Seattle Historical Sites

This residence was constructed during the University District’s 1895-1914 developmental era, during which the University of Washington was established at its present location and the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYP) was held on the University’s campus. In the fall of 1895 the University of Washington opened its new campus with an enrollment of 310 students. The University Store opened at 42^nd and Columbus (now University Way) the same year, and the streetcar stop at 42^nd and Brooklyn Avenue soon became known as University Station. The platting of the area continued during the 1890s, with the University Heights Addition extending along both sides of Columbus Avenue, the commercial district, to NE 5^th Street in 1899. 

By 1900, university enrollment was 614 students and the 1900 Census counted over 400 people in the Brooklyn Addition. University enrollment more than doubled in the five years between 1905 and 1910, reaching 2,200 students by 1910.  By 1910 the University District had become a city within a city, containing the largest concentration of commercial buildings outside of downtown.

The decade between 1900 and 1910 was also the peak period of subdivision in the area. In 1906 the 20-block University Park Addition north of campus was filed. It became the most affluent and exclusive area in the district. The extension of additional streetcar lines stimulated speculation and housing development north of NE 45^th Street. These included a trolley line to Ravenna Park developed by W.W. Beck, and the 1907 extension of a line along NE 45^th Street from 14^th Ave. NE to Meridian in Wallingford. Virtually the entire District was platted and ready for development by 1910. One distinctive feature of the University Park neighborhood is its very narrow lots. The Moore Investment Company, which platted it, apparently wanted to maximize its profits by creating small lots, most of which were under 4,500 square feet. Fairly substantial houses were still built on these relatively small lots. 

The first parks in the area were established at this time and included the 1903 and 1908 Olmsted Brothers park plans for Seattle. These plans included Cowen and Ravenna parks and Ravenna and University boulevards. The Olmsteds recommended that a parkway extend from the University north to the south side of Ravenna Park, where many tall trees remained, and from there to Green Lake. Charles Cowen, a local entrepreneur, donated land for Cowen Park in 1905. The city acquired Ravenna Park by condemnation from W.W. Beck in 1911. Beck had operated the park as a private concern since the 1880s. The University Parkway (now 17^th Ave. NE) is noteworthy since it provided a formal entry to the north end of the university campus.

The first fraternities and sororities were built on University Way north of NE 45^th Street. Phi Delta Theta was the first fraternity on University Way, and by 1906 there were five fraternities and sororities in the area. After 1910, the Greeks began to move to the University Park neighborhood north of campus. By 1914, eighteen of the fraternities and sororities were located on University Boulevard (now 17^th Avenue NE) or 18^th Avenue NE, and only one was on University Way.

The University District and other areas north of Lake Union became attractive residential districts during the decade following the AYP, and the area was fully platted and ready for development by 1910. In 1908, a local newspaper published the following assessment of the University Park neighborhood: “…it is only a matter of short time until the district will rank with Capitol and Queen Anne Hills as far as residences are concerned. One noticeable and pleasing thing about the buildings is that in most cases a definite style of architecture has been followed with the result that the very original eyesores found in most every community are lacking.” (The Interlaken, January 4, 1908, p. 1.)  The styles described in the article include English, Colonial, Dutch, and “Modern.” Today, we refer to these styles as Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival (with Dutch Colonial as a subtype), and American Foursquare or Craftsman. Many of these houses were pattern book designs by architects such as Victor W. Voorhees and Fred Fehren and developer Jud Yoho.



Bibliographical Records

McAlester, Virginia Savage. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.

Tobin, Caroline and Sarah Sodt, University District Historic Survey Report: http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/ContextUniversityDistrictSurveyReport.pdf, 2002.