Seattle Historical Sites

 Plat: South Seattle Addition, Block: 9, Lots: 7-12
Architect: Bittman & Sanders
Original construction drawings for this building do not seem to be available. Permit information is not entirely conclusive in terms of exact dates. This building was designed around 1956 or 1957 by the architecture firm of Bittman and Sanders for the Sinclair and Valentine Company, an ink manufacturing company. It was completed between 1957 and 1958. By this time, Henry Bittman, an early founder and partner in the firm, had already been dead for about two or three years, but the firm endured, with his nephew Herbert Bittman eventually taking over the firm.

A series of additions were made at the back of the building over a period of years. Most of these are difficult to access or see. Sinclair and Valentine was at this address at least until the late 1980s. Modelwerks, a specialty tool and custom manufacturing house, founded in 1992, currently occupies the building. In 2000, Modelwerks obtained a permit for a one-story addition to the south of two buildings previously added by Sinclair and Valentine.

Additional Sources

Modelwerks website, <http://www.modelwerks.com/>, accessed April 24, 2010

 This building is located on the south side of Andover Street, between 6^th and 7^th Avenues and Maynard St to the west. There is also a much later addition from around 2000, which faces south along Dakota St. This is a typically Modernist building from the late1950s. It contrasts with the buildings in its immediate vicinity along Andover St, which include frame and masonry buildings that are clearly from an older era.

The building has a rectangular plan and presents a two story main façade along Andover St. The first level is divided into four bays, marked by concrete pilasters, a low concrete base, as well as a thin concrete lintel. Within the frames set up by the pilasters, sill and lintel, the first three bays are similar, (counting from the east). Each bay includes five sections, which each consist of glazing, set in aluminum frame, above metal paneling, currently painted brown. The whole is encased in an outer aluminum frame, (framed in the concrete). Within each of the three bays, the outer glazing consists of three panes set in a vertical row. The three interior glazed areas usually consist of one fixed pane; although at the first bay, the central glazed area includes a smaller window, probably operable, topped by fixed glazing. The fourth bay consists of a glazed entry set in aluminum frame. There is a double door, topped by a transom, with sidelights to each side that run to the top of the transom. Completing the façade, most of the wall surface to the west has brick veneer, set over the concrete. The brick is a buff color, with a slight variation in color. The lower level is topped by a flat roof, with a very slight overhang.

The second level, also topped by a flat roof, is set back. There is a long ribbon of glazing, also set in aluminum frames. There is no glazing at the fourth bay, above the entry.  Side elevations, facing east and west, are hard to access or to see; however, the east and west elevations are marked by long bands of multi-pane glazing at the second level. The back Dakota St elevation has apparently been covered with wood siding and has one service entry, as well as a small added gabled roof at the upper level. The changes to Dakota Street, a minor elevation.