| Historic Name: |
|
Common Name: |
01 Phi Chi Fraternity |
| Style: |
Tudor |
Neighborhood: |
Montlake |
| Built By: |
|
Year Built: |
1925 |
| |
| Significance |
|
|
This large, Tudor-style residence, located in the Montlake Park plat, was built in 1925 and is associated with 1920s era development in the Montlake area. The Seattle House and Street Directory (H.C. Gray, Portland, OR, 1928) indicates that F.K. Kirsten, a professor at the University of Washington, lived in the house as early as 1928. It is currently owed by Phi Chi Welfare Association and houses the Phi Chi Fraternity. With over 5,000 a square feet of space and 10 bedrooms, this is the largest residence on this block and surrounding blocks in this neighborhood. Despite alterations to some windows, mainly on non-primary facades, the building retains its historic form and character-defining features. It 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), and St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church (1962).
Major Bibliographic References:
King County Tax Assessor Records, 1937-2014.
Becker, Paula. Seattle Neighborhoods: Montlake--Thumbnail History. HistoryLink File # 10170, accessed 12/2/2013.
Gould, James W. Montlake History.
H.C. Gray, Seattle House and Street Directory, Portland, OR 1928
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.
|
|
| |
| Appearance |
| This large two-story plus basement Tudor-style residence is located on a generous corner lot. The front facade faces south and the rear facade faces Lake Washington Ship Canal to the east. West Montlake Park is located to immediately to the west, contributing a generous, contiguous greenbelt to the side yard. The residence features a steeply pitched side-gabled roof with several front, side, and rear-facing gable projections at varying heights. The roof slopes down at a forty-five degree angle at the east end. The plan is irregular. The cladding is stucco with half timbering in some sections on the second floor. The house sits well back from the street on a flat lot with lawn, mature trees and dense shrubs and a gravel parking lot to the east. Toward the west end of the site a concrete walk leads to the entry porch with a single brick step and arched solid wood door sheltered by a gable-roofed enclosure with half timbering. Above the entry is a two-story gable-front bay with a group of three casement windows. To the west of the entry is a one-story gable-front wing that projects toward the street with a tall, stucco-clad chimney and half timbering at the gable end. To the east of the entry, along the side gabled portion, is a covered colonnade with arched openings that is terminated at the east end by a projecting stucco walled section featuring two wood frame casement windows Groupings of three eight-pane leaded casement windows with wood frames are located on the front facade behind the colonnade on the ground floor and above it on the second floor. Half timbering repeats the rhythm of the windows along the length of the side gabled portion of the second floor. Groupings of two and three casement windows with wood frames, some newer, are typical on the non-primary facades. On the north (rear) facade is an enclosed porch with French doors and multi-pane leaded windows covered by a shed-roof that leads to a raised concrete patio with a solid brick balustrade. Shed roofed wall dormers piece the eaves in several locations along the north facade. |
|
|
