Historic Name: |
Baroness Hotel, The |
Common Name: |
Baroness Hotel |
Style: |
Art Deco - Zig Zag |
Neighborhood: |
First Hill |
Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1930-31 |
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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. |
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The Baroness is one of several high rise apartment buildings constructed on First Hill in the late 1920s. It was originally constructed as an apartment hotel, with thirty apartment units and thirty residential hotel suites with a dining room on the ground floor. It is particularly distinctive for its restrained and sophisticated Art Deco ornamentation, which continues the tradition of elegant living on First Hill. In the 1880s-90s, First Hill, with views and proximity to downtown, developed as the premier residential neighborhood, with the city's finest mansions. However, by the early 20th Century, apartment buildings and residential hotels, many quite luxurious, began appearing. It was not surprising that, during the 1920s apartment building boom, the city’s most elegant buildings were constructed here, confirming that this was still a desirable address. The building is now devoted to housing families and recovering patients of nearby hospitals.
This was one of the last works of the architectural partnership of James H. Schack and Arrigo Young. James Hansen Schack, a native of the Schlesweg region of Germany, Schack arrived in Seattle in 1901 after receiving architectural training at various Chicago firms. He was a partner of Daniel Huntington from 1907-09, primarily designing apartments, commercial buildings and residences, as well as the First United Methodist Church in downtown Seattle. He is best known, however, for his later partnership with David Meyers and Arrigo Young, which began in 1920. The firm designed the Seattle Civic Auditorium complex, the town of Longview and numerous residences and commercial buildings. After Myers left the firm in 1929, Schack and Young continued the firm, specializing in apartment buildings. They continued until Schack's death in 1933, shortly after the Baroness was built. Young was with the firm until his death in 1954, but the firm itself remained in existence until the 1990s as TRA.
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Appearance |
The Baroness is a six-story reinforced concrete structure with a rectangular plan. It has a buff-colored brick veneer above a first story base of smooth-faced rusticated stone. The most distinctive features are the full height corner bays faced with stone and with spandrels of low-relief Art Deco motifs in a stylized floral design. The bays terminate at the roofline in an irregular silhouette following the outline of the decorative motif. Edged with an enriched stone coping and demarcated by a stone stringcourse, the parapet wall has a pattern of brick set vertically and projecting outward, creating a three-dimensional zigzag design. There are two entrances on the north elevation. The main entrance, on the west, has a plain stone surround and a highly decorative arched of receding planes, a typical Art Deco feature. Just to the east is another entrance with a modern door topped by a lintel with a rich art Deco design. Windows throughout are original metal casements. The large window west of the main entrance has a particularly striking lintel with stylized low relief ornament, close to eye level. |
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Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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Cladding(s): |
Brick, Stone |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
Roof Type(s): |
Flat with Parapet |
Roof Material(s): |
Unknown |
Building Type: |
Domestic - Multiple Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
Structural System: |
Concrete - Poured |
No. of Stories: |
six |
Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture |
Integrity |
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Major Bibliographic References |
Sound Transit, Historic and Archaeological Report, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, 1998.
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Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972.
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City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development, Microfilm Records.
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