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Summary for 3909 47TH AVE / Parcel ID 5249801980 / Inv # 0

Historic Name: Common Name:
Style: Arts & Crafts Neighborhood: Mount Baker
Built By: Year Built: 1908
 
Significance

This house is significant due to its architectural style, intactness, and occupancy history. The occupants’ association with businesses in the Rainier Valley reflects the valley’s historical role as a transportation and commercial corridor connecting the residential neighborhoods in South Seattle to downtown and Seattle’s industrial districts.
This residence is located in Mount Baker. The house was constructed in 1908. From 1923 to 1938, Martin and Ellen Paup were the primary occupants. After Martin’s death, Ellen remained in the house until 1941. By 1944, Maurice Van Hallebeke had purchased the house. The Polk Directories show that, from 1948 through 1954, Obert and Mary C. Moi were tenants in the house, probably living there at the same time as the Hallebeke family. The Polk Directories also list W. A. Wight as occupying the house from 1955 though 1956. In 1957, Carl W. and Edith P. Nielsen purchased the property. Carl was the owner of Nielsen Auto Repair, which was located on South Beacon Avenue just west of the Nielsen residence. The Nielsens remained in this house through 1969.
The platting of Mount Baker occurred in three phases or additions: the York Addition in 1903 by George M. and Martha Taggart, the Dose Addition in 1906 by Charles P. Dose, and the Mount Baker Park Addition in 1907 by the Hunter Tract Improvement Company. The Mount Baker Park Addition represents the core of the neighborhood and is its primary, character-defining feature. Mount Baker Park is one of Seattle’s earliest planned subdivisions and was established as a residential neighborhood for upper-income white families. The Hunter Tract development company targeted these families by adopting deed restrictions and setting minimum size and price standards for each house. The careful design of the Mount Baker Park Addition’s lots, streets, boulevards, and parks reinforced its exclusivity. However, the platting and landscape plans of George F. Cotterill and Edward O. Schwagerl were significant as they integrated the hill’s natural topography into their design. In doing so, they honored the ideals of Seattle’s Olmsted System and the local government’s city planning efforts.

The houses in Mount Baker were primarily built between 1905 and 1929. They reflect a variety of eclectic and Northwest-based architectural styles and include designs by many prominent local architects. When the Open Housing Ordinance was passed by the Seattle City Council in 1968, the ability of non-whites to relocate to Mount Baker substantially increased. Today, the neighborhood is home to a more ethnically diverse population than in the past. This middle- to upper-income neighborhood remains predominantly residential, and it retains much of its planned character.

 
Appearance
The rectangular lot for this single-family residence was platted for Maynard’s Lake Washington Addition and is located between South Bradford and South Andover Street. Constructed in 1908, the house exhibits various style elements, including Arts & Crafts details. The house faces eastward towards 47th Avenue South and is set back from the street. A large front yard shields the house from street view, and a driveway leads to a side entrance on the south side of the building. Its square floor plan and poured concrete foundation support a balloon-framed superstructure. It has two stories, 4,780 square feet of living space, a full-width covered front porch, and a second-story verandah. The verandah and porch supports are square columns that rest on the porch railings. The main hipped roof is punctuated by hipped roof dormers on the north and south slopes. It has a wide, flared-eaves overhang with decoratively carved exposed rafters. A second flat roof plane is located between the first and second stories and continues around the house. The entire roof system and is covered by asphalt composition shingles. The house is clad in wood clapboard with contrasting belt-courses along the top of each story. A combination of hung, hinged, sliding and fixed sash windows exists throughout the house. An oriel window is located on the south facade above the side entryway door and is supported by two corbels. A similar bay or oriel window is located on the north facade. The front and verandah doors are flanked by casement windows while a total of four sash windows punctuate the front elevation, one on either side of each doorway. These have two 6-lite sliding sash over a larger sash window. Stained glass glazing is visible on the south facade, particularly in the south oriel window. Hinged sash windows are located in the gable ends of the roof dormers on the north and south elevations. This house is an excellent example of a Craftsman-influenced American Foursquare house. It retains many of its historical features, including its setback, floor plan, massing, roofline, windows, and cladding. It, therefore, remains a significant architectural resource in the Mount Baker neighborhood.

Detail for 3909 47TH AVE / Parcel ID 5249801980 / Inv # 0

Status:
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Wood Foundation(s): Unknown
Roof Type(s): Hip Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition-Shingle
Building Type: Domestic - Single Family Plan: Rectangular
Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: two
Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture
Integrity
Changes to Plan: Intact
Changes to Windows: Extensive
Changes to Original Cladding: Intact
Changes to Interior: Unknown
Other: Slight
Major Bibliographic References
Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
Dorpat, Paul, “101 The Railroad Avenue Elevated,” Seattle, Now and Then, Seattle: Tartu Publications, 1984.
Bagley, Clarence B. History of Seattle, Washington. Chicago: S.J. Clarke, 1916.
Berner, Richard. Seattle 1921-1940: From Boom to Bust. Seattle: Charles Press, 1992.

Photo collection for 3909 47TH AVE / Parcel ID 5249801980 / Inv # 0


Photo taken Jan 07, 2010

Photo taken Jan 07, 2010

Photo taken Jan 07, 2010

Photo taken Jan 07, 2010

Photo taken Jan 07, 2010
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