| Historic Name: |
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Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Colonial - Dutch Colonial |
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 property was owned by Willis S. and Florence T. Darrow, and they remained in the building through 1943. Mr. Darrow was vice president of Washington Mutual Savings Bank. By 1943, Foster H. Chapin also lived in the house. Gordon W. McKinstry bought the property in January of 1947 for $18,000 and remained in the house through 1955. In January of 1960, Peter and B. Downey purchased the residence for $19,500 and remained through 1965. By 1968, Norman Kesti lived in the house.
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 substantial, Dutch Colonial Revival style, single-family dwelling is oriented to South Court Street on a flat site 4’ above street level. This 1120 square foot, two-story house with a full basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 40’ by 28’, with a small front stoop. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, clapboard-clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the side gable gambrel roof. Modest eave and gable overhangs with a prominent cornice and cornice returns define the roofline. Paired wood sash 8:1 double hung windows provide day lighting. A pedimented, projecting roof carried on decoratively cut brackets shelters the front stoop. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gambrel |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Single Family |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Balloon Frame/Platform Frame |
No. of Stories: |
two |
| Unit Theme(s): |
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| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
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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