Seattle Historical Sites

This house is significant due to its association with the Japanese American community in South Seattle. Its occupancy by the Hamasaki family during the 1950s and 1960s is consistent with the historic return of Japanese Americans to South Seattle after World War II, as well as the Rainier Valley’s role as a commercial corridor connecting South Seattle to downtown. The house’s association with the Hamasaki family also reflects Seattle’s gradual move towards racial integration and the contemporary racial and economic diversity of Beacon Hill.

This single-family residence is located in the South Beacon Hill neighborhood. The house was constructed in 1959 at an estimated cost of $12,000. Nobuyoshi and Kazue Hamasaki, a Japanese American family, were the first occupants and lived in the house through 1969. Nobuyoshi was an employee of King Street Rail Road Station in downtown Seattle.

Substantial residential and commercial development in Beacon Hill occurred when a transportation corridor connecting the Rainier Valley to Downtown Seattle and Seattle’s industrial district was constructed along Rainier Avenue. Development in the valley was facilitated by logging during the 1880s, the operation of the Rainier Valley Electric Railway in the 1890s, and the Jackson and Dearborn Street re-grades in the 1900s. Milling was the primary commercial industry during the last part of the nineteenth century although some agricultural activity existed. As residential development increased, Rainier Avenue gradually became the principal commercial corridor connecting the residential neighborhoods of South Seattle to downtown, the International District, and Seattle’s industrial districts. World War II brought additional building growth related to the wartime industry, as well as the influx of defense workers to nearby Boeing and the Duwamish shipyards. 

Beacon Hill has historically been a more economically and socially diverse neighborhood than Mount Baker to its east. There was less enforcement of residential deed restrictions and a greater availability of smaller, more affordable housing. One of the first land owners of Beacon Hill was George Riley, an African American from Portland, Oregon. George Riley, organizer of the Workingmen’s Joint Stock Association in Portland, arranged the organization’s purchase of property on Beacon Hill, which was platted in 1871 as Riley’s Addition. Furthermore, the northern end of Rainier Valley, which was originally settled by German immigrants, acquired the historical nickname “Garlic Gulch” during the early twentieth century due to the growing strength and predominance of its Italian American community. 

In addition to the Italian American community in northern Rainier Valley, the Japanese American community grew and expanded southwards to Beacon Hill during the first two decades of the twentieth century as a result of relatively less restrictive immigration laws. While the 1889 Alien Land Laws excluded non-citizens from owning land, they were able to purchase property under the names of their second generation family members. While the Immigration Act of 1924 inhibited further Japanese immigration, they continued to expand their families and businesses in Seattle. However, when President Roosevelt issued his Executive Order 9066 in 1942, the Japanese Americans in the Pacific Northwest were sent to internment camps and their properties and businesses were usually confiscated. After World War II, formerly incarcerated Japanese Americans returned to Seattle, successfully rebuilding their social networks and businesses and again emerging as a significant force in Seattle.

Beacon Hill’s diverse beginnings were reinforced by its landscape features, including Jefferson Park located at the center of Beacon Hill. Originally named Beacon Hill Park, Jefferson Park has exerted a profoundly positive influence on the development and social cohesion of the Beacon Hill neighborhood through its sustained use by local residents. Originally acquired by the City of Seattle in 1898, it was integrated into Seattle’s Olmsted system of parks. In 1915, the first public golf course west of the Mississippi opened at Jefferson Park. From 1919 to 1941, the year before many Japanese Americans were interned in the Northwest, the Japanese-American Language School in Seattle used the park for its annual picnics. Japanese Golf Association held annual tournaments beginning in 1931. African Americans, Japanese Americans, and Chinese Americans organized golf clubs during the 1940s and 1950s because they were excluded from white clubs; they used Jefferson Park as their home course.

The Jefferson Park community center and golf course remains open to the public and the Beacon Hill neighborhood continues to be an ethnically diverse, working-class community. Its businesses and public spaces, including Jefferson Park and Dr. Jose Rizal Park, reinforce this diversity.

The rectangular lot for this single-family residence was originally platted for Trippy’s Addition No. 2 and is located between Beacon Avenue South and 37^th Avenue South. This one-story, Modern ranch house was constructed in 1959 and faces onto South Portland Street. It has 2,240 square feet of living space and a daylight basement. A long, rectangular floor plan and poured concrete foundation support its platform-framed superstructure. A series of steps rises from ground level to the entrance at the front of the house while a second set of stairs leads to a covered entrance on the west side of the house. A carport on the front elevation extends from the house towards South Portland Street. The low-pitched, side-gabled roof has a moderate open-eaves overhang. The overhang is extended over the carport, forming the carport roof, and is supported by slender wooden posts. This design creates a continuous, low-hanging eaves-line at the front of the house. A small parapet edge surrounds the roof at eaves-level creating a crisp edge, and the roof is covered with asphalt composition shingles. The house is clad in wood board siding, and most windows are vinyl. While some features of this mid-twentieth century ranch house have been altered, it retains several of its Modern characteristics, including its floor plan, planar roof shape, low eaves-line, and carport. These architectural features reflect the changing American landscape after World War II, including Americans’ growing reliance on automobiles and their inclusion into daily life. The architectural style also marks Beacon Hill’s increased development during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the neighborhood’s relative isolation and the resulting necessity of automobiles for transportation.