CONTEXT
Constructed ca.1905, the Barthelemy Bros. Hardware Building is among the oldest and as originally constructed was one the most architecturally significant historic buildings within the Ballard Avenue Landmark District. Despite extensive storefront level alterations, it continues to contribute to the distinct architectural character of the historic district. The Ballard Avenue Landmark District encompasses a particularly well preserved section of one of several successful small towns that flourished around the perimeter of Seattle in the late nineteenth century and would be subsequently incorporated into the metropolis. Ballard Avenue is lined with an intact collection of modest scale commercial buildings that reflect the development of the community’s main commercial street between 1890 and 1930. The character of this distinctive historic streetscape was primarily preserved because it was by-passed by Post-War era development that instead occurred along modern arterials - Market Street and 15th Avenue, to the north and east. In 1976, the Ballard Avenue Landmark District was formally designated a local historic district by the City of Seattle and was also listed in the National Register of Historic Places (Ballard Avenue Historic District).
This historic property is directly associated with a crucial era in the commercial and industrial development of Ballard (1900-1907) when the commercial district along Ballard Avenue was fully established and a significant number of permanent buildings were constructed. By the early 1900s Ballard became known as the “Shingle Capital of the World” with approximately twenty lumber and shingle mills in full operation. In addition to the mill operations the industrialized shoreline included iron foundries, machine shops, paint manufactures, shipyards, pipe making plants and boiler works. Substantial commercial buildings were constructed along Ballard Avenue as the local population grew to over 10,000 residents (including 3,400+ school age children) by 1904. During this era Ballard Avenue functioned as a full service commercial street populated by numerous boarding houses, hotels and lodging houses, clothing merchants, banks, hardware dealers, druggists, dry good stores, laundry businesses, meat markets, restaurants, theaters and saloons. Gradually, the earliest wood-frame structures were replaced by more permanent – often architect designed – commercial buildings. Among the distinctive masonry and stone buildings that date from this era and most of which continue to characterize the streetscape are the G.B. Sanborn Block (1901, Portland Building (1901), Felt Block/Jones Building (1901, demolished), St. Charles Hotel (1902), Deep Sea Fisherman’s Building (1902), Scandinavian American Bank (1902), Matthes Block (1903), Kelsey Block (1903), Junction/Lombardini Block (1904), Kutzner Block (1904), Barthelemy Bros. Hardware Building (c.1904), Ernst Brothers Hardware Building (1904, demolished), A.L. Palmer Building (1905), Theisen Block (1905), Ballard Hardware Supply (1905), Peterson Hardware Co. (c.1905), Markussen Building (1905), and the Enquist Block (1906). In late 1906 Ballard residents approved annexation and the town became part of the City of Seattle on January 1, 1907. The boom era of major commercial construction began to lessen after the annexation.
HISTORY
[aka 5201-05 Ballard Avenue] Efforts to identify the architect and/or builder responsible for the design and/or construction of this distinctive block have been unsuccessful. Reportedly, the building was constructed ca. 1905 for Louis Anderson, a successful Ballard saloon owner and entrepreneur who owned various other properties in the neighborhood. It is noted on the 1905 Sanborn insurance map with the original address as 201-203 Ballard Avenue; the map also noted three shop spaces– one occupied by a drug store and ”lodgings/offices” on the second floor. Warren Brothers Drug Store was the earliest known tenant. In 1912, Samuel and Lewis Barthelemy acquired the building and opened their hardware business here – known as Barthelemy Bros. Hardware and eventually as Ballard Hardware. In 1914, they obtained a building permit (#131110) to construct a one-story addition 14’ x 34’ to the rear elevation. They operated here for twelve years. Tax records indicate that in 1937 it housed the Fern Café (serving red hot chili for 10 cents), an Army recruiting office, the Hazelton Hotel, and Harrier Real Estate and Rentals. The upper floor appears to have had 23 rooms and fairly limited bathroom facilities.
INFORMATION SOURCES
Property Record Cards (1937-1972). Washington State Regional Archives, Puget Sound Regional Branch, Bellevue, WA.
“Ballard Avenue Historic District” National Register of Historic Places – Nomination Form (Prepared by Elisabeth Walton Potter, OAHP, April 1976.)
Ballard Historical Society, Ballard Avenue Landmark District Plaque Project records.
Baist’s Real Estate Atlas of Surveys of Seattle, Wash. Philadelphia: W.G. Baist, 1905, 1912.
Sanborn Insurance Maps, 1884-1951. Digital versions available via Seattle Public Library - www.spl.org.
