| Historic Name: |
Warrack, James D., House |
Common Name: |
|
| Style: |
French - French Eclectic, Tudor |
Neighborhood: |
Queen Anne |
| Built By: |
|
Year Built: |
1930 |
| |
| Significance |
|
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. |
|
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
|
In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
|
|
This house was designed in 1930 by J. Lister Holmes for James B. Warrack, a contractor whose construction company built the house. The Warracks remained here until at least the 1940s, when the house was purchased by Dennis & Freda Hewitt. In 1951 it was purchased by William Sander, owner of an insurance agency, and his wife Marie, who lived here into the 1960s. The current owners, Dr. Homer Harris and his wife Dorothy, have owned the house since that time. Dr. Harris, a high school and college football star, established a dermatology practice in Seattle in 1955. He was honored in 1989 as a Pioneer Black Doctor and, in 2003, a park in the Central Area was named for him.
The house is very intact, with the only apparent change being a garage constructed on the terrace in 1957. This is one of three adjoining houses noted by architectural writer Sally Woodbridge as examples of the flexibility of period revival design. The others are 1429 7th Avenue West and 1423 8th Avenue West.
J. Lister Holmes (1891-1986) received his degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1913. He returned to Seattle to work for several firms and established his own practice in 1922. His Beaux-Arts training enabled him to design eclectic and revival style homes such as this one for a considerable number of prominent citizens. Holmes executed designs in a range of architectural idioms, including English Tudor, Spanish Colonial, Norman Provincial and 18th century French. Among his designs are Collinswood on Bainbridge Island and several fraternity houses. During the Depression he began designing house sin the newly-developed International Style and served as the chief architect for the Seattle Housing Authority’s first public housing project, Yesler Terrace. After the war he continued his work in the International Style, designing clinics, banks, and schools as well as houses.
|
|
| |
| Appearance |
| This eclectic house combines the tall hipped roof form of the Norman French style with Tudor detailing. Cladding is dark clinker brick with a slate roof. The entry is through a Tudor arch with a wide cast stone surround with a floral pattern. Windows on the front façade are few in number, but highly detailed. The entry has an oak door, above which is a three-sided oriel bay with diamond-paned windows and copper flashing. To the north, adjoining a gabled bay is a single small six-light casement window. The gabled bay has a tall diamond-paned window, with a very small one next to it. The only other window on the main façade is a three-part diamond-paned window to the south of the entry. There is a tall brick chimney on the southwest corner. Landscaping is formal shrubs and lawn, in keeping with the formality of the house. The wall of the house slopes down on the south to form the garden wall. |
|
|
| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
|
| Cladding(s): |
Brick - Clinker |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Hip |
Roof Material(s): |
Slate |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two & ½ |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture |
| Integrity |
|
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
|
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
|
Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
|
| 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.
|
|
Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture, A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
|
|
Woodbridge, Sally and Roger Montgomery. A Guide to Architecture in Washington State. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1980.
|
|
|
