| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Colonial, Tudor |
Neighborhood: |
Wallingford |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1925 |
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| Significance |
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This house was erected 1925 in the middle of Seattle’s second north end building boom. It was built by the original owner, Ray L. Wentworth, who gave his address as 131 E. 54th Street (now N. 54th Street) when he applied for permission to build the structure. Wentworth is listed as the architect on the building permit application. In January of 1926, about six months after the original construction was completed, Wentworth finished a room in the attic for a new owner, L. T. Solem.
After 1932, the house was owned for a time by Jennie W. Wentworth, the widow of P. E. Wentworth, a merchant builder active in the Wallingford neighborhood before his death in 1924 or 1924. Ray Wentworth’s precise relationship to P. E. Wentworth has not yet been determined; however, it seems likely that Ray was either the brother or the son of the deceased builder.
The house is of particular interest because of the manner in which is combines a number of stylistic elements. The roof slope and form suggest an association with the emerging Tudor cottage style. However, the windows and the detailing of the trimwork seem more typical of structures based on colonial models.
The house is significant as a nearly intact and well-maintained example of an eclectic approach to styling not uncommon in the years following the First World War. The house is similar in this respect to several other structures located nearby on 54th Street, particularly the house at 2253 N. 54th Street, which was also built by Ray Wentworth.
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| Appearance |
| This structure is a 1-1/2 story, clapboard clad frame residence on a concrete foundation over a full basement. The side-gabled main roof combined with this building’s prominent, steeply sloped, front facing cross gable initially gives this structure the appearance of a Tudor revival building. However, the roof slope at the side gables is actually less steep than that at the cross gable and would work comfortably on a colonial style structure. The main entry door, placed in the plane of the north (front) elevation, and the ubiquitous tall double-hung windows, all of the same size and each featuring a 2 x 3 pattern of lights in the upper sash and a 3 x 3 pattern of identically sized lights in the lower sash, together increase the sense that this may in fact be a colonial revival structure. The enclosed soffits, the moderate roof overhangs, and the cornice returns at the base of each gable seem to be based on a colonial style models as well. A faint trace of craftsman detailing survives in the brace-supported shed roof over the front entry and the side porch cover at the west elevation; however, no one would mistake this for a craftsman building.
A brick chimney rises at the northernmost third point of the east gable end; another chimney once penetrated the roof just west of the front-facing cross gable but is no longer extant.
The tall rectangular double-hung windows are situated singly or in pairs at the upper and lower levels of every elevation. The windows are most prominent in the front facing cross gable; one pair is centered at the upper level in the gable itself, three units are ganged together and centered on the same axis at the main level just west of the entry. Two single double-hung windows are symmetrically placed either side of the entry in the portion of the north façade to the east of the cross gable, and a similar fixed unit is centered in the north-facing, gabled dormer directly over the front door.
Two units were paired and situated on the north face of the structure’s northwest corner; however, these windows appear to have recently been replaced with similarly detailed but fixed single sash units. Another double-hung pair was placed around the corner on the west elevation adjacent to the side entry but this pair has likewise been replaced. Yet another double-hung unit punctures the end wall further to the south, and another pair is centered in the gable above.
A pair of windows is centered in the east end gable as well. At the main level, a single unit is situated north of the chimney and three additional units are arranged asymmetrically to the south.
A the south (rear) elevation, a shed roofed dormer is placed in the middle of the south facing slope of the roof. Windows and doors of various sizes are arranged casually at the main level.
The basement garage, an original component of the design, is entered from the east. It appears that the garage door has been replaced in the years since the house was built
Minor modifications (or perhaps repairs) were being completed in 2004 when the building was surveyed and the house has recently been repainted. However, except for the window replacements at the northwest corner of the house, no significant modifications are apparent. |
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