Melrose and Pinevue Landmarks Nominations

Name (common, present, or historic): Year Built: 1916-17
Timken Roller Bearing Building
Street and Number: 313-321 E. Pine Street (apartment entry at 1535 Bellevue Avenue E.) Assessor's File No. 872560-0305 Legal Description: See attached Plat Name:
Twelfth Avenue Addition Replat
Block: 3
Lot: 14
Present Owner: M&P Partnership Address: 10510 NE Northup Way, Kirkland, WA 98033 Original Owner: Samuel Archer Company Original Use: Apartments, commercial/retail Architect: Builder:
Harry James Unknown
Present Use: Apartments, retail
Timken Roller Bearing Building Seattle Landmark Nomination
January 25, 2013
This report was prepared by: David Peterson Nicholson Kovalchick Architects 310 First Avenue S., Suite 4S Seattle WA 98104 206-933-1150 www.nkarch.com
Timken Roller Bearing Building Seattle Landmark Nomination INDEX I. Introduction II. Building information III. Architectural description A. B. C. D. E. Adjacent neighborhood context Site Building exterior and structure Building interior Summary of primary alterations 9 3 4 5
IV. Historical context A. Early development of the neighborhood and the Pine Street regrade B. Building owners C. Building occupants D. The development of the Pike-Pine Auto Row on Capitol Hill E. The architect, Harry H. James F. Apartment buildings in Seattle and in the west Capitol Hill neighborhood V. Bibliography and sources VI. Preparer and Reviewer information VII. Report illustrations Tax assessor records, site plan, selected architectural images
22 24 25 Following
Nicholson Kovalchick Architects Timken Roller Bearing Building Seattle Landmark Nomination January 25, 2013
I. INTRODUCTION This report was written at the request of the owners of the property, M&P Partnership, as part of the Seattle land-use permit and SEPA process to ascertain the historical nature of the subject building. Sources used in this report include: Records of permits from the Seattle Department of Planning and Development microfilm library Assessor's photographs and property card from the Puget Sound Regional Archives in Bellevue, Washington. Newspaper, book, city directories, and maps referencing the property (see bibliography). Author's on-site photographs and building inspection, or by other NKA employees. Information on owners and residents was derived from the sources above; a title search was not conducted on the property. Historic photographs of the subject property provided an important source of information on changes to the exterior to the building: Unless noted otherwise, all images are by NK Architects and date from autumn and winter 2012.
II. BUILDING INFORMATION Name (traditional): Name (original): Year Built: Street & Number: Assessors File No.: Original Owner: Present Owner: Timken Roller Bearing Building Pinevue Apartments 1916-17 313-321 E. Pine Street (apartment entry at 1535 Bellevue Avenue E.) 872560-0305 Samuel Archer Company M&P Partnership Contact: Tom Lee 10510 NE Northup Way Kirkland, WA 98033 425-889-9500 Apartments, retail Apartments, commercial/retail Harry James, architect Twelfth Avenue Addition Replat less street / Block 3 / Lot 14 Overall parcel legal description: Lots 1, 2, 3, 12, 13, and 14, Block 3, Replat of Twelfth Avenue Addition to the City of Seattle, according to the plat thereof, recorded in Volume 8 of Plats, page 54, in King County, Washington; Except the north 7.75 feet of Lots 1 and 14 condemned in King County Superior Court Cause No. 57057 for street purposes as provided by Ordinance 14500 of the City of Seattle. Legal description for portion containing this building only: Lot 14, Block 3, Replat of Twelfth Avenue Addition to the City of Seattle, according to the plat thereof, recorded in Volume 8 of Plats, page 54, in King County, Washington; Except the north 7.75 feet of Lot 14 condemned in King County Superior Court Cause No. 57057 for street purposes as provided by Ordinance 14500 of the City of Seattle.
Present Use: Original Use: Original Architect/Builder: Plat/Block/Lot: Legal Description:
III. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION A. Adjacent Neighborhood Context The site is located at the west end of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, in the Pike-Pine corridor, near where the two streets cross over Interstate 5 towards downtown. [Fig 1-Fig 2] The immediate neighborhood is primarily a dense mix of commercial, mixed-use, institutional and civic buildings, with few single-family houses nearby. While the neighborhood has been continuously developed every decade from the 1890s to the present, the area was heavily developed in the decades between 1900-1930, and the immediate area derives considerable character from automobile-related service buildings and showrooms built between about 1910 and 1925. [Fig 3-Fig 8] Since that period, the most significant alteration to the immediate neighborhood was the construction of the Interstate 5 highway two blocks west of the subject block, in the early 1960s. The work demolished several continuous blocks of residential and commercial buildings in the immediate area, and created a stark western boundary to the subject buildings neighborhood, albeit with spectacular downtown views just downhill from the subject site. Today, the Pike-Pine Corridor just north of the site is notable throughout the city for a vibrant urban living, working, and entertainment environment, particularly in recent decades. Seattle historic landmarks within about a six block radius include: First Covenant Church (John Creutzer, 1906), originally the Swedish Tabernacle, at E. Pike Street and Bellevue Avenue The Wintonia Hotel (1909), at E. Pike Street and Minor Avenue The Summit School / Northwest School (James Stephen, 1905 with additions 1914 and 1928), at Summit, Crawford, and Union The Stimson-Green mansion (Kirtland Cutter, 1898-1900), at Minor and Seneca The Dearborn House (Henry Dozier, 1904-05), at Minor and Seneca Paramount Theater and Building (B. Marcus Priteca, Frederick J. Peters, and Rapp & Rapp, 1927-28), at 9th Avenue and Pine Street Camlin Hotel (Carl Linde, 1926), at 9th Avenue and Pine Street Eagles Temple Building/ACT Theater (Henry Bittman, 1924-25), at 7th Avenue and Union Street Baroness Apartment Hotel (Schack & Young, 1930-31), at Spring Street and Terry Avenue Ward House (1882), at E. Denny Way and Belmont Avenue E. Broadway Performance Hall (Edgar Blair, 1911), at Broadway and E. Pine Street Seattle First Baptist Church, at Harvard and Seneca Some notable nearby buildings that are not landmarks include the following: The former Butterworth Mortuary (Charles Haynes, 1922) across Pine Street from the subject building The Area 51 building, originally the Carr Brothers Auto Repair building (1910), across Bellevue Avenue from the subject building The McDermott (Gerald Field, 1926), an ornate brick and terracotta midblock seven-story apartment building, across Bellevue Avenue from the subject building Utrecht Art Supplies, originally a Packard Automobile dealership (1920), a block away at Pike, Minor, and Melrose Partly in response to the Pike-Pine corridors early history as Seattle's original auto row, the City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development (which administers the Land Use Code and the Seattle Building Code) established the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District in 2012. The boundaries of the District extend on either side of Pike and Pine Streets, from about Interstate 5 to 15th Avenue, including the triangle between Madison, Broadway, and Union Streets. The purpose, among other things, is to identify character structures located within the district boundaries and to offer height and floor size bonuses if a character structure is retained, rather than demolished, in the
