lpbcurrentnom 1523 e madison street nomination

7/27/2019 LPBCurrentNom 1523 E Madison Street Nomination

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The City of Seattle

Preservation Board

700 Fifth Avenue Suite 1700 Seattle, Washington 98104 (206) 684-0228

Landmark Nomination Form

Name: Victorian House Office Building Year Built: c.1893-1898

Street and Number: 1523 E Madison St

Assessors File No.: 723460-0220 Block: 4Plat Name: Rentons Addition Lot: 6

Legal Description: Lot 6, Block 4, Renton's Addition to the City of Seattle, according

to the plat thereof recorded in volume 3 of plats, page(s) 118, in King County,Washington.

Present Owner: Mad Flats LLC

Present Use: Business Offices

Address: 408 Aurora Ave N

Seattle, WA 98109

Original Owner: Unknown Original Use: Single family residence

Architect: Unknown Builder: Unknown

Administered by

The Historic Preservation Program, The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods


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Victorian House Office Building Landmark Nomination

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Physical Description 1Setting

SiteExterior

InteriorAlterations

Building History

Statement of Significance 5Historical Context-Development of the Central District

Victorian Architecture in the Central District & the Queen Anne Style

Bibliography 10

Submittal & Preparers Page 12

Attachments

Attachment A:Vicinity Map (p.A-2)

Current & Historic Photographs

Exterior Views: Photos A-1A-12 (p.A-3-A-8)Photo A-1: Viewing Southwest from the corner of East Madison Street at 16 th Avenue East. The

Victorian House is on the left side of the photo

Photo A-2: Viewing northeast from the intersection of East Madison Street and 16th Avenue East.

Photo A-3: Viewing northeast from the intersection of East Madison Street and 15th Avenue East.

Photo A- 4: Viewing west from mid-block at 16th Avenue East where the rear alley intersects.

Photo A-5: The north elevation of the Victorian House building.

Photo A-6: The front, north elevation historic tax assessor file photo (July 1937).

Photo A-7: The east elevation of the Victorian House.

Photo A-8: The east elevation from a historic tax assessor file (July 1985).

Photo A- 9: The south elevation of the Victorian House building.


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Photo A-10: The southwest corner of the building showing a partial view of the west elevation andthe single-story shed-roof addition.

Photo A-11: The original entry, not currently in use, on the north elevation.

Photo A- 12: The current primary entry on the east elevation

Interior Views: Photos A-13

A-20 (p. A-9-A.12)Photo A-13: First-floor entry reception area, facing east.

Photo A-14: First floor main office, facing north.

Photo A-15: Central east-west hall, facing east.

Photo A- 16: Reception room in central part of the first floor.

Photo A-17: Office in southeast corner of the first floor.

Photo A- 18: Stair & landing in west side shed roof addition, facing north

Photo A-19: Second floor hall, facing south

Photo A-20: Office on second floor in west-facing gable, facing west.

Attachment B:

Victorian Landmarks in the Central District: Photo B-1 B-4 (pg.B-2-B-3)Photo B-21: The 23rd Avenue Houses Group, 812-828 23rd Avenue (built 1892-93)

Photo B-2: The Victorian House, at 1414 S. Washington Street (built 1900)

Photo B-3: The Yesler Houses, at 103, 107 and 109 23rd Avenue.

Photo B-4: Victorian Row Apartments, 1234 S. King Street, Built in 1891.

Victorian Houses c.1890-1900 located in the Vicinity of the Victorian House:

Photo B-5 B-10 (pg.B-4-B-9)Photo B- 5: 1452 20th Ave E / property tax # 7228501800 / built 1893

Photo B- 6: 1433 20th

Ave E / property tax # 7228502135 / built 1900

Photo B- 7: 1421 20th

Ave / property tax # 7228502145 / built 1899

Photo B- 7: 1421 20th


Photo B- 8: 826 20th Ave / property tax # 9126100050 / built 1893

Photo B- 9: 1905 E Union / property tax # 7228502575 / built 1899

Photo B- 10: 724 21st



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Attachment C:Historic Property Record Card & Historic Sanborn MapsC-1: Property Record Card (Puget Sound Regional Archives, 1937)

C-2: Sanborn Map C. 1893C-3: Sanborn Map c. 1900-1905

Attachment D

Permit Drawings from DPD: 1972 conversion from SFR to Dental Clinic

1-site & floor plan

1984 conversion from Dental Clinic to Victorian House office building1-cover sheet

2-plot plan

3-existing & proposed first floor plans

3-existing & proposed second floor plans

4-south & west elevations

5-north & east elevations6-exterior stair framing plan

Current Site Plan


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INTRODUCTION

This report discusses a former single family residence constructed in c. 1893-1898 that is currently in use

as a professional office building called the Victorian House. The construction date on the Property Record

Card from historic King County Assessor files indicates its construction date as 1898, although the house

does appear on a Sanborn Insurance map dating to 1893. The building is located at the southeast corner of

the intersection of East Madison Street and 16th

Avenue East, near the northwest corner of the Central

District neighborhood. According to the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, The Central

District is bounded to the north by East Madison Street, Interstate 90 to the south, Rainier Avenue/12th

Avenue South to the west, and Lake Washington to the east. The Victorian House was constructed during

one ofSeattles earliest residential construction booms in one of Seattles earliest streetcar neighborhoods

and has some general associations with that significant period of the residential development of Seattle.

