| Historic Name: |
Lenawee Apartments |
Common Name: |
Lenawee Apartments |
| Style: |
Beaux Arts - Neoclassical |
Neighborhood: |
Pike/Pine |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1918 |
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| Significance |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
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This large building is a prominent feature of the neighborhood, extending 116 feet along Harvard Avenue East and 103 feet down the side street. Its five stories accommodate 78 apartments, most with two rooms. The 1937 tax assessor's report noted that it was a well-maintained building with "expensive" plumbing fixtures, oak and fir flooring and trim, central refrigeration and mail chutes. It was built by the Bradner Company and designed by John Creutzer. Creutzer had arrived in Seattle in 1906 after practicing in Minneapolis and Spokane. He worked for contractor Alexander Pearson and architect-contractor Henderson Ryan before establishing his own practice. He designed many apartment buildings, especially on Capitol Hill, as well as the Swedish Tabernacle (1906) and the Medical-Dental Building (1927, with A. H. Albertson). He died in 1924. Capitol Hill was one of the city's first apartment neighborhoods because of its easy streetcar access to downtown. The first two decades brought significant population growth in Seattle, but relatively little construction, partially due to economic factors relating to World War I. Thus, this building is somewhat unusual, being constructed in 1918, pre-dating the major construction boom of the mid-1920s.
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| Appearance |
| This prominent six-story building has an L-shaped plan with a semi-enclosed courtyard. The entry has a terra cotta surround, with a round arched doorway flanked by pilastes and topped by a dentilled cornice and a balustrade. Below the cornice the words "The Lenawee" are incised. The elegant entry vestibule is trimmed in white marble, with double doors of wood and glass with a transom and sidelights. The main façade has a prominent terra cotta cornice, which extends around the other elevations as a simple belt course. Other terra cotta ornamentation includes a water table below the first floor windows, a belt course below the top floor windows, blind arches above most of the fourth floor windows and sills and keystones on the other windows. Windows have the original ten-over-one wood sash. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Brick |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Flat with Parapet |
Roof Material(s): |
Unknown |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Multiple Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
five |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890-1996.
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Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972.
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City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development, Microfilm Records.
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