redevelopment of a site. 1 [Fig 42-Fig 43] The subject building is a listed character structure in the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District, but not within the conservation core which constitutes the highest concentration of targeted buildings. The Overlay District is unrelated to, and completely separate from, the Seattle Landmarks Preservation program administered by the Department of Neighborhoods Historic Preservation Office. B. Site The site is located in a NC3P-65 (Neighborhood Commercial 3 Pedestrian 65) zone, which extends along much of the core around Pike and Pine Streets. The property is also located in the Pike/Pine Urban Center Village, and the Pike Pine Conservation Overlay District (see section under Context explaining this district). The property is located on a rectangular parcel measuring approximately 105 feet east-west x 42.25 feet north-south, at the southeast corner of E. Pine Street and Bellevue Avenue E. There is no alley. The site slopes gently downward from the southeast corner to the northwest corner. A narrow, 7.75 foot wide strip along the north part of the original parcel facing Pine Street was shaved off in 1905 by City Ordinance 14500 in order to accommodate widening of the Pine Street right of way. Parcels south, southwest, and west of the site are held by the owner of the subject parcel. South of the site is a surface parking lot, serving approximately 25 parking stalls, accessed off of Bellevue Avenue. To the east is the Melrose Building, 301-309 E. Pine Street, a flat-roofed one-story structure built in 1915. This building contains professional offices, Bauhaus Books and Coffee, and is the subject of a concurrent Seattle Landmark nomination report. To the north, across E. Pine Street, there had been a c.1960s apartment building which suffered a fire and was demolished. Today, a mixed-use building is currently under construction on the site. Next door to it is the former Butterworth Mortuary, an ornate Beaux-Arts building constructed in 1922. Today it contains professional offices and a restaurant. To the east, across Bellevue Avenue, is 401 E. Pine, historically known as the Carr Brothers Auto Repair Building, constructed in 1910. In recent years, a furniture store called Area 51 has occupied the first floor storefronts. The building is two stories, and has recently been restored on the exterior. To the northeast, kitty-corner from the site at 400 E. Pine, is a three-story terracotta-clad building constructed in 1917. Originally the Hirsch Cycle Company, it today houses professional offices. A 1975 historic resources inventory of the Capitol Hill neighborhood by Victor Steinbrueck and Folke Nyberg (part of their citywide inventory project) describes three categories of historic building significance: significant to the city, significant to the community, or of no significance. Their inventory called out the subject building as being of no significance. 2 C. Building Exterior and Structure The subject building is a three-story mixed-use building constructed in 1916-17, clad in red brick with white terracotta details. The building fills the lot. The structure is reinforced concrete frame at the basement and first floors, with
1 The full purpose and intent, per Seattle Municipal Code 23.73.002, is to implement Resolution 28657, calling for development of the Pike/Pine Overlay District in order to preserve and enhance the balance of residential and commercial uses, by encouraging residential development and discouraging large, single-purpose commercial development. In addition, a purpose of this chapter is to promote the conservation of Pike/Pine's existing historic character by limiting new development to a scale that is compatible with the established development pattern, accommodating arts facilities and small businesses at street level, and encouraging the retention of the existing structures and their architectural features that establish the District's architectural character; generally, those structures that have been in existence for 75 years or more ("character structures") and are related to the area's early history as Seattle's original auto row. 2 Nyberg and Steinbrueck, 1975, unpaginated.
wood joist floors at the second and third floors. There are concrete floors at storefront level, and a full basement. The roof is flat, and the parapet originally featured a deeply projecting and ornate metal cornice, but this was removed for an unknown reason sometime after 1937. [Fig 9] There are eight efficiency apartments per floor on the top two floors, and five commercial storefronts at the sidewalk level along Pine Street. A seventeenth apartment is tucked above the westernmost storefront, at the mezzanine level (possible due to additional ceiling height as the sidewalk grade drops to the west). [Exterior photos Fig 10-Fig 21] The north or primary elevation faces Pine Street, and is divided into five equal bays. From the sidewalk, the building presents a large area of glazed storefronts stepping down Pine Street, an effect enhanced by a level of transoms composed of grids of small panes of glass, which deepen with the dropping sidewalk grade. The storefronts and transoms all appear to have original metal sash. Terracotta clads the piers between the storefront windows, and feature a decorative terracotta pilaster cap with a vertical terracotta element engaging the brick level above. Storefront windows rest on wood bulkheads. A stair vestibule, accessed at the westernmost part of Pine Street elevation, provides access to the basement, and secondary access to the upper level apartments. Above the storefronts are the apartment windows, which are variously sized according to the room use, and are accented with terracotta sills. All are double-hung, apparently original wood sash, with large panes below and subdivided lights in the upper sash. Living rooms are behind large, three-part windows, having 4-8-4 divided lights in the upper sash. Kitchens are behind smaller sized single windows, which have four divided lights in the upper sash. Kitchen windows also have a higher sill than the living room windows. Adjacent to the kitchen windows were originally screened openings to kitchen storage cabinets, keeping them cool, which on the exterior appearing as missing bricks (see 1937 tax assessor photo). These were filled in at some point after 1937. On the east elevation, facing Bellevue Avenue, the easternmost storefront window wraps the corner by one bay. Apartment windows on the upper floors reflect the larger units and stair hall on the interior of this side. A relatively ornate terracotta apartment entry on the Bellevue Avenue side of the building, which gives access to a small vestibule and stair to the residential floors above. Original metalwork balconies at the stair hall windows, and a fire escape stair, remain on this elevation. An original metal and glass marquee over this entry, visible in the 1937 tax assessor photograph, was removed at some unknown time after 1937. The south elevation faces a parking lot and was originally a party wall condition at the first floor. Above the first floor, the building is recessed to form a light well, providing light and air to the residential units above. Apartment windows on this elevation match the configuration of the street-facing windows, and also appear to have original sash. The portion of the first floor commercial spaces which are here roofed, have skylights lighting the rear portion of their space. The west elevation is also a party wall condition, although with one window on the property line per floor, which are original (rather than cut in at a later date). Overall, the building presents an eclectic but restrained appearance, difficult to categorize as any style. The building in form is simply designed to maximize storefront glazing along Pine Street, with residentially-scaled windows on the two floors above, all organized into repeating or mirrored bays. However, decorative terracotta features and the original metal cornice suggest a modest Beaux-Arts design influence, while the tri-partite apartment windows with multipane upper sash over single pane lower sash suggest a Craftsman design influence. Such eclecticism in applied historicist detail was typical for neighborhood commercial buildings in the early 20th century. D. Building Interior According to 1937 tax assessor records, ceiling heights are 8-4 at the basement, 14-0 to 19-0 at the ground level, 10-3 at the second floor, and 9-0 at the third floor. [Interior photos Fig 22-Fig 33] Apartments on the upper two floors are arranged along a double-loaded corridor, with stairs at each end, accessed off the main entry at 1535 Bellevue, and a secondary entry at 311 Pine. At the Bellevue entry, a small vestibule holds