The building retains some features of Victorian-era Queen Anne style architecture.The building wasincluded in a Dept. of Neighborhoods (DON) survey of buildings that was undertaken in the Central

District in 2001. The data in the DON Historical Sites Database includes a field notation of thepropertys

Status classification, which is defined by DON as: Each property is assigned a Status classification.

This classification is an evaluation of the property's eligibility. The buildings Status classification was

listed as No-Altered, which is defined by DON as: These are properties with physical features so

altered that there is a loss of integrity and physical fabric that no further study is warranted. These are also

properties that represent no distinctive architectural style and no further study is warranted. The building

was not selected to be included in an additional survey conducted between 2005-2009, which identified

significant buildings in residential neighborhoods that were constructed before 1906.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Setting

The subject building is located at the northeast corner of the block bounded on the west by 15th

Avenue

East, on the east by 16th Avenue East, on the south by East Pike Street and on the north by East Madison

Street, on lot 6 Block 4 of Rentons Addition. Because East Madison Street runs diagonally from

southwest to northeast and bisects the rectangular street grid created by the streets between East Pine

Street to the north and East Pike Street to the south, the block is nearly triangular in shape. The Victorian

House, at the east end of the block is the oldest and smallest building on the block and the only one that

was originally constructed as a single family residence. At the western end of the block is McGilvra Place

Park. The small tree-shaded park is only .06 acres and was very recently renovated, including the vacationof 15th Ave to create a direct connection to the block where it previously was a small triangular lot

bounded entirely by streets. It was created in 1901 and named for John J. McGilvra. McGilvra was a

prominent attorney and judge who funded both the development of a wagon road that became East

Madison Street, as well as the early streetcar lines on that route, in order to connect his private property

on Lake Washington to Downtown. East Madison Street is still a major east-west surface transit corridor

and remains the only direct route connecting Lake Washington at the east end to Downtown and the

Elliott Bay waterfront on the west end.


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Victorian House Landmark Nomination Report / revised July 2013

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The Beachmont Apartments is a three-story apartment building constructed in 1920 on the adjacent lot

west of the Victorian House. West of the Beachmont is the Fenton Apartments, a three-story apartment

building constructed in 1908. Adjacent to the Fenton building to the west is a five-story mixed use

commercial building constructed in 1988 with retail on the first level and apartments above. All three

apartment buildings are currently owned and managed as a single property called the Madison Court

Apartments. The Bullitt Foundation building (2012), west of the Madison Court, is the newest building onthe block and faces onto Madison Street adjacent to McGilvra Park.

A brick-paved alley running southwest to northeast diagonally bisecting block 4 of Rentons addition is

located behind the commercial buildings that face Madison Street. A three-story condominium complex

constructed in 1988 is located south of the brick alley on the southern triangular portion of the block, on

lots 7, 8 and 9.

The neighborhood is zoned NC3-65, a pedestrian-oriented commercial shopping district with a 65 foot

height limit for buildings. Described in DPD code charts as designated to serving the surrounding

neighborhood and a larger community, citywide or regional clientele; allowing comparison shopping

among a range of retail businesses. Land uses include supermarkets, restaurants, offices, hotels, clothingshops, business support services, and residences that are compatible with the areas mixed -use character.

Building types are single-purpose commercial structures, office buildings, multi-story mixed-use and

residential structures. Non-residential uses typically occupy the street front.

Generally the vicinity is characterized by a concentration of older large apartment buildings dating from

the early part of the century into the 1920s, a few commercial buildings from that era further to the west,

and numerous more recently developed large mixed-use buildings along East Madison Street. More single

family residences are located further from the dense arterial street and several institutions have a presence

in the area. Institutions range from the smaller social services agency of the Jewish Family Center located

just north of east Madison Street, to the large presence of Seattle University at 12th

and East Madison and

stretching south, as well as the new Bullitt Foundation building.

Site

The building is located on a corner lot at the southwest corner of the intersection of East Madison Street

and 16th Avenue East. The lot is relatively level and almost triangular in form measuring on the East

Madison Street front 75ft wide x 117.7ft deep on the east side x 6ft wide on the south side, totaling about

4500 sq. ft. The lot is bounded on the east by 16 th Avenue East where a curb cut provides access to a

small paved parking lot taking up most of the east side of the lot. Several large, mature deciduous trees

are in the parking strip bordering the lot along East Madison Street and 16th Avenue East. A wood privacy

fence runs along the front, north edge of the property and wraps around the northeast corner of the

property. The property is bound on the south by a brick alley with direct access to a paved parking areaacross the rear, south of the lot. The building is close to the west edge of the lot where the lot is bordered

by the exterior wall of the neighboring three-story brick apartment building.

