| Historic Name: |
Montlake Field House and Playfield |
Common Name: |
19 Montlake Field House and Playfield |
| Style: |
Tudor |
Neighborhood: |
Montlake |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1935 |
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| Significance |
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This community center is an important community asset, as well as being architecturally significant. It is associate with the development of the Montlake community and is a contributing resource to the historic district, as does the playfield. The 1977 gymnasium is not a contributing resource.
The Montlake Playfield and Shelter House were constructed partially on fill in former marshlands on the shores of Portage Bay between 1933 and 1936. In the 1910s and 1920s, houseboats moored there, and Dahlialand, a local garden store, used nearby acreage to grow dahlia bulbs for commercial use. Montlake mothers, pushed for the creation of the playfield, which -- with the field house structure that initially housed the community center -- were built by WPA (Works Progress/Works Projects Administration) workers. The playfield was expanded in the early 1960s when material dredged for construction of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge was dumped along its edge. The Montlake playfield and its facilities were improved and enhanced in the mid-1970s, including reconfiguration to accommodate football and track, and the construction of a gymnasium/ community center facility. The Montlake Community Club, founded in the early twentieth century as the Interlaken Improvement Club, is a cohesive group of neighbors and volunteer community activists who have worked together over many years to protect their neighborhood. The club's purpose (as stated in preamble to the bylaws) is to maintain and improve the Montlake neighborhood. (HistoryLink.org)
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 story community center is in the Tudor Revival style, with a cruciform plan. It is frame construction with red brick veneer. It has a cross gabled roof with clipped (jerkinhead) gable ends, clad in composition shingle. The gable ends project out slightly over the lower walls, and feature stucco half-timbering and decorative verge boards. The center of the gable ends extend down and here the vertical members within the half timbering end in drop pendants below the scalloped lower edge of the horizontal beam across the bottom. On the north and south elevations, the cross gable ends also feature a multi-paned casement window centered between wooden louvers of the same size. On the east elevation, the side gable end has two multi-paned casement windows in a similar configuration. The wooden entry doors are set in segmentally arched openings in each elevation. Windows are a combination of eight-light awning windows and 6/6 double-hungs. Two new metal doors have been added to accommodate restroom entries. The west elevation has a large exterior chimney in the center.
The playfield (built in 1935) was expanded in the early 1960s when material dredged for construction of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge was dumped along its edge. The facilities were improved and enhanced in the mid-1970s, including reconfiguration to accommodate football and track, and the construction of a gymnasium/ community center facility. |
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