mailboxes and features a built-in bench and mirror, both apparently original. On the upper levels, the stair return above the vestibule features a door for a garbage chute to the basement. Stairwells feature turned-picket balustrades. Apartments are two or three-room units, but all are designed with efficiency in mind. Two apartments were observed for this report. Original drawings include built-in cabinets in the kitchenettes, which are still intact. Each apartment has a bathroom, and a large closet which was designed to hold a Murphy or retractable bed. While these beds are no longer in place, much of the original finishes appear to be intact. Walls are plaster, with fir floors and simple casework around doors and windows. Bathrooms are notable a step up from the main floor level, probably to accommodate plumbing drains. An unusual and apparently non-original feature of the corridor are cabinet doors at waist height, one for each unit, located on the corridor side of the bathroom. While these no longer open, it is not clear what their original function was. According to the building owner, they may have been used for providing fresh towels or linen to the occupants of the rooms. In any event, these do not appear in the original drawings, but they do appear to date from the 1920s1950s. The commercial spaces are nearly identical in plan, although ceiling heights differ due to the sloping sidewalk grade. Party walls separate the spaces. The rear of each space features a mezzanine level used as a storage loft, accessed by stair, or in some cases additional store space available to patrons. In one space, the mezzanine storage area is accessed by ladder and not open to the public. The current tenants are a pet food store, two clothing stores, a shoe store, and a record store. The entry to the commercial spaces are recessed from the sidewalk in the traditional manner, although with raised wooden platforms at the bulkhead level, projecting into the window display area. According to the original drawings, at the westernmost two storefront bulkheads, these raised platforms were originally intended to have operable windows providing light and air to the basement. If these were originally installed, they are not there now. The secondary stair hall accessed from Pine Street cuts into the westernmost commercial space, reducing the latters size. This commercial space is further reduced in volume because above it, in what would be its mezzanine level, is instead another apartment accessed from a mid-level landing in the stairhall. This units windows consist entirely of the multi-light mezzanine transom window in this storefront bay. A small operable portion of the window allows fresh air into the unit. The rear of this apartment is lit by a skylight, which otherwise would have lit the rear of the store space below. It is not clear when this apartment was created; it could have been built as an add-on when the building was originally constructed, but it does not appear in the original drawings. The basement is full height and accessed from the Pine Street stair vestibule. Original drawings indicate that it was intended for resident storage, building storage, garbage disposal, and a laundry. The details for the laundry are relatively detailed, with an extensive apparatus for a drying room. It may indicate that the laundry was used by housekeeping staff, rather than residents, which would suggest a certain intended level of service (perhaps fresh sheets and towels) provided to the residents of this building by the original developers. Additionally, the amount of drying laundry required on a daily or weekly basis, and the associated need to vent steam from the basement, would explain the design intent of the basement windows at the storefront bulkheads. E. Summary of Primary Alterations Based on available historic photographs and physical investigation of the building, the building appears to have had little alteration since construction, both on the exterior and the interior. A comparison of contemporary photographs with the 1937 tax assessor photograph reveals a few alterations: The most significant alteration was the removal of the metal cornice at some point after 1937; this change significantly degraded the appearance of the building. The removal of the Bellevue Avenue entry marquee on the east elevation. The removal of a metal pipe guardrail which ran the length of the parapet.
The insertion of a 6-light, operable sash window within the transom of the westernmost storefront bay; this was presumably introduced when the mezzanine space was converted into an apartment at an unknown time.
The primary interior changes to the building have been minor interior alterations to meet the needs of commercial tenants. These have included repainting, construction or alteration of the mezzanine spaces, and occasionally cutting doorways through the interior party walls to expand store space. Known, permitted alterations (other than mechanical permits) on file at the building department are as follows: Building Permit 156098? 156192 186813? 1xx652? 306329 478830 492354 515736 539216 542677 542915 548105 548350 1310 (?) 551957 2009 (?) --575164 Date 1917 1917 1918 1918 1932 1959 1961 1965 1971 1971 1972 1973 1973 1974 1974 1975 1976 1978 Cost -----$250 $150 $350 $2000 $200 -$1500 $300 $300 $500 $500 $1200 $100 Work -----Erect and maint. sign (317) Install and maint. sign (319) Erect and maint. sign Alter por. of existing building and occupy as a restaurant Alter exist. bldg. Sign Comply w Housing Code Egress Amend. #1000015; corridor, doors, stairs Alt. exist. restaurant Erect and maint. s/f plywood sign Repair fire damage (E. I. exempt) Erect and maint. d/f (illegible) sign Alter interior of existing building, raise portion of floor for dining, cover one existing stair, add railing to mezzanine per plans. To alter interior of building, to complete work authorized under #567379
IV. HISTORICAL CONTEXT A. Early development of the neighborhood and the Pine Street regrade In the late 1800s, the still-undeveloped subject site was perched at the western edge of a long continuous ridge stretching north-south from Eastlake to First Hill. In the 1880s, the only building of significance in the immediate area had been the modest Grace Hospital, constructed 1885-87 by the Episcopalians of Trinity Church, as the citys second hospital. The facility was located two blocks southeast of the subject site at Crawford Place, Union Street, and Summit Avenue. The hospital did not survive a local and national economic downturn in 1893, was used for a few years by a group of doctors, and by 1899 was abandoned. It operated as a boarding house and hotel, but finally in 1905 it was demolished and replaced with the Summit School, which was the largest institutional building near the subject site. 3 [Fig 34] At the turn of the 20th century, the growth of the early city of Seattle had centered around todays downtown. Expansion was hemmed in by steep hills, such as the ridge where the subject site was located, consisting of glacial till shaped during the last ice age. A 1899 topographic map of Seattle shows the areas west of the subject site, at the base of this hill, more developed; the areas east of the site, at the top of the plateau, were less developed. [Fig 35] Pike Street as far east as 8th and 9th Avenues was more developed than Pine Street, because it was served by a streetcar for that length. At about 9th Avenue, the streetcar lines then angled northward along the gentle grades of Stewart and Howell Streets, to serve the Cascade neighborhood to the north, and entirely avoided the steep slopes up Pike or Pine Streets.