Exterior


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The former single family residence is a two-story wood-frame building with a post and pier and partial

concrete block foundation. It has a rectangular form with a cross-gable roof and measures approximately

25ft. wide by 41ft deep, totaling 1840 square feet of interior office space. The building is clad primarily in

original wood shiplap cladding with patterned shingles in the gables and on overhanging eaves on the

projecting bay windows on the front elevation. The roof is clad in asphalt composition shingles.

The primary, north faade features a two-story canted bay projecting from the front central gable wall.

The front entry, which is no longer an accessible entry, is an enclosed entry under a shed-roof projection

in in the northwest corner with a concrete stair with metal railing and a concrete stoop with brick overlay

and a false wood panel door covering an interior wall. The two-story bay windows have single metal sash

with one-over-one lights on the narrower canted sides of both stories with metal security grills over the

lower half of the windows on the first story. An original wood sash Queen Anne style window with

tracery pattern in the upper sash is in the wider middle part of the first story. Above the Queen Anne style

window are paired one-over-one metal sashes in the middle of the upper story bay.

The east faade features a gable wall projecting from the center with a hanging box bay window

projecting from the gable wall at the first story. The primary entry to the right of the gabled projection hasa small wood porch with turned wood posts and railings and wood steps leading to a wood-panel door

with a small stained glass transom. A one-over-one metal sash window with a security grill on the lower

half is to the right of the door. The windows in the box bay include paired one-over-one metal sashes on

the central wider front and single similar windows on the narrower sides. All of them have metal security

grills on the lower half. There are two one-over-one metal sash windows, one on each level, to the left of

the box bay near the south end of the east elevation. The lower window has a metal grill over the lower

half.

The south, rear faade is dominated by a large two-story exterior staircase and landings with turned wood

posts and railings sheltered under the projecting rear extension of the gable roof with an exposed roof

truss in the gable. The stairs lead to a rear entry at the second story that is a contemporary wood paneldoor with a single light in the upper half with a metal security grill. Single one-over-one metal sash

windows are on either side of the second story entry. A first story rear entry is near the southwest corner

of the house. It has concrete steps leading to a panel door similar to the other doors, with a transom above.

A window to the right of the entry has three small grouped one-over-one metal sash windows with metal

grills on the lower halves.

The west elevation has a single-story shed roof addition projecting from the first story on the southern

two-thirds of the original west elevation exterior. A projecting gable wall is near the center of the upper

story. Three single one-over-one metal sash windows are on this elevation. One in the upper gable, one to

the right of the gable under the cross-gable eaves, and one on the first level near the northern third of the

west elevation that was not covered by the new addition. Another similar window faces north from thisshed roof addition.

Interior


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The first floor interior is accessed from the east side entry and leads directly into a small reception area

near the front, north third of the building. The rest of the front first floor is a large L-shaped office lit by

the front-facing bay window. The middle third of the first floor includes two rooms serving currently as

an office and a reception area which are located along two interior halls that form an L-shape in the

middle of the interior. One hall runs north-south connecting the front, middle and rear portions of the

building and the hall running east-west leads to the addition on the west side. The one-story additionshelters a stair and landing lit by two skylights. This new stair runs north-south and at the north end

provides access to the upper story via and L-shaped connection at the landing with the original stairwell

running east-west. The rear third of the first story includes an office in the southeast corner, a small

kitchen with a rear egress original to the pre-1937 addition, and a restroom in the southwest corner. The

upper story has a large office in the front with four smaller offices and a small storage room off of a

central hall that runs north-south with an egress at the south end that is accessed from the exterior by the

wood frame two-story covered porch and stairs.

Alterations

Sometime before 1937, a single story 11ft x 25ft addition was constructed on the rear, south elevation. In1972, the house was remodeled on the first floor interior to accommodate a new use as a dental clinic.

DPD permit records indicate that the occupancy use did not include the upper floor. The lot was paved to

create parking areas on the east and south sides at this time.

In 1984 the building was remodeled again. A small single-story shed-roof addition was constructed on the

west elevation near the rear southwest corner of the house, a new entry with a porch was added to the east

elevation, and a second-story addition was added to the rear, south above the earlier first story addition,

which also altered the original second-story roofline. Additionally, a two-story exterior stair with landings

was constructed on the rear, south elevation, below the extended new roof, to access a new secondary

entry on the rear second story. The original primary, north entry was altered with a new porch, concrete

stair and metal porch railings and a new door. The occupancy use was changed from clinic to office andthe interior was remodeled again. Office spaces totaled ten with the second story addition and new

occupancy permit that allowed office use on the second story. The new side entry replaced the original

front entry, and access from the front sidewalk was blocked by a privacy fence which extends across the

walkway without a gate.

In addition to the structural changes, almost all of the original one-over-one single wood sash windows

have been replaced with metal sash windows with the exception of the lower central sash of the bay

window on the facade. The property also originally had a garage which was demolished sometime before

1972.

