| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Arts & Crafts |
Neighborhood: |
Mount Baker |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1921 |
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| Significance |
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Built in 1921, this building was owned by Anna O. and Ferdinand A. Gepner by 1922. Mr. Gepner worked as the superintendent of the Northwest Fisheries Company. The Gepner’s remodeled the building in 1923. By 1958, Maudson M. Werkau lived in the building. In April of 1964, Paul K. Hansen purchased the building for $14,000.
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.
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| Appearance |
| Built in 1921, this Arts & Crafts style, single-family dwelling stands on a rectangular lot. The building is oriented to Thirty-Fourth Avenue South on a flat site 14’ above street level. This 1188 square foot, one-and-a-half story house with a full daylight basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 30’ by 41’, with a 7’ by 15’ front porch. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, stucco-clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the side gable roof and front facing gable roofed wall dormer. Bargeboards with exposed false purlins and decorative braces as well as broad eave and gable overhangs with exposed rafters define the roofline. Windows are paired in groupings of three, having single lower lites with multiple lite upper sash. A flight of stairs along the front of the building leads up to the front porch. Tapered pillars support a second story balcony. A low railing wraps around the balcony. A brick chimney services the building. The building’s bargeboard and front porch detailing combined with the stucco finish set this building apart as an important stylistic example. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Stucco |
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): |
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| Integrity |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Slight |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
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King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
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Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
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City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
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Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
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Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
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Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."
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