Seattle Historical Sites

This is a example of late Queen Anne Free Classic cottage architecture that has managed to retain a good deal of design integrity despite the replacement of most of its windows.

This is one of approximately 2,200 houses that are still extant out of more than 5,000 that were built by the end of 1906 in Seattle’s Central Area, Eastlake, First Hill, Leschi, Madison Park, Madrona, and North Capitol Hill neighborhoods.

A complete permit history, and a complete record of ownership and occupation have not yet been prepared for this property; however, Washington Mutual Savings Bank appears to have owned the property in1939. It later came into the possession of Sarah E. Dawson, though the date of this acquisition is unclear. Victor H. and Elna Ruth Frankel (who have a New York City mailing address) acquired the house in 2001 from Paul and Judy Frankel.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972) Washington State Archives

King County GIS Center Property Report (http://www5.kingcounty.gov/kcgisreports/property_report.aspx; accessed July 29, 2008)

This is a one story, clapboard clad, wood frame single-family residence on a concrete foundation, over a full basement. The front and rear porches may be built on post-and-beam foundations.

Hipped dormers, particularly those with deep overhanging eaves placed axially on hipped roofs, are generally associated with Prairie style houses, and one-story structures with a two bay wide front elevations are often described as bungalows. However, the moderate (rather than low) slope of the main roof of this structure, the asymmetry of the street façade, the use of numerous, tall, one-over-one double hung windows, especially in the west- and south-facing bays where they once flanked larger “cottage” windows (i.e., windows featuring a shallow rectangular sash over a larger lower sash; in this case, now replaced with a single fixed sash), and the integral porches are more often associated with the late Queen Anne style.

The flare near the eaves of the main roof (and near the eaves of the dormer roofs as well), gives the structure an Asian flavor that is sometime utilized in arts and crafts design; but in this case are an exotic addition to a Queen Anne cottage.

The Tuscan columns supporting the roof at the entry porch (their bases raised to the level of the clapboard clad porch railing), and the extension of the porch entablature around the house to function as a built up frieze at the top of the exterior walls, are decorative details most often associated with the Free Classic variant of the Queen Anne style.

Most of the original wood windows have been replaced with vinyl units of similar appearance. The “cottage” window that originally occupied the central panel of the front facing bay has been replaced with a large fixed sash window. There appears to be a new deck at the rear of the house. The original half basement was increased in size to become a full basement about 1950.

The house was built in 1904 (King County Property Record Card; King County GIS Center Property Report, accessed July 29, 2008).