Bui lding Hi story

The building was constructed in c. 1893-1898 as a two-story single family residence. Original

construction permit files were not available. The building appears to have been constructed as a

vernacular style of the Victorian era, with some features such as a Queen Anne style window and

patterned shingles, but no distinctive architectural elements identified with high-style architecture. The

original house was also relatively small and most likely intended for a working class family. The earliest

known owner and occupant of the house was Herbert R. Schmidt. Schmidt purchased the house in 1926


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and resided there with his wife Antonia. Schmidt was a department manager for the Dagg-Derneden Co,

shirt manufacturers located at 163 Jackson Street in Pioneer Square. Schmidt owned the house and

resided there until at least 1966, at which time he was retired from his own Custom Shirt Shop.

Dr. Robert E. Harris purchased the house in 1971 and hired the architectural firm of Harmon, Pray and

Detrich to renovate the building for his own use as a dental clinic in 1972. In 1984 Harris sold the

building and the new owners renovated it for use as an office building. Upon completion of the

renovation, Sharleen Faden sold the property to Joseph W. and Colleen E. Widden in 1985. Widden, a

New York Life Insurance Company agent and broker, moved his offices into the building and leased the

rest of the offices, at which time the building became known as the Victorian House. Widden continues to

operate his firm from this address. The property was recently purchased by Mad Flats LLC. According to

past city directory listings, office tenants have primarily been offering services in counseling,

psychotherapy or natural medicine, including the Pacific Rim Acupuncture practice and Natural Health

Clinic with 6-8 practitioners in 1996. Current tenant occupancy is similar, including two massage

practitioners and several counselors that are either licensed mental health care workers and/or clinical

social workers.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

H istorical Context-Development of the Centr al Di stri ct

The Central District was Seattles first streetcar suburb.The area has some of the citys oldest housing

stock and commercial buildings. Although street-cars were not developed until the late 1800s, Madison

Street was developed as a wagon road in 1865 by John McGilvra who owned what is now Madison Park

on Lake Washington. The first plat in the Central District was the Edes and Knight plat. It was platted

during the Territorial Period in 1870 and encompassed 40 blocks from 10th

to 20th

Avenues between

Cherry and Union Streets. Other areas further south were also platted in the 1870s. Additional plats and

significant development of these plats into suburban residential areas did not begin until transportationroutes from Pioneer Square improved in the 1880s, combined with subsequent economic and population

growth that followed significant development of transcontinental and regional railroad connections to the

Pacific Northwest and Seattle. The Northern Pacific reached Seattle in 1894 and the Great Northern

reached Seattle in 1896.

In 1870 Seattles population was only 1,107 according to the census. At that time travel to and from

Pioneer Square to outlying areas was difficult via the few unimproved wagon roads and many pioneers

still traveled by foot. The majority of residences were located in the Pioneer Square business district

which was also the hub of shipping and commercial industries. With the anticipation of the arrival of the

Transcontinental Railroad, however, the town began to grow steadily, reaching a population of 3,533 by

1880. The 1880s marked the beginning of a population and development boom spurred by the arrival ofthe railroad in Tacoma in 1883 with extensions and service to Seattle expanded in the following years. In

that decade the population grew to 42,837.

Beginning in 1884 the citys first horse-drawn streetcar lines were developed and improved access to

Queen Anne and South Lake Union, spurred residential development along the route. Many of the

Victorian residences constructed on the hill to the north of Elliot Bay were grand houses that commanded

majestic views. These homes were constructed by Seattles earliest business and civic leaders and were


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predominately built in the Queen Anne style, thus the neighborhood on the hill became known as Queen

Anne Hill. The Queen Anne neighborhood is still significantly associated with its collection of early

Victorian architecture of its namesake.

Improved transportation access and road improvements in the 1880s included development of the citys

first cable-car line in 1888 which linked Pioneer Square with lake Washington via Yesler Way to Leschi,

where a ferry landing took passengers across the lake to the Eastside. Within a year over 1,500 new

homes were constructed within three blocks of the railway line and Seattles first real estate boom was

underway.

The Victorian House is located in the Rentons Addition to Seattle, which is encompassed by the blocks

from East Marion Street to East Howell Street between 15th and 18th Avenues, just north of the Edes and

Knight Addition. It was platted in March 1889. After Seattles Great Fire in June of 1889 over 400 new

plats were established in just two years, when new fire codes pushed residential development out of the

downtown area. That same year Seattles first electric streetcar began running from Pioneer Square to

Queen Anne and the Lake Union area and the citys population and residential development boomed

tremendously. Prior to 1888 developers had filed 168 plats in King County, but between 1888 and 1891almost 500 plats were established.

Numerous additional electric railway lines were quickly developed by real estate entrepreneurs eager to

bring buyers to their newly developed plats in outlying areas, including McGilvra. McGilvra developed

an electric street railway on Madison Street in 1890, linking Downtown and Elliott Bay with Lake

Washington. He also developed the Madison Park shore with piers and bathing facilities and other

amusements as public amenities to attract new property owners to his lake front properties. Later, a ferry

landing extended transportation connections to areas east of Lake Washington from the piers.