3
The building remains there today as the Northwest School.

To accommodate commercial and residential development in the explosively growing city at the turn of the century, the city undertook extensive programs to regrade streets, which involved flattening slopes and filling gullies. The City of Seattle had already undertaken other regrades in the downtown area (notably raising the grades around the waterfront and tideflat areas, and lowering the grades around Jackson and Madison Streets) at the turn of the 20th century. The primary advocate for the regrades was Reginald H. Thomson, who was the longtime City Engineer from the 1890s to 1911, and again briefly in the 1930s. The main purposes were to encourage development in parts of the city plagued by steep street grades (a serious problem in an age of horse-drawn vehicles, although soon to be a moot point with the advent of combustion engines), and to improve water and sewage systems in the city. In the process of regrading a primary street, the perpendicular intersecting streets had to be regraded as well, to keep slopes consistent across intersections. At Pike Street in 1899, on the three blocks between what is todays 9th, Terry, Boren, and Minor Avenues, the elevation rose approximately 120 feet, with an average grade of over 12%. Pine Street was even steeper at an almost 19% grade, due to the same elevation change over just two blocks, between todays Terry, Boren, and Minor Avenues (ie, immediately west of the subject site). Around 1900, a frame house addressed as 1535 Bellevue Avenue was constructed on the subject parcel. The two parcels to the west, at the corner of Melrose, remained undeveloped. In 1903, the city regraded Pike Street from 7th Avenue to Boylston to a steep but more manageable 7% grade, finally providing convenient access to this part of the growing Capitol Hill neighborhood. In 1907, Pine Street and Olive Street were regraded, with Pine Street reduced to a continuous 5.6% grade from 9th Avenue to Belmont. As part of this work, Pine Street at the subject block was also widened. According to press accounts at the time, Pine Street at Melrose was to be leveled by 5.9 feet, and Pine at Bellevue by 5.7 feet. Fill depths for this regrading work reached over 25 feet, at Pine and Terry. 4 [Fig 36] Both regrades affected the grades of Melrose Avenue, Bellevue Avenue, and other side streets. Two c.1906 houses midblock on Melrose Avenue, which were built prior to the regrading work, remain on the subject block. They tower approximately 18 feet above todays sidewalk grade, providing an indication of the previous grades on that street. 5 [Fig 3] In the 1905 Sanborn map, the surrounding blocks have begun to fill in with modest c. 1900 single-family frame homes, like that on the subject site. [Fig 37] The maps are detailed enough to show corner turrets, bay windows, and projecting porches, following the Queen Anne style, typical of the period. Some outbuildings are shown in the rear yards. Probably because of the grades, the subject block was not platted with an alley. A few boarding houses are identified on the 1905 map as well, most frame buildings. By 1905, the wood-frame Swedish Mission Church [Fig 38] indicated on the map at the corner of Bellevue and Pike, a block south of the subject site, would be replaced in 1910 by the stone-built Swedish Tabernacle (todays First Covenant Church). Other substantial masonry buildings constructed in the immediate area during this time were the six-story Wintonia Hotel in 1909 at Pike and Minor, and the three-story Hotel Avondale in 1908 at Pike and Boren. [Fig 44] Just a few years later, the 1912 Baist map [Fig 39] shows extensive streetcar lines serving the neighborhood, including along Pine directly in front of the building, along Pike and Melrose at the subject block, and along Summit and Bellevue north of Pine. During this decade, increasing numbers of apartment buildings , mixed use buildings, and automotiverelated businesses began to line the main streets of Pike and Pine, leading up to Broadway, the main north-south spine of the growing neighborhood. Around 1916, the existing frame house on the subject site was presumably demolished, and the subject building was constructed for the Samuel Archer Company, according to the original architectural drawings. The building was called
4 5
Pine Street to be widened, The Seattle Times, October 7, 1906, p.54. Ketcherside, Robert. Undermining the Republican Senator from Melrose, February 26, 2012, CHS Re:Take history column, www.capitolhillseattle.com.
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The Pinevue Apartments, and classified listings for unfurnished apartments begin to appear in February 1917. Ground floor commercial spaces along Pine Street were occupied earlier, in September 1916. 6 B. Building owners No chain of title was available for this report. Tax roll ledgers from 1895 to 1941 at the Puget Sound Regional Archives were reviewed for information regarding possible owners of the property. The ledgers list the propertys fee owner every five years, generally in years ending in a 5 or 0. A fee owner is the person paying the taxes on the property, which is usually the owner, although not necessarily so. The property was platted in 1892. The first fee owner of the property listed in the tax roll ledgers is S. B. Glasgow for 1900 and 1905. This person was apparently Samuel B. Glasgow, who brought his family to Seattle from Iowa in 1896. 7 The Glasgow family home was located at the southeast corner of Broadway and E. John Street, and they were among the earliest settlers along Broadway. Around 1900, a frame house addressed as 1535 Bellevue Avenue was constructed on the subject parcel. Polks city directory indicate that Drew M. Peeples resided there in 1901. 8 Peeples at that time was unmarried, and a salesman for Louch, Augustine & Co., a large and early Seattle grocery located in the Colman Building at 1st Avenue and Marion. Boarding at 1535 Bellevue in 1901 was Cyrus C. Bemis. No additional information could be found about Peeples or Bemis. By 1905, the house is offered for rent in classified ads, with the description 7 rooms, nice lawn, $25. By 1910, however, the house appears again for rent in classifieds, with the owner indicated as Archer, Collins Block. 9 Tax roll ledgers state that the fee owner for 1910 and 1915 was Anna M. Glasgow et al., with the signature in the ledger (demonstrating payment of taxes) by Samuel Archer. In 1916, the existing frame house on the site was presumably demolished, and the subject building was constructed for the Samuel Archer Company. This owner of the Samuel Archer Company, with office location at the Collins Block downtown, was Samuel Archer, an early Seattle businessman and printer. The subject property appears to have been inherited by Archers wife, Ruhamah Rue Glasgow, whose father was Samuel B. Glasgow. Since there is no record of them living at this address, the house would appear to have been an investment property. According to his obituary and other research on Archer, he was born in 1868 and arrived in Seattle around 1890, working as a printer for the Seattle Times and the Post-Intelligencer. 10 Archer traveled to the Klondike in 1897 as part of the gold rush, and to Nome, Alaska for another gold rush, in 1900. Archer married Ruhamah in Seattle in 1900. From 1900 to 1910 they lived in Nome, where Samuel was president of Archer-Ewing & Co., a general merchandise company with stores in Nome, Solomon, and Dickson, Alaska. They returned to Seattle in 1909 or 1910 and lived at 229 13th Avenue N., and later at 600 35th Avenue. At some point during this period, they raised two daughters. Samuel was president of the Dearborn Printing Company, located at 212 Marion Street, and the Archer Linotyping Company with his brother and father, from the 1910s through the 1930s.
