Seattle Historical Sites

According to tax assessor’s files, this residential building was constructed in 1896. An original building permit was not located in the DPD archives and the original owner and builder are unknown. The building is the oldest building in the vicinity and is largely intact. The area was relatively remote and sparsely settled before the Dearborn cut and the Jackson Street regrade (1907-1909) and the building may have associations with the early agrarian settlement of the area. It may also have associations with the later settlement of the area by ethnically diverse groups. The earliest known owner of the building was George Krznarich, who appears to have purchased it in 1928 and was in residence at least through the 1930s. The building served as a two-family dwelling as early as 1937 and has remained a multi-family dwelling since. In 1948 Loo Chong, proprietor of the Quong Wah poultry company, located nearby at 661 King St, resided here with his wife Woo Shee.

This two-story vernacular house is L-shaped with single-story wings on the south and east sides. The house retains its original stucco cladding and windows, which are typically paired and single one-over-one double-hung sashes. The central main portion of the house has a clipped gable roof, while the wings have hipped roofs. There are two entries on the west elevation.--one in the main portion and one in the south wing. The attached front porch, which is narrow and extends across the entire front, including the south wing, is somewhat altered, although similar to the original. The balustrade and roof supports differ somewhat from the original and the original porch roof did not extend to the cover the south portion of the porch, instead the south end was open and a simple bracketed hood covered the entry at the south wing. The tall chimney with corbelled cap is original and somewhat distinctive. The alterations to the porch seem relatively minor and the building is otherwise intact.