As the street railway systems continued to be extended to outlying areas, residential development boomed

in these areas and commercial development centered along the transportation routes. There was a brieflull in development during the economic downturn of the Panic of 1893, but the Klondike Gold Rush of

1897 spurred the local economy again. By that time both the Great Northern and Northern Pacific

Railroads had reached Seattle and prospectors and immigrants began pouring into the city. By 1900 the

citys population reached 80, 671. Census data for that year noted 11,872 dwellings to house them, most

of which were single family residences.

In the early part of the 20th-century Seattle began to develop into a modern metropolis. The streetcar

system became consolidated and municipal utilities were developed to provide improved transportation,

including paved roads, and to provide communities with electricity, water and other modern amenities.

The 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition drew yet more newcomers to the city. Although increases in

population were less dramatic in the following years, the metropolis experienced continued significantpopulation and economic growth up through the prosperous 1920s. Especially in the early days of

suburban development, public institutions such as schools, religious and social institutions were

established to serve these neighborhood communities and are indicative of the population growth and

community character of the neighborhoods they served.

In the Central Area, the T.T. Minor School opened at East Union and 18 th Avenue in 1890 and served

students from a wide area. From 1890 until World War I, much of the Central Area was a predominantly


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Jewish neighborhood. The early Jewish settlers came from Germany and were hardware and grocery

merchants who reached Seattle in the 1850s, settling on Capitol Hill and eventually in the Central Area.

Several Jewish institutions were established in the Central area, including the Temple De Hirsch Sinai

established at 15th Avenue and Union Street in 1907. The congregations current temple, constructed in

1960, is located on the block south of the Victorian House office building. Many were also located further

south in the Squire Park and Yesler areas of the Central District..

Although the Central Districts African-American population did not become more predominantly

associated with the Central District until the mid-century, African-Americans were some of the early

settlers in the area. Successful businessman William Gross, who arrived in Seattle in 1861, was an

African American Pioneer owned a restaurant and hotel in Pioneer Square. He purchased property and

settled in the area around East Madison at 24th

Avenue East. After losing his business in 1889, when

Pioneer Square was destroyed by the Great Seattle Fire, Grose and his son, George, operated a truck farm

at their East Madison ranch. Other Black families settled nearby and in the early 1900s numerous Black-

owned businesses were owned and operated along East Madison Street near the vicinity of 24 th Avenue

East. African-American churches and cultural organizations were also established on and near the East

Madison district. The First African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 1522 14th Avenue, is thehome of the oldest African-American church in Seattle. It had been organized in 1890 and convened in

various places in the vicinity of 19th Avenue East and East Madison Street until purchasing a large house

at its current location. A new building was constructed on that site in 1912 and was remodeled and

expanded in 1955 by the African-American Architect Benjamin F. McAdoo and is a designated Seattle

City Landmark.

Catholic institutions also had an early presence in the neighborhood, including Seattle University which

was founded by Jesuits in 1891 near the southeast corner of Broadway and East Madison Street. The

present Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, at 820 18th Avenue, was erected in 1904 and is the

oldest standing Catholic Church in Seattle. The Italianate style building was designed by Williams &

Clark and is a designated Seattle City Landmark. The Sisters of Providence established a hospital at 16 th

Avenue East and Jefferson Street that opened in 1910. The institution and associated facilities grew to

cover four blocks of the neighborhood. In 2000 this nearby institution became part of the Swedish

Medical Center, known as the Cherry Hill Campus.

Areas further south in the Central District hosted other ethnic populations such as Italians, who were

concentrated in the area that is now Judkins Park. They established many truck farms in the area and sold

their produce in Pike Place Market. Japanese immigrants began arriving in the 1880s and initially settled

in the International District. A steamship line began regular service to Japan in 1896 and as the Japanese

population grew it extended east into the Central District along Yesler Way. Many Japanese businesses

were centered around Yesler Way and 23rd

Avenue by 1920. Later other Asian Americans settled nearby,

especially along Jackson Street.

In the post -World War II era the area experienced a demographic shift and the African American

community grew to have a larger presence. During the war there was an influx of African Americans who

came to take advantage of jobs in the war industries and Japanese Americans were relocated to internment

camps. After the war many Japanese did not return to their former businesses and residences and the

majority of the Jewish community moved to the newly developing suburban communities in outlying


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areas. From 1950 until 1970, the Central Area's population dropped from 19,900 to 13,000. Many of the

religious and public institutions from the early development of the neighborhood were later converted to

new uses to serve new community groups. For example the former Chevra Bikur Cholim synagogue, at

Yesler Way and 17th Avenue, which was designed by the Jewish architect B. Marcus Priteca and dates to

1915. The building was converted for use as an African-American theater in 1969 as the Langston

Hughes Cultural Center and is a Seattle City Landmark.