Announcing a union service, advertisement, The Seattle Times, September 10, 1916, p.6. Mrs. Archer, 81, early student at UW, dies, The Seattle Times, October 15, 1956, p.37; and Clarke, Joseph M. Glasgow, pp.609-11. 8 A full chain-of-title search, which would provide exact information about ownership of the property, was not performed for this report. 9 For rent houses 28, The Seattle Times, June 28, 1905, p.14; and For rent unfurnished houses 28, October 12, 1910, p.17. 10 Rites set for Samuel Archer, The Seattle Times, August 2, 1936, p.9; and Robert Ketcherside, Hidden stories of love at Broadway and John, updated November 4, 2011, CHS Re:Take history column, www.capitolhillseattle.com; Ketcherside references A Shipwrecked Sourdough - An Adventure of Nome Gold Rush Days, and Recollections, both unpublished manuscripts, by Samuel Archer and Minnie Lee Archer, Alaska State Library archives.
6 7
11
Samuels wife, Ruhamah Glasgow Archer, was born in 1875, and came to Seattle from Iowa in 1896 with her parents. 11 Rue attended the University of Washington in her early 20s. Her brother was a prominent Seattle judge, and her family had amassed some wealth in real estate development. Following this family tradition, Rue and her husband Samuel also invested in property. The two operated two real estate investment companies during the 1910s, the Northwest Property Company and the Samuel Archer Company. Samuel Archer retired around 1921. In their later years, the Archers lived in the Ferncliffe area of Bainbridge Island, where they had maintained a summer home. Samuel Archer died in 1936. Ruhamah then moved to California, where she had a daughter in Santa Barbara, and died there in 1956. After Samuels death, his wife appears to have liquidated some of their holdings over the next several years. According to newspaper accounts, the subject property was sold by Ruhamah Archer to Evelyn G. Fillion in 1940 for $27,500. Little additional information could be found about Ms. Fillion, except that she was a Seattle schoolteacher who had apparently retired in 1936, and lived in an apartment in Belltown. On a $100-a-month pension, she invested in real estate, buying rooming and apartment houses, then operating or improving and selling them. When she died in 1952 at age 80, she left an estate valued at $275,000 (about $2.3 million today). 12 In 1948, Fillion sold the property to M.J. Feeley, who resided in the building and operated it as the Feeley Apartment Hotel. It was presumably during his ownership that the terracotta plaque at the parapet along Pine Street was painted with the signage Feeley Apartments, which remains today. Michael J. Feeley was a Seattle fireman at least as early as 1923, and that year lived at 169 Melrose Avenue N. Little additional information could be found about him. His name appears in Seattle Times listings of divorce proceedings, filed three separate times by his wife Vera, in January 1927, November 1931, and again in December 1935. A brief January 1933 article mentioning Feeley described him as a real estate and insurance man and residing at 4109 Beach Drive, a three-unit apartment building which he owned at that time; Feeleys real estate company was called Union Realty. 13 A 1937 article mentions that he was a World War I veteran, and was the father of two children. 14 Feeley also appears to have owned the New Beach Hotel in Soap Lake, Washington, during the early 1950s. In 1962, Feeley sold the property to Mr. and Mrs. R.E. Washington (also that year, they bought the three-story Monteray apartment building at 622 First Avenue W). 15 In 1963, Washington sought to convert an unnamed number of the ground-floor commercial spaces into apartments, but the request was rejected by the city due to additional parking area required. 16 In 1964, according to tax records, the fee owner was the Thayer Realty Companyeither the Washingtons sold the property to them, or more likely, Thayer Realty was the property manager for their investment. No additional information could be found regarding the Washingtons. Ownership in the later 1960s to the 1990s was not discovered for this report. Online tax records indicate that in 1999, owners Robert J. and Lynn D. Lucurell transferred the property to the Dodre Family Limited Partnership, which then transferred the property in 2006 to the M&P Partnership, the current owner. M&P Partnership also owns several parcels adjacent to the subject building.
11 Mrs. Archer, 81, early student at UW, dies, The Seattle Times, October 15, 1956, p.37; and Clarke, Joseph M. Glasgow, pp.609-11. 12 Fillon [sic] purchases 17-unit apartment, The Seattle Times, September 8, 1940, p.23. Tax records state that the sale occurred in 1945. See also Ex-teacher leaves estate of $275,000, The Seattle Times, May 23, 1952, p.31. 13 52 in race for council seats as books are shut, The Seattle Times, January 29, 1933, p.7; and 60 autos destroyed in garage blast, fire, The Seattle Times, July 19, 1934, p.1. 14 M. J. Feeley released on recognizance, The Seattle Times, March 31, 1937, p.3. 15 Realty firms transactions top $365,000,, The Seattle Times, May 13, 1962, p.32; and Business building, apartments sold, The Seattle Times, September 30, 1962, p.C-1. 16 City Affairs: office building in residential zone okd, The Seattle Times, June 15, 1963, p.11.
