| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
Gray Residence |
| Style: |
Tudor - Cottage |
Neighborhood: |
Montlake |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1930 |
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| Significance |
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This residence is a very good and intact example of the English Cottage variant of the Tudor style. Built in 1930, it is associated with 1920s-30a-era development in the Montlake area and is a contributing resource to the Montlake NRHP Historic District.
Montlake is generally described as extending from the Washington Park Arboretum west to Portage Bay/15th Avenue E., and from the Montlake Cut on the north to Interlaken Park. The area is a significant and cohesive collection of residential architecture typical of early 20th century Seattle and is eligible as a NRHP historic district under Criterion C. Construction occurred primarily between 1910 and 1940, with a variety of Craftsman and revival styles ranging from modest cottages and builder's houses to high-style architect-designed residences, impressive institutional buildings, and notable parks and natural features. There are few intrusions of newer buildings. In the early 1960s, construction of SR 520 and the unfinished R.H. Thomson Expressway bisected Montlake, but the neighborhood retains its basic integrity as a pre-World War II Seattle neighborhood.
Montlake was incorporated into the City of Seattle in 1891. Although the first plats (Union City 1st and 2nd additions) were filed by Harvey Pike in 1869-1871, development did not really begin until plats were filed by John Boyer (Interlaken, 1905) and H. S. Turner (1907). Montlake Park (north of SR 520) was platted in 1909 by the developers James Corner and Calvin and William Hagan. With the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition came a streetcar line on 24th Avenue E. and an impetus for development. In 1916, the Lake Washington Ship Canal was completed and the Montlake Bridge linked the neighborhood to the university area in 1925. A small commercial district grew along the car line.
The 1903 Olmsted Parks and Boulevards Plan of 1903 surrounded Montlake with parks. Montlake Boulevard (then call University Boulevard) connected Lake Washington Boulevard to the A-Y-P grounds. Washington Park, the eastern boundary, was acquired by the City in 1900 and developed as an arboretum in 1936-41. At the southern edge is steep, forested Interlaken Park and boulevard.
By 1915, the neighborhood had developed enough to require a temporary school building; the permanent structure opened in 1924.Soon afterwards came a playfield and shelter house (1933-36) and a library (1944, replaced 2006). Other noteworthy structures include the Seattle Yacht Club (1920), the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Center (1931), the Museum of History and Industry (1952) and St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church (1962).
Major Bibliographic References:
Becker, Paula. Seattle Neighborhoods: Montlake--Thumbnail History. HistoryLink File # 10170, accessed 12/2/2013.
Gould, James W. Montlake History. http://www.scn.org/neighbors/montlake/mcc_history.Jim_Gould.html
Smith, Eugene. Montlake: An Urban Eden, A History of the Montlake Community in Seattle. La Grande OR: Oak Street Press, 2004.
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| Appearance |
| This stucco-clad Cottage Tudor house sits on a mid-block lot with a lawn and foundation shrubs and a driveway on the west side. It has 1-1/2 stories plus a basement and a gable-and-wing form with clipped gables on the primary side gable volume. The very steep front gable sweeps down with a cat slide curve over the entry. At the center of this gable is an exterior chimney flanked by 15-light casement windows with leaded muntins and wide wood surrounds. Just to the east of the is the entry porch with round arched openings on the front and east sides, accessed by concrete steps with a metal railing. The door is recessed on the west wall of the entry, with an arched window with colored glass in the north wall. East of the entry is an 8/1 leaded glass window. The west elevation has a group of three 6/1 leaded glass windows toward the front, two more toward the rear and a pair of similar windows in the gable end. |
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