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Summary for 3311 CASCADIA AVE / Parcel ID 5700003800 / Inv #

Historic Name: Common Name:
Style: Colonial - Colonial Revival Neighborhood: Mount Baker
Built By: Year Built: 1908
 
Significance
In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.
Built in 1908, this building was owned by J. K Gordon. Mr. Gordon constructed a one-story frame garage the following year. Claude A. and Edith H. Philbrick moved into the building ca 1909. Mr. Philbrick was vice president of First Seattle Dexter Horton National Bank. In 1926, the Philbrick’s remodeled the interior and hired contractor G. Schwarz to construct a 15’ by 20’ sun porch. The Philbrick’s resided in the building through 1938. In 1944, the building sold for $13,000. By 1958, Arthur E. Lyon lived in the building. Prominent Seattle architect Ellsworth Storey (1879-1960) was born in Chicago and studied architecture at the University of Illinois. He came to Seattle in 1903. Storey is best known for his residential designs in Seattle and his later work at Moran State Park on Orcas Island. Storey designed many houses in the Mount Baker neighborhood, ranging from the modest cottages located near Colman Park to the imposing Classical (Georgian) Revival style Phiscator Estate house at 3311 Cascadia Avenue. Storey worked in a variety of eclectic styles; however, his most original designs combined Chalet, Arts and Crafts, and Prairie School influences into a unique style adapted to the Northwest region (Hildebrand in Shaping Seattle Architecture 1994, 107). Other important houses in the Mount Baker area include three houses for Robert M. Dyer, Sextan Swanson house and Swanson and Austin house (both 1913) on Hunter Boulevard, and the Robert M. Evans house (1913). Storey also designed the Beacon Hill Congregational Church (1910, now Beacon Hill First Baptist Church), University Presbyterian Church "Inn" and the Sigma Nu fraternity in the University District. 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.
 
Appearance
Built in 1908, this prominent, Colonial Revival style, single-family dwelling stands on a square lot. The building is oriented to Cascadia Avenue South on a flat site 8’ above street level. This 1913 square foot, two-story house with a full daylight basement features a rectangular plan, measuring approximately 47’ by 34’, with a 7’ by 33’ full facade front entrance. A poured concrete foundation supports the wood frame, clapboard- clad superstructure. Asphalt composition roofing covers the side gable roof. A prominent cornice defines the roofline. Wood sash 10:1 double hung windows provide day lighting. Smaller round arched windows flank the centrally located doorway and upper window. Two-story Classically-influenced columns and pilasters with pronounced capitols support an entablature carrying a pedimented entrance roof. A half-round window highlights the pediment. The balcony above the front entrance features a low balustrade with doors opening to the building interior. An exterior brick gable end chimney services the building.

Detail for 3311 CASCADIA AVE / Parcel ID 5700003800 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory
Classication: Building District Status:
Cladding(s): Wood - Clapboard Foundation(s): Unknown
Roof Type(s): Gable 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):
Integrity
Changes to Plan: Intact
Changes to Original Cladding: 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.
City of Seattle. Survey of City-Owned Historic Resources. Prepared by Cathy Wickwire, Seattle, 2001. Forms for Ravenna Park structures.
Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. "Mount Baker: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources."
Mount Baker Community Club. Flowers We All Love Best in Mount Baker Park, (reprint of 1915 ed.)
Tobin, Caroline. (2004) "Mount Baker Historic Context Statement."
Architects Reference Files, Special Collections and Preservation Division, University of Washington Libraries.
Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.

Photo collection for 3311 CASCADIA AVE / Parcel ID 5700003800 / Inv #


Photo taken

Photo taken Oct 29, 2003

Photo taken Oct 29, 2003

Photo taken Oct 29, 2003
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