In more recent years the population has grown significantly and the area continues to support an

ethnically diverse population and development patterns and zoning have influenced the shift toward high-

density, mixed-use commercial/residential development. In the last 20 years several new mixed-use

buildings were constructed in the vicinity of the Victorian House office building, including the six-story

Madison Crossings building, constructed in 1998 and located diagonally across from the Victorian House

at East Madison and 16th Avenue East. The six-story mixed use building further east, anchored by a

Trader Joes store was constructed in 2004. Across from the new Bullitt Foundation building (2012) is the

new Pearl building (2012), a six-story mixed-use building. Several other similar buildings have been

constructed near this block and further west and a few lots on these blocks, some of which are empty

because older buildings have already been demolished, are awaiting plan approvals for similardevelopment.

Victorian Er a Archi tecture in the Central Area & the Queen Anne Style

As an early street-car neighborhood, the Central Area developed as a suburban area of predominately

single-family houses on lots that were platted along transportation routes. Typically the transit corridors

were developed with more commercial businesses to serve the needs of the neighborhood, with more

residential development on lots nearby. Pioneer homes built in Seattle were typically similar to rural

farmhouses of the East Coast and Midwest that were rectangular, two-story structures with a gabled-front

and little ornamentation. Beginning in the 1880s, when suburban development patterns were established

in Seattle, this form was modified and vernacular houses constructed as middle-class and working-classdwellings began to adapt some of the form and ornamentation of the popular Queen Anne style. In Seattle

large high-style examples of the Queen Anne style were built on Queen Anne Hill by the citys earliest

wealthy pioneers. In the 1890s and the first few years of the twentieth century, Queen Anne style

structures and vernacular houses with Queen Anne elements were commonly built in the early suburban

development period. These were the most common types constructed in the Central Area, which was

predominately a middle and working-class neighborhood, though a few Stick style and Shingle style

houses were also built. These smaller, typically carpenter-built homes, are typically considered Queen

Anne cottages. Many of these cottages, as well as larger two-story dwellings, were often built from

pattern-book plans, which were widely distributed and used by carpenters and architects alike at the turn

of the century. After the turn of the century, classic boxes and other American Foursquare designs, as wellas Prairie style and Craftsman style homes, including bunglows, joined the Victorian era structures and

the use of pattern books continued and became even more common for middle and working class

dwellings throughout the city.

The Queen Anne style was a popular residential architectural style of the Victorian period from about

1880-1910. Identifying features of the style include a steeply pitched roof, often with a dominant front-

facing gable, and irregular plans. Wall surface treatments such as patterned shingles and projecting bay


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windows were employed to avoid a smooth-walled surface and facades were most often asymmetrical.

Porches were typically one-story and either extended partially across the front or often were full-width

and sometimes extended to one or both side walls. The more urban form was often a row-house type

apartment building, or flats typically configured as a duplex or fourplex.

Irregularities in plan were made possible by the adoption of the balloon framing techniques that became

widespread in the late 19th

century. This made it possible to incorporate bays, towers, overhangs and wall

insets or projections. Particularly characteristic are roof gables that overhang cutaway bay windows,

which occur in over half of all Queen Anne houses.

The most distinctive roof form of the style is a hipped roof with lower cross gables, which occurs in both

modest cottages and high-style examples. Other common roof forms include a cross-gabled roof, a front-

gabled roof, and a town-house or row-house type with gabled or flat roof forms. The most common type

of decorative detailing is spindlework ornamentation, typically employed in porch balustrades or as a

frieze suspended from the porch ceiling. Other subtypes, in addition to the common Spindlework type,

include Free Classic, with more Colonial Revival style supports rather than turned supports, Half-

Timbered, sharing more features similar to a Tudor style, and a Patterned Masonry type, a more high-style form employing patterned brickwork or stonework and relatively little wood detailing.

Door and window surrounds in Queen Anne houses tend to be simple and sashes usually have a single

pane of glass, although common elaborations include a single pane surrounded by small square panes on

one or more sides, or a single pane on the lower sash and patterned pane above. Doors commonly have

delicate decorative detailing and a single pane of glass in the upper portion. Gables are commonly

decorated with patterned shingles or sometimes more elaborate details.

In its original form, the Victorian House was a modest example of a Queen Anne style house, exhibiting a

rectangular or slightly irregular form with a cross-gable roof, an asymmetrical faade dominated by a

front-facing gable with a two-story canted bay and an inset front porch with spindlework support andfreize. Other stylistic features include the projecting box bay on the east side and details such as the

patterned shingles in the gables and bay roofs and other wall surface treatments on the projecting bays.

The one-over-one window sashes are also typical of the style and the primary front bay window with a

patterned transom above a single large pane was a common elaboration in window detail. In its current,

altered, form it retains an irregular form and asymmetrical faade and some features and details.

Examples of early Victorian architecture in the Central Area include a few that are designated Seattle City

Landmarks:

The 23rd Avenue Houses Group, 812-828 23rd Avenue (built1892-93); together designated aSeattle landmark in 1979.

A structure known as the Victorian House, at1414 S. Washington Street (built 1900), designatedat Seattle landmark in 1979.