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C. Building occupants The Pinevue Apartments building was constructed in 1916 and completed in 1917, with apartments on the upper two floors, and five commercial storefronts along Pine Street. Advertisements in the Seattle Times indicate that the streetlevel commercial spaces were occupied by early September 1916, while the apartments on the upper two levels were not ready for occupancy until late February 1917. 17 The commercial spaces were addressed as odd-numbered 313-321 E. Pine Street. The primary entrance to the apartments portion was around the corner, addressed as 1535 Bellevue Avenue E. A secondary entrance leading upstairs to the apartments was located at 311 E. Pine Street, and sometimes appears in the city directories as such. In the mid-20th century, the building was called the Pinevue Apartment Hotel, then the Feeley Apartment Hotel. From at least 1971 until at least 1990, the residential portion of the building is listed in Polks as the Agnes Apartment Hotel, addressed at 1535 Bellevue Avenue. When it opened in 1917, fitted with two-and-three room apartments averaging 455 square feet, efficiency kitchenettes, and built-in Murphy beds, the Pinevue likely catered to working singles, young couples, or retired single persons. In the 1920s, apartment living was becoming increasingly acceptable to Seattleites, and socially acceptable for single young women, who were finding work outside the home. Several 1920s classified ads for the Pinevue listed it as walking distance to 2nd Avenue and a few blocks from Frederick & Nelsons, a long-time Seattle department store. In 1921 a dressmaker living in the building announced her relocation to the Pinevue the classifieds; in 1924, a person advertised private English classes for foreigners. By 1926, 2-room apartments were listed at $40 (apparently a mid-range price compared to other listings), and rooms were advertised by the day, week, or month. By 1930, these were advertised for $32; and only $25 by the deep Depression year of 1932. Polks Seattle Directory introduced reverse listings starting in 1938, allowing a reader to find the name of the occupant for a given address, in addition to the normal listings which are the other way around. Prior to 1938, reverse listings are only available for one year, 1928. A review of names of residents every decade from 1928 to 1988 did not reveal any names of apparent significance. In 1938, of the 17 units, there appeared to be eleven single men (one being the manager), two single women, and two widows. A few names appear in another decade, indicating long-term residents, but most residents appear to have lived there for shorter terms. From the 1950s through the 1970s, when the building was operated by M.J. Feeley, as many as a quarter of the units are often listed as vacant. Commercial occupants were a wide mix of retail, sales and services. Particularly in early years, some were automobilerelated services, no doubt located in the building to take advantage of the growing Auto Row developing in the PikePine corridor at the time. Prior to reverse listings in Polks city directories available after 1938, advertisements are the main indicator of commercial tenants. Between 1917 and the 1990s, some tenants were occupants for many decades. The Timken Roller Bearing Company, for which the subject building is sometimes associated, was an occupant as early as 1916, until the mid-1940s (and visible in the 1937 tax assessor photo). According to a 1916 advertisement announcing the opening of the store at this location, the business was described as a service station which will provide an immediate, efficient, on-the-spot bearings service. The owner of any motor vehicleautomobile, motor truck, farm tractor or motorcycleor any garage or repair man may here secure any anti-friction bearing needed for any make of motor vehicle manufactured. 18 Known occupants of the five street level storefronts for the following years were as follows; some occupied more than one commercial space: 1928 Art Picture Frame Shop John B. Fyfe (nature of this business unknown) B K Vacuum Brake Distributors, Boyle Valve Distributors, Grafild Brake Lining Distributors, Ernest Ingalls, Frank Nowell Distributors Inc., Northwest Motor Parts Company (all at one address) Timken Roller Bearing Company
Announcing a union service for--, advertisement, The Seattle Times, August 10, 1916, p.6; and unfurnished apartments classifieds advertisement, The Seattle Times, February 15, 1917, p.20. 18 Announcing a union service for--, advertisement, The Seattle Times, August 10, 1916, p.6.
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1938
Harts Crazy Cards greeting cards The Downtown Spokesman, an advertising publication Storer Company floral cards manufacturers Timken Roller Bearing Company Mrs. Amelia Hart art studio Vacant Bellevue Grocery (occupying two storefronts) Timken Roller Bearing Company, Services-Sales Division Smithson Service Shop machine and gun-smith (occupying two storefronts) Bellevue Grocery , owned by S.J. Ortiz (occupying two storefronts) Northwest Trophy & Award Co. The Republican Call, a newspaper Vacant Northwest Trophy & Award Co. Kissner Sales and Brokerage mfrs agts Union Realty (Feeleys company, presumably) Vacant Northwest Trophy & Award Co. (occupying two storefronts) Northwest Bowing Supply Co. Aspenwall Realty, Union Realty Co. West Coast Security Systems Inc., burglar alarms Cafe Sabika In The Beginning gifts and antiques Space part of Calvin-Gorasht Architects (primarily located in the adjacent building) Cafe Sabika Erica Williams Anne Johnson Art Gallery Sergios Restaurant Azuma Fine Art & Gallery Cafe Sabika Mike Mueller Fine Furniture Maker & Antiques Chautrelles Restaurant
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1990
D. The development of the Pike-Pine Auto Row on Capitol Hill Some of the early commercial occupants of the subject building were automobile-related service companies, and therefore the building might be considered to have a relationship with the Pike-Pine Auto Row which developed in the early part of the 20th century. Capitol Hill is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. Seattles founders had settled on Elliott Bay only in 1852, and incorporated in 1869. While First Hill developed first as the fashionable neighborhood for the growing elite in the expanding city, Capitol Hill followed close behind, being developed by about 1880-1900. Both neighborhoods were convenient to downtown, enjoyed water views and fresh air, and were some of the earliest areas served by streetcar lines. A map showing 1896 street railways shows two lines serving First Hill via Yesler Way and James Street, while several lines were serving Capitol Hill via Pike, Union, Howell, Stewart, and other streets. Neighborhood development
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generally followed streetcar lines. 19 On the interior of the hills and on lower slopes, such as around the subject property, more modest middle-class homes and small apartment buildings were built, with scattered commercial buildings, creating a relatively dense, pedestrian-scaled neighborhood. Pike Street was the first street as one departed north from the downtown area that was improved to reach Capitol Hill. In 1901, the streetcar line in the downtown portion of Pike Street was extended all the way up to Broadway. 