| Historic Name: |
|
Common Name: |
|
| Style: |
Tudor |
Neighborhood: |
Mount Baker |
| Built By: |
|
Year Built: |
1925 |
| |
| Significance |
|
|
|
Built in 1925, this building was occupied by Dulcina D. (widow of Harry C.) Strahorn by 1931 through 1943. Tax records indicate Seattle First National Bank bought the residence in August of 1938. Anna Cobb lived in the building by 1955. Theodore V Lee purchased the building in June of 1958 for $11,000 and remained through 1968.
In September 1912, on the date of the opening of Franklin High School, there were four elementary schools in the survey area. Listed from north to south, the elementary schools were Colman, Beacon Hill, York (renamed John Muir in 1921) and Hawthorne. All of these schools were built as a direct result of trolley lines making the North Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill accessible for residential development, and all of the schools were located close to trolley stops.
In 1876, King County School District #18 was formed, covering the North Rainier Valley. This district merged with the Seattle School District in 1907 when the city annexed the North Rainier Valley. Prior to annexation, the district, also called the Columbia District, was six miles long along the streetcar line and one mile wide on either side of the track.
York School was the earliest in the North Rainier Valley section of the survey area. The York Subdivision, platted in 1903 by George M. and Martha Taggart, was one of the early communities along the North Rainier Valley electric trolley line. The Taggart’s donated the land for the school. When it opened in 1903, the school was known as Wetmore School, named for the Wetmore family, early settlers whose home was in the area. York Road, an early county road running from First Hill to the North Rainier Valley prior to the existence of Rainier Avenue, adjoined the school site and is probably the reason the small community became known as York. A new, nine-room brick school designed by architect Edgar Blair and located at Thirty-Third Avenue South and South Horton Street was opened in 1910 and named York School. In 1921, the school was renamed John Muir, after the Scottish born naturalist. An addition designed by Floyd A. Naramore was constructed in 1924 to add a lunchroom/auditorium and nine classrooms. The original building and the addition were demolished in 1989 to make room for a new wing which was designed by Streeter/Dermanis and Associates and which opened in 1991.
The Mount Baker neighborhood comprises two north-south tending ridges located southeast of downtown Seattle along Lake Washington. Initial development of the area occurred relatively late, post-1900, following the construction of the Rainier Avenue Electric Street Railway in the 1890s. York Station on Rainier Avenue and the Dose Addition were developed earlier than the Mount Baker Park Addition, platted in 1907 by the Hunter Tract Improvement Company. The Mount Baker Park Addition represents the core of the neighborhood and is its primary character-defining feature. Mount Baker Park is one of Seattle’s earliest planned residential communities that successfully integrated the natural environment and a relatively exclusive residential neighborhood in its layout of lots, streets, boulevards, and parks. The houses, primarily built between 1905 and 1929, reflect a variety of eclectic and Northwest-based architectural styles, and include designs by many prominent local architects.
Other important influences were the streetcar connection with downtown Seattle, the integration of local parks and boulevards into the Olmsted system, the construction of Franklin High School in 1912, and the building of the Mount Baker tunnel and Lacey V. Murrow Floating Bridge to Mercer Island in 1940. Today this middle-to-upper income neighborhood remains predominantly residential, is home to an ethnically diverse population, and retains much of its planned character.
|
|
| |
| Appearance |
| Built in 1925, this Arts & Crafts-influenced, Tudor Revival style, single-family dwelling is oriented to Thirty-Fifth Avenue South on a flat site 6’ above street level. This 1310 square foot, one-and-a-half story house with a half basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 42’ by 30’, with a small recessed front stoop. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, clapboard and stucco clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the cross gable roof. Wood sash windows provide day lighting. A short flight of steps leads to the recessed entrance framed by a pointed arch. The extended roofline of the front gable shelters the entrance. A brick chimney services the building. The unique combination of stylistic influences and exterior detailing sets this building apart as unique within the neighborhood. |
|
|
| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
|
| Cladding(s): |
Stucco, Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
one & ½ |
| Unit Theme(s): |
|
| Integrity |
|
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
|
Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
|
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Slight |
|
| Major Bibliographic References |
|
City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
|
|
King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
|
|
Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
|
|
City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
|
|
Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
|
|
Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
|
|
Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."
|
|
Centennial History, Columbia City, Rainier Valley, 1853-1991. Pioneers of Columbia City, 1992. Carey Summers, contributing author.
|
|
Thompson, Nile and Marr, Carolyn J. Building for Learning, Seattle Public School Histories, 1862-2000. Seattle School District No. 1, 2002.
|
|
Calkins, Kenneth L. The Name on the Schoolhouse. Washington State Retired Teachers Association, 1991.
|
|
The Rainier Valley Citizen Annual, December 25, 1915. Facsimile Reproduction, the Shorey Bookstore, 110 Union Street, Seattle, Washington, 98101, 1979.
|
|
|
