| Historic Name: |
Montlake Theater |
Common Name: |
32 Montlake Apartments |
| Style: |
Commercial |
Neighborhood: |
Montlake |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1914 |
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| Significance |
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This mixed-use commercial building has been altered with new cladding, window sash and changes to the storefronts, and it is not a contributing resource to the Montlake Historic District.
This building housed the Montlake Theater from approximately 1926 until 1940. It was well known for showing foreign films and for its Wurlitzer organ. The storefronts had several businesses, including a drug store and soda fountain and, until 2006, the Montlake branch of the Seattle Public Library. The upper floor has apartments.
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:
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
Polk Directory of Seattle, 1938-1958.
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 mixed-use commercial building complex includes three one and two-story sections facing onto 24th Ave E and a two-story building on the southeast corner of the lot that have been constructed, joined and added to over time. The north section, a former theater, is two stories with a flat roof and parapet, A prominent two-story arched slightly recessed entry enframed by cast stone cladding on the façade and newer metal frame and glass entry doors and window sash. The south elevation of this section and the other two sections are primarily clad in EIFS. The middle section is one-story with tile clad roof coping across the front that extends continuously across the entire façade of the south section above the storefronts and entries of both sections, which include a total of three recessed entries sheltered by projecting canvas awnings set between ribbons of vertical fixed metal sash windows with horizontal awning transoms above. The middle section has two entries and the south section has a single entry centered on the front of this two-story building façade. The bulkhead across the front of both storefront sections is tile-clad. The second-story façade above the tile coping has four symmetrically arranged single metal sash windows with metal flower boxes. A modified plain cornice projects from the wall surface above these and below the parapet which has a metal coping. The south elevation has a three-part hanging bay on the second story with similar window sash, three similar single window sashes, and a secondary entry at the southeast corner. A patio courtyard adjoins this building with a two-story building at the southeast corner of the lot. This building is clad in EIFS on the south and east elevations and brick on the west elevation and windows are all large industrial metal sash. |
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