20 Pine followed shortly after. Both were regraded in the early 1900s to provide a gentler slope from downtown to Broadway, by the turn of the century. Nearly flat Broadwaythe main north-south spine of the developing neighborhoodwas also an early paved street, and had one of the few north-south streetcar lines that did not go through downtown, but rather connected Capitol Hill and First Hill. Where streetcar lines went, automobiles soon followed. The first sold in 1905, but to a city still used to streetcars, horse transportation, or walking, the new automobiles were essentially toys for the wealthy. Because Pike and Pine were the easiest connection to Broadway, and Broadway connected the wealthy First Hill and Capitol Hill enclaves, the Pike-Pine-Broadway area began to develop into an early Auto Row, characterized by numerous dealerships, auto repair shops, parts suppliers, paint shops, parking garages, used car dealers, and the like. 21 Dealerships would have been the most prominent buildings in the Auto Row area, usually located at the most visible locations and in ornate, architect-designed buildings. The building type housing these dealerships were generally fireresistive construction of concrete or brick, two to four stories tall, with large showroom or garage spaces on the first floor, and parking on upper floors accessed by ramps or large elevators. At the beginning of the 20th century in Seattle, automobiles were purchased from local distributors after selecting a model from an auto show, a showroom, or from literature. The vehicle would be delivered months later. Unlike today, there were a wide range of manufacturers competing for market sharenot only Ford and Chrysler, but now-departed brands like Federal, Menominee, Chalmers, Saxon, Bauch-Lang Electric, Seldon, Mitchell, Hubmobile, Pierce-Arrow, Case, Reo, Willys-Overbrand, Peerless, Packard, Studebaker, and others. 22 Seattles population in this period was growing exponentially, and automobile purchases grew with it, due to increased familiarity with the new technology, and increasingly moderate prices. From 1890 to 1900 the Seattle population had nearly doubled over the decade, to 80,761. City boundaries expanded through several 1907 annexations, such that by 1910 the population had nearly tripled to 237,194, and to approximately 327,000 in 1920. 23 The growth of vehicle ownership resulted in large numbers of secondary businesses springing up to provide support and services. Automobile-related listings in the Seattle Polks Directory had grown substantially; for example, by 1915, there were 55 businesses listed under Automobile Manufacturers and Dealers, but nearly twice as many102 listed under Automobile Repairs and Supplies. These services included various headings such as Automobile Accessories, Automobile Fenders, Lamps, and Radiators, Automobile Gasoline, and so forth. Some automobile listings appear to be addressing a public still used to horses and carriagesfor example, the 1915 directory has subheadings such as Automobile Tops and Trimmings, Automobile Liveries (See Garages), and even Automobile Hospitals. Unlike the automobile dealerships, auto services were often likely to be located in more utilitarian structures, and often on the side streets of the Auto Row area. Garages and some service buildings were built of masonry or concrete fire-resistive construction like the auto dealerships, except less ornate. Between these masonry structures were also found simple wood-frame shop or service buildings, usually only one story. Beginning around the 1920s, other auto rows began to appear over the decades in other parts of Seattle, and autorelated service businesses began to be not necessarily associated with the Pike-Pine-Broadway area. In the Depression years of the 1930s, many auto businesses closed and some dealerships moved to selling used cars. In the postwar years
Horse-drawn streetcars had been introduced in Seattle in 1884, cable cars in 1887, and electric streetcars in 1889. By 1892, Seattle had 48 miles of streetcar lines and 22 miles of cable car lines. 20 Williams, p.42. 21 Today also referred to as the Pike-Pine Corridor. 22 Sheridan, p.27; BOLA, p.5. 23 Ochsner, Shaping Seattle Architecture, pp. xviii-xxxii.
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of the late 1940s, dealerships moved to expansive outdoor lots and new buildings as they followed suburban development. In the Pike-Pine area during the past several decades, many former automotive-related concrete, masonry, and heavy-timber structures were adapted to residential, retail, entertainment, and institutional uses. Today, the Pike-Pine Corridor has several former automobile-related buildings that have been cited in city surveys as having a high degree of integrity. In 1999, an Environmental Impact Statement related to the Sound Transit Link light rail project included the Seattle Automobile Company (1000 E. Pike) and the Lieback Garage (1101 E. Pike), as properties possibly eligible for National Register or city landmark status. 24 Another survey, the Historic Property Survey Report for Seattles Neighborhood Commercial Districts, prepared by a historic consultant for the Historic Preservation Office, cites the following buildings as notable: 25 Utrecht Art Supplies, a former Packard dealership (1120 Pike) AEI Music, a former Packard dealership (1600 Broadway) Former Tyson Automobile Company (901 E. Pine) Former Graham Motor Cars (915 E. Pike) Former Colyear Auto Sales, later occupied by REI (1021 E Pine)
E. The architect, Harry H. James The architect of the subject building was Harry H. James, according to the original drawings on file at the Department of Planning and Development microfilm library. Projects attributed to James which were found for this report are detailed below, and were identified primarily by accounts in The Seattle Times newspaper, so the list is by no means exhaustive. James was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1871. His parents, John and Alice S. James, were early Seattle pioneers who moved their family, including Harry, to Seattle in 1888 from Ohio, when James would have been about 17 years of age. 26 According to his brief obituary, Harry James took part in the reconstruction of the city following the disastrous fire of 1889. From about 1907 until his death in 1937 he designed many apartment buildings in the Bellevue and Summit Districts of Seattle referring to Bellevue and Summit Avenues on Capitol Hill. 27 Little information could be found regarding James prior to 1919. As early as 1900, and for several decades thereafter, he appears to have run for city council and even state representative on several occasions, as a Republican, but never won. In 1901 he submitted a building permit for a one and a half story frame house at 2213 15th Avenue which was estimated to cost $200. In 1909, a notice of sale was listed in the newspaper for a 20-acre fruit orchard in Wenatchee which James sold to one W. Gwinn, a local contractor, for $32,000. 28 In 1916, James designed the subject building of this report, which was completed in 1917. In 1919, James designed an automotive service and showroom building for E. E. Siegel, to be occupied by Mitchell Motor & Service Company, two blocks from the subject building at 417 E. Pine Street.[Fig 46] The three-story structure, which is today the Portofino Condominiums, is 120 feet by 92 feet and fills the entire street frontage of the narrow block on Pine between Crawford and Summit. The building was designed to accommodate an additional two stories on top of the original three, but this was apparently never carried out. The building is clad in brick, with large warehouse windows between flat engaged brick pilasters. Brick spandrel panels above and below the windows feature modest in-plane decorative brickwork. The tops of the pilasters are highlighted by relatively small terracotta panels. A
The other six buildings listed in the 1999 Sound Transit EIS which were identified as possibly eligible for National Register or city landmark status are the Lorraine Court Apartments (1025 E. Pike), First Christian Church (1632 Broadway, now demolished), Masonic Temple/Egyptian Theater (805 E. Pine), IOOF Temple/Odd Fellows Hall (911 E. Pine), Johnson & Hamilton Mortuary (1400 Broadway), and the Hotel Avondale/Villa Apartments (1100 Pike Street). 25 Sheridan, p.27. 26 Mrs. James, pioneer of Seattle, is dead, The Seattle Times, June 25, 1926, p.7. 27 Harry H. James, architect, dies, The Seattle Times, August 30, 1937, p.19. His headstone at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle lists 1876 as his birth year. 28 Building Permits, The Seattle Times, May 16, 1901, p.7; Orchard brings $32,000, The Seattle Times, August 29, 1909, p.8.