The Yesler Houses, at 103, 107 and 109 23rd Avenue, as a group designated a Seattle landmarkin 1998.

Victorian Row Apartments, 1234 S. King Street, Built in 1891 on a nearby lot, moved to itspresent location in 1909 during the Jackson Street regrade, and rehabilitated 19921993.


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Victorian Row is Seattle's only remaining structurally unaltered 19th-century apartment building.

It is a Seattle City Landmark, and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

See attachment B for photographs of the Landmarks listed here and examples of additional Victorian-era

residences located in the vicinity of East Madison Street and 16th Ave (All examples are located in less

than 1 mile of the Victorian House office building.)

Bibliography

City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Historical Sites Database;

http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/historicalsite/

City of Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation website; http://www.seattle.gov/parks/

City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development, permit data.

HistoryLink.org: Seattle Neighborhoods: Central Area-Thumbnail History, (essay 3079) and related

essays. http://www.historylink.org/

King County Tax Assessor Files online property tax records

http://www5.kingcounty.gov/iMAP/viewer.htm?mapset=kcproperty

King County Tax Assessor Property Record Cards. Washigton State Archives, Puget Sound Regional

Branch

MacIntosh, Heather, Historic Preservation in the Central Area's Squire Park Neighborhood,

Preservation Seattle, October 2002: ( Historic Seattle PDA online magazine; archived):

http://www.historicseattle.org/preservationseattle/neighborhoods/defaultoct.htm
http://c/Users/User/Desktop/Pieces/%20Heather%20MacIntoshhttp://c/Users/User/Desktop/Pieces/%20Heather%20MacIntosh


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McAlester, Virginia and Lee.A Field Guide to American Houses. New York : Knopf, 1984.

Ore, Janet. The Seattle Bungalow: People and Houses, 1900-1940. Seattle: University of Washington

Press, 2006.

Polk, R.L., Company, Polk Directory of Seattle, various years.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Seattle, c. 1893 ; c. 1900-1905.

Seattle Times:

Seattles Victorious Victorian, May 28, 2011 (Paul Dorpat).

Sheridan, Mimi. Historic Property Survey Report: Seattle's Neighborhood Commercial Districts,

(Context Statement), Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Preservation Program, 2002.

Veith, Thomas and Greg Lange. Early Neighborhood Historic Resources Report, (Context Statement),

Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Preservation Program, 2005; rev.2009.

Veith, Thomas. History of the Central Area, (Context Statement), Seattle Dept. Of Neighborhoods,

Preservation Program, 2009.


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Attachment A

Attachment A

Vicinity Map / Current & Historic Photographs

(All current photos are by Beth Dodrill Consulting; April 2013 / Historic Photographs are from Property RecordCards, Historic Tax Assessors Files, Puget Sound Regional Archives)


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Attachment A

Vicinity Map

The Victorian House office building is located at 1523 East Madison Street in the northwest portion of the Central District, afew blocks east of the Pike/Pine/12th commercial core.


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Attachment A

Exterior Views

Photo A-1 Viewing Southwest from the corner of East Madison Street at 16th

Avenue East. The Victorian House is on the left side

of the photo

Photo A-2 Viewing northeast from the intersection of East Madison Street and 16th Avenue East.


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Attachment A

Photo A-3 Viewing northeast from the intersection of East Madison Street and 15th Avenue East.

Photo A- 4 Viewing west from mid-block at 16th Avenue East where the rear alley intersects.


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Attachment A

Photo A-5 The north elevation of the Victorian House building.

Photo A-6 The front, north elevation historic tax assessor file photo (July 1937).


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Attachment A

Photo A-7 The east elevation of the Victorian House.

Photo A-8 The east elevation from a historic tax assessor file (July 1985).


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Attachment A

Photo A- 9: The south elevation of the Victorian House building.

Photo A-10 The southwest corner of the building showing a partial view of the west elevation and the single-story shed-roof

addition.


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Attachment A

Photo A-11 The original entry, not currently in use, on the north elevation.

Photo A- 12 The current primary entry on the east elevation


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Attachment A

Interior Views

Photo A-13 First-floor entry reception area, facing east.

Photo A-14 First floor main office, facing north.


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Attachment A

Photo A-17 Office in southeast corner of the first floor.

Photo A- 18 Stair & landing in west side shed roof addition, facing north


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Attachment A

Photo A-19 Second floor hall, facing south

Photo A-20 Office on second floor in west-facing gable, facing west.


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Attachment B

Attachment B

Victorian Landmarks in the Central District /

Victorian Houses c.1890-1900 located in the Vicinity of the Victorian House


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Attachment B

Victorian Landmarks in the Central District

Photo B-1: The 23rd Avenue Houses Group, 812-828 23rd Avenue (built 1892-93)

(Photo DON : http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/central.htm)

Photo B-2: The Victorian House, at 1414 S. Washington Street (built 1900);

(Photo by Joe Mabel, April 2008: Wikimedia Commons:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-

_1414_S._Washington_03A.jpg)


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Attachment B

Photo B-3: The Yesler Houses, at 103, 107 and 109 23rd Avenue.

