of Federal Avenue is a tree-lined avenue with a fine collection of large homes, designed by major local architects (with several by Gould) for some of Seattle’s leading families. The street was well located for development, as it is only one block from the Broadway/10th Avenue streetcar line and the open space of Volunteer Park and Lakeview Cemetery is nearby. Although the southern two blocks were platted as part of the 1883 Phinney’s Addition, little development occurred until the first decade of the 20th century, about the time that Volunteer Park was redesigned by the Olmsted Brothers. The landscape architecture firm continually encouraged the city to purchase the property on the west side of the park, so that it would extend all the way to the street; obviously, this was never done.   Appearance This large side-gable house in the Georgian Revival style has a symmetrical façade with a projecting pedimented entry bay in the center. The doorway is flanked by fluted Ionic columns with pilasters at the side of the bay and leaded sidelights. The flat-roofed hood has a wrought iron balustrade above, with a 12-light door with 6-light sidelights opening onto it. Another multipaned window continues up to the cornice line, with an arched top with tracery in the pediment. The first story has two large multipaned windows with wood panels extending below to the water table. The upper windows, and most of those on other elevations, are nine-over-one sash in pairs; those in the front have window boxes beneath them. On the side elevations, the gable ends have Palladian windows. The west side has a sunroom in the Modern style.

Detail for 1017 E Blaine ST E / Parcel ID 1130000065 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: Cladding(s): Shingle Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Gable Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition Building Type: Domestic - Single Family Plan: Rectangular Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: two Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Arts Integrity Changes to Original Cladding: Intact Changes to Windows: Intact Changes to Plan: Slight Major Bibliographic References Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996. Booth, T. William and William H. Wilson. Carl F. Gould, A Life in Architecture and The Arts. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995. Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972. Haley, Delphine, Dorothy Stimson Bullitt: An Uncommon Life. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1995.

Photo collection for 1017 E Blaine ST E / Parcel ID 1130000065 / Inv #

Photo taken Nov 13, 2005