| Historic Name: |
Williams-Pepper Residence |
Common Name: |
01 Leonard Residence |
| Style: |
Arts & Crafts - Craftsman |
Neighborhood: |
Montlake |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1919 |
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| Significance |
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Built in 1919, this Craftsman-style residence, located in the Montlake Park Addition, is associated with early development in the Montlake area. This house originally featured a full length raised recessed porch with stepped stair sidewalls, square posts, a low wood balustrade and exposed rafter ends at the front roof line. The eastern half of the porch has been enclosed and a grouping of three narrow casement windows have been added to the new front façade. The rafter ends have been covered with a facia board. A one-story, flat roofed single-car garage with a corrugated metal door has been added along the west façade and the house is now clad with synthetic siding. These alterations have significantly diminished the building's original character. It is not a contributing resource to the Montlake Historic District. Louis A. Williams owned the home in 1928. The home was owned by Albert E. Pepper in 1938. Leah Pepper, a clerk at UW, owned the home from the 1940s through at least the 1950s.
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. 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 one-and-a-half story side gabled Craftsman style residence features a prominent gabled roof dormer with paired six-over-one double-hung wood windows with wide frames. Wide barge boards are notched at the gable ends and knee braces are located at the eaves. Wide poured concrete steps lead to the raised, recessed porch with a newer wrought iron railing. The front door features a divided light window and is flanked by high, rectangular fixed windows with divided lights and wide wood frames. Double-hung wood and groupings of newer casements are typical on the east and west facades. A brick chimney pierces the eaves on the west façade and a raised, hip roofed side porch with a tall wooden screen element is located on the east façade. The site is flat with lawn and mature foundation shrubs flanking the porch steps. A concrete driveway and attached flat-roofed garage are located on the west side of the site. |
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