| Historic Name: |
Turner-Koepf House |
Common Name: |
Wash. State Fed. of Garden Clubs |
| Style: |
Queen Anne |
Neighborhood: |
North Beacon Hill |
| Built By: |
J. D. Duncan, builder |
Year Built: |
1883 |
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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 is believed to be the first house on Beacon Hill, built in 1883 for Judge Edward Turner and his wife Estelle. Turner was a pioneer real estate developer from Maine. The house was originally located about one hundred yards west, and relocated when Beacon Avenue South was graded about 1907. It was originally built in the Italianate villa style, with a two-story polygonal bay and a bracketed hip roof. Turner died about 1898, when the house was acquired by Frederick Koepf, chief draftsman in the city engineer's office. He remodeled it in the Queen Anne style, adding a pyramidal turret, leaded windows and fish-scale shingles.
In 1923 the Jefferson Park Ladies Improvement Club acquired the house and the two adjacent lots. Most of their alterations were on the interior; the major exterior changes were enclosure of the north veranda as a sun porch and the addition of a deck with a parapet, in the northwest corner. The club, incorporated in 1916, was a vital community group for more than fifty years. It was particularly effective in promoting development of the Jefferson Park golf course, and in having other improvements made in the park and throughout Beacon Hill. The activities included holding land for park development; ridding the community of the quarantine hospital once located in the park area; urging construction of safe lighting, walkways and staircases on the hill; working with school officials on educational issues; and promoting a branch library in the neighborhood.
The house is now the state headquarters of the Washington State Federation of Garden Clubs, who continue to rent it out for events as well as using it for their own activities. It was placed on the National Register in 1976.
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| Appearance |
| This Queen Anne-style house sits in the center of three lots, surrounded by lawn, shrubs and a black iron fence; one of the large trees is a designated Seattle heritage tree. The house is 2-1/2 stories, rectangular in plan, with a bracketed pyramidal hip roof. An octagonal turret rises from the second story; the third story has small gabled dormers on the north and south sides. Cladding is beveled clapboards, with fish scale shingles on the turret, the gable ends and beneath the eaves. Square shingles are used on the porch railing and below the north window. The eaves have decorative brackets. Windows are primarily double-hung sash, with diamond-paned sash at the top of the turret. The front door has a transom and sidelights over paneled bases; the door itself has been replaced.
The main entry is at the south side of the west elevation, with a gabled pediment on the veranda roof. The veranda is open along the south elevation but enclosed along the front (west) façade. The verandas were added about 1900, as was the expansion of the living room with a seven foot addition on the front elevation. At the north end of the veranda is the deck and parapet added in 1924. There are two or three small flat-roofed addition on the rear of the building, which are generally compatible in style to the original structure. The top of the turret is crowned with a weathervane with the letter "K" for the house's second owner. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Shingle, Wood |
Foundation(s): |
Brick |
| Roof Type(s): |
Hip |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two & ½ |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Community Planning/Development, Social Movements & Organizations |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Plan: |
Slight |
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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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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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Potter, Elisabeth Walton. National Register Landmark Nomination Form, Turner-Koepf House, 1975.
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