| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
Group Home |
| Style: |
Vernacular |
Neighborhood: |
Central Area |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1900 |
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| Significance |
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This highly altered three-story former rooming house in the Squire Park section of the Central Area was constructed in c. 1900. It currently serves as a group home and provides 34 units for elderly residents. It is an early example of working-class apartment flats. Simple apartment flats such as these historically provided living quarters for working class single men, often immigrants, who came to Seattle to work in the fishing, timber or railroad industry or to establish new trade businesses, especially after the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 and into the first decades of the 1900s, when Seattle experienced a population boom and housing shortage. During the housing shortage, sometimes immigrant families would crowd into small flats such as these as well. The area around Yesler Way in the Central Area historically was characterized by crowded flats housing Jewish and Japanese immigrants in tenement type conditions at the turn-of-the century. The Yesler Way cable car line to Lake Washington opened in 1888 going to Lake Washington and by 1896 a car line ran from downtown on James and Jefferson streets, connecting via Cherry Street to Madrona Beach . Other nearby lines ran on Broadway, Madison Street and Yesler Way. Yesler Way became a thriving commercial district and many Jewish and Japanese businesses were located there.Much of the Central Area was predominantly Jewish before World War I, and numerous significant buildings from this period remain near Squire Park. These include numerous former synagogues such as Congregation Bikur Cholim ( 17th Avenue and Yesler Way , now Langston Hughes Cultural Center ) and others. After World War II, most of the Jewish community moved outside the city and established new synagogues in Seward Park , Mercer Island and Bellevue. Also before World War II, a substantial Japanese community lived nearby and in Japantown several blocks to the southwest. They owned many businesses near Yesler Way and had a number of important institutions, including the Japanese Language School ( 1414 S. Weller Street ) and the Seattle Buddhist Church ( 1427 S. Main Street ). However, following their internment in World War II, relatively few Japanese returned to the area. Since the mid-20th century the Central Area has been particularly connected with the African-American community.
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| Appearance |
This three story, 9,596 sq ft, multi-family dwelling is basically rectangular in form, but light-wells on the north and south elevations give it an "I" form in plan. It has a flat roof with a parapet and cornice. The primary west elevation features paired hanging bays on the upper two stories. The wood frame and plate glass entry door is slightly recessed under a triangular pediment supported by attached pilasters. The door surround is currently painted wood. The entry door and surround do not appear to be original. The original cladding has been replaced with asbestos shingle on all the primary exterior wall surfaces and the cladding below the water table is vinyl siding. All original windows have been replaced with metal frame windows.
http://info.kingcounty.gov/Assessor/eRealProperty/default.aspx
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