Seattle Historical Sites

In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places.

In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to be within and potentially contributing to a potential National Register of Historic Places historic district.

In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.

This Contemporary style rectory, a residence for one or more priests, is in the Uptown neighborhood. It replaced a former gymnasium here. The original drawings are on file with the City Department of Construction and Inspections.

Architect John W. Maloney designed the building for the Redemptorist Fathers; design drawings were prepared in December of 1958. Ralph O. Lund is listed as the project architect; he became a partner in Maloney, Herrington, Freesz & Lund in 1963.

The building retains excellent integrity and is an important part of the larger Sacred Heart campus, which includes the school, church, and former convent.

John W. Maloney (1896–1978) was born in Sacramento and moved to the Puget Sound by the early 1900s and attended the University of Washington and Stanford University. He established his practice in Yakima in 1922 where he designed the 11-story Art Deco A. E. Larson Building (1931). In 1943 Maloney opened an office in Seattle. His career included designing a wide range of commercial buildings as well as academic buildings for university campuses across the state. Maloney also designed numerous buildings for the Catholic Church, including St. Benedict Catholic Church in Wallingford (ca. 1958), Holy Family Church in West Seattle (ca. 1956), St. Anne Church and Rectory on Queen Anne Hill (1960), and St. Thomas Seminary in Kenmore (1958). This work all occurred within a similar timeframe as his work at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church campus in Uptown. In 1963, Maloney began to take on partners as he looked ahead to retirement in 1970. The firm name changed to Maloney, Herrington, Freesz & Lund.

References:

City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.

Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed., Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Guide to the Architects (Seattle, University of Washington Press: 2014), 2nd edition.

King County Property Record Card (c. 1938–1972), Washington State Archives.

Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890–1996.

Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Places. Architect Biographies. “John W. Maloney.” Accessed July 19, 2018. https://dahp.wa.gov/historic-preservation/research-and-technical-preservation-guidance/architect-biographies/bio-for-john-w-maloney.

Constructed in 1959, this two-story building features a rectangular plan with a center courtyard. The building stands at the northwest corner of John Street and Second Avenue N and faces east. An alley abuts the building’s west side. The building is linked via an exterior courtyard on the north side with the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. This courtyard used to be a two-car garage built as part of this building. Built on a steeply sloping site that descends from east to west, the building is a single story along Second Avenue N and two stories above grade along the alley. A narrow lawn extends along the east, south, and west sides of the building with low shrubs. Large trees are located off the southeast and southwest corners with two smaller deciduous trees flanking the east entrance. The central courtyard features a main north/south concrete walkway with planting areas along the east and west sides of the walkway.

A flat with eaves shelters interior spaces. Rolled roofing clads the roof. The roof features modest eave overhangs with enclosed soffits. Flat roof awnings project out over the east, south, and west entrances.

A concrete foundation supports the platform frame structure. Brick veneer with a raked finish clads the building. The brick veneer occurs at the outer building corners. Central wall sections consist of vertical wood frame members with stucco panels between.

Aluminum sash windows provide day lighting for interior spaces. Horizontal window bands occur within the middle portions of the exterior walls. On the south facade, these consist of a central fixed lite flanked by two casements. Upper story windows feature textured glass. First story windows have exterior security bars. The west facade features horizontal sliders and 1:1 sash.

The front entrance consists of a recessed doorway below a projecting flat roof awning. Two-lite side lites flank a central door having a tall single-glass lite. All glass is textured. The door and relite frames are aluminum. Secondary entrances consist of exterior concrete stairs with metal railings leading up to flush panel doors with an upper lite. These occur on the south and west facades.

Alterations included the conversion of the former two car garage at the north end of the building into a courtyard.