(Photo: Joe Mabel, November 2007: Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-

_houses_at_23rd_%26_Yesler.jpg)

Photo B-4: Victorian Row Apartments, 1234 S. King Street, Built in 1891;

(Photo: Joe Mabel, Wikepedia Commons:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-_Victorian_Row_01.jpg)
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-_houses_at_23rd_%26_Yesler.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-_houses_at_23rd_%26_Yesler.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-_Victorian_Row_01.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-_Victorian_Row_01.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-_houses_at_23rd_%26_Yesler.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-_houses_at_23rd_%26_Yesler.jpg


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Attachment B

Victorian Houses c.1890-1900 located in the Vicinity of the Victorian House

All of these houses are in the DON Historical Sites Database and were included in a survey conducted between 2005-2009, which

identified significant buildings in residential neighborhoods that were constructed before 1906. All photos taken in May 2013 by

Beth Dodrill Consulting, unless otherwise noted. All are located with 1 mile of the subject property.

Photo B- 5: 1452 20th


This one-story house exhibits Queen Anne cottage characteristics in its irregular form with a low hipped roof and

asymmetrical facade and details such as the prominent canted bay on the faade, the patterned upper sashes in the bay

windows, spindlework porch support and details with brackets in the eaves, and canted corner window to the right of

the recessed entry. Other windows are original one-over-one wood sash and the entry is an original wood door with

single light in the upper half that is typical of the style. Cladding is original clapboard. The flared eaves with enclosed

soffit with brackets exhibits influence of the earlier Italianate style, a style rarely found in existing residences in Seattle.


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Attachment B

Photo B- 6: 1433 20

th


This one-story Queen Anne cottage has a low-hipped roof with a crossing pented gable on the north elevation and a

projecting gabled canted bay and all original Queen Anne style windows on the asymmetrical facade. The recessed entry

has original spindlework details and original wood door with a single pane window in the upper half. Other Queen Anne

characteristics include the decorative window detail and patterned shingles in the front gable and the treatment of the

gable eaves. Cladding is original wood clapboard.


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Attachment B

Photo B- 7: 1421 20th


This two-story house has an irregular plan with a hipped roof and crossing gables on the front, east and side, south

elevations the asymmetrical faade features a recessed porch entry with original wood panel door, divided sidelights

and column supports. The original second story porch above the entry has similar support columns. The projecting

canted bay on the faade has original one-over-one wood sash windows and a stained glass transom above the middle

window. Other windows are also original one-over-one wood sash. Cladding is original wood clapboard with patterned

shingles in the gables. With its Colonial Revival porch details, the house exhibits characteristics of the Queen Anne Free

Classic type.


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Attachment B

Photo B- 8: 826 20th


This two-story Queen Anne Spindlework house has an irregular plan with a central hipped roof with a crossing two-story

projecting gable bay on the north elevation and an asymmetrical faade with a crossing pented gable. The original entry

features a full-width front porch with a hipped roof supported by turned posts, spindlework details and original wood

door with a single pane light in the upper half. Windows are all original one-over-one wood sash including cut-away

windows under the projecting bay with carved bracket details on the overhanging corner eaves. Cladding is original

wood shiplap with patterned shingles in the gables. There is a one-and-half-story addition on the rear, east elevation.


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Attachment B

Photo B- 9: 1905 E Union / property tax # 7228502575 / built 1899

This one-story house has a hipped roof with a large crossing front-facing pented gable and clapboard cladding with

wood shingles in the gable. The original windows have been replaced with metal sashes. The recessed porch entry

features a turned post support and a wood door with a single light in the upper half. The house exhibits some

characteristics of a modest Queen Anne cottage but has alterations to the windows as well as the entry stairs.


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Attachment B

Photo B- 10: 724 21st


photo: King County Dept. of Assessments online property data

This two-story house is an excellent example of a restored high-style Queen Anne Spindlework house and is known as

the Brewer House for the family that first owned it and lived there. It has an irregular form with cross-gables and

projecting bays, an asymmetrical faade, original or restored Queen Anne style windows, including cutaway corner

windows below two-story bays on both side elevations, clapboard cladding with shingles in the gables and spindlework

details in the gables and on both the front two-story porch and a rear one-story porch on the northeast corner. The

current owners restored the house to its original character beginning in 1986. The house was featured in Paul Dorpats

Now and Then historical photographic series in the Seattle Times on May 28, 2011.


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Attachment C

Property Record Card / Historic Sanborn Maps


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Property Record Card (Puget Sound Regional Archives, 1937)


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Sanborn Map C. 1893

(Chestnut Street is 15th

Ave E & Hyde Street is 16th

Ave E)


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Sanborn Map c. 1900-1905


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Attachment D

Permit Drawings from DPD

1 sheet/site and floor plan/ 1972 conversion from SFR to Dental Clinic 7 sheets incl. cover sheet/ 1984 conversion from Dental Clinic to Victorian House office

building

And

Current Site Plan


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lpbcurrentnom 1523 e madison street nomination

Documents