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rendering of the original building shows a low brick pediment-like parapet, along the Pine Street elevation, which is no longer there. The building featured an automobile freight elevator, a dumbwaiter, terrazzo floors in the showroom, and a steam heating system capable of handling the additional two stories if built. Advertisements for Mitchell Motor Company automobiles first appears in the Seattle Times in 1908, when they were located at Pike and Broadway. The Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company, based in Racine, Wisconsin, was originally a wagon maker but manufactured automobiles from 1903 until 1924, when they were purchased by the Nash Motor Company. Another known work by Harry James is a 1923 three-story brick and terracotta mixed use building at 900 12th Avenue at the corner of Marion Street, which contained three shops at street level and six apartments above. The garage and basement level was leased to house the fleet of Shepard Ambulances, an early private ambulance company in the city. 29 The building is today extant, although slightly altered. [Fig 47] In the early 1920s his office was located in the American Bank building and later in the Alaska Building downtown. In 1926 he moved to larger offices in the Lowman Building, citing a considerable amount of work for the coming year. 30 Around 1924, James began to place advertisements offering real estate development loans and consultation services, and developing his own projects. 31 In a relatively unusual move during a period when architects did not generally advertise, in 1928 he placed an ad in the real estate section of The Seattle Times, with his photo, stating Architect Harry H. James and associate are now in a position to finance building projects that are worthy of merit, with contact information included. Another project designed by James was the Louisiana Apartments, constructed in 1925 at the southwest corner of Boylston Avenue and E. Harrison Street on Capitol Hill. According to a newspaper article featuring the project, the building was valued at $110,000 and built for Mrs. Paula Nichols, who recently came to Seattle from the East, locating here after looking over a number of attractive investment centers. 32 The building is a four-story block, 62 by 98 feet, with eight two-and-three room apartments on each floor. The apartments appeared to be typical of the 1920s, featuring small but efficient interior arrangements for a population increasingly acclimated to apartment living, such as large living rooms, dressing rooms, and dining alcoves in kitchens. The article mentions that five hotel rooms were located on the first floor, but there is no indication that the rooms differed in layout from the apartment units. The elevations are marked by identically-sized wood-sash windows symmetrically arranged across the facade, with three windows grouped together at living rooms. Although clad in brick with some decorative brickwork at the parapet, the building is relatively unadorned, except for an ornate terracotta surround at the main entry. A free-standing parking garage structure is located at the rear, accessed off the alley. The building is today known as the Homborness Condominiums. [Fig 48] In 1925, James designed an unbuilt apartment building valued at $125,000 at the corner of Roy and Broadway on Capitol Hill, for E. G. Peters, a large property owner in California, who began purchasing investment property in Seattle in the mid-1920s. The building was to be three stories with basement, brick and terracotta exterior, and contain 33 two-and-three room apartments. 33 The project did not go forward, because the property changed ownership several times between 1925 and 1930. In 1930 the site was sold to Seattle architect Arthur Loveless, who designed the Loveless Studio Building for the site in 1931, which remains there today. In 1926, James designed two nearly identical red-brick houses in Madrona for A. B. Mesher to demonstrate how brick may be used in the building of attractively designed houses. 34 One was to be Meshers own home. The structures, at the corner of 37th Avenue and Pike Street with views over Lake Washington, are symmetrical, two-and-a-half stories with hipped roofs originally in tile. Vaguely Mediterranean Revival in style, the houses are marked by a relatively ornate terracotta main entry surround, and terracotta window headers. [Fig 49]
Lease negotiated for three-story building, The Seattle Times, May 13, 1923, p.18. The Architect and Engineer, Vol. 84, Jan-June 1926, p.6. 31 See, for example, Straight or monthly payment building loans... under Financial-Real Estate Loans, section 25, classified ads, The Seattle Times, August 2, 1924, p.21, or For attractive apartment house investments... under Investment Property section 103, classified ad, August 9, 1928, p.4. 32 Apartment to be built, The Seattle Times, October 26, 1924, p.22; and Two new apartments, The Seattle Times, January 8, 1925, p.18. 33 Cost to be $140,000, The Seattle Times, April 19, 1925, p.21. 34 Model brick homes being erected at 37th Ave. and Pike, The Seattle Times, May 9, 1926, Section 8, p.1.
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In 1927, James built and operated The James Apartments in West Seattle as his own real estate investment. Located on California Avenue at W. Walker Street in the Admiral neighborhood, the four-story structure was valued at $90,000, and was designed to include 20 apartments. Somewhat unusual compared to James other apartment buildings, this building is located in a midblock parcel, rather than a corner. A 1927 newspaper article described special features planned for the project, which included electric dishwashers in the kitchens; a ballroom and a childrens play room in the building; and a rear garage for sixteen cars. 35 Today the building has 23 apartments. Like most of James work, the building is clad in brick, ornamental terracotta and brickwork at the parapet, symmetrically placed windows, and an ornate terracotta entry directing attention to the center of the main elevation. [Fig 50] Also in 1927, James designed the DeLorges Apartments, at 325 Harvard Avenue E., at the southwest corner of Harrison Street, on Capitol Hill. Typical of James work in the 1920s, the building is brick with terracotta ornament, including terracotta sills, parapet work, and an ornate building entry. Also typical for James apartment buildings in this period, uniform window sizes are used throughout the project, but grouped together at living rooms to create variety across the elevations. The structure originally contained 27 two, three, and four-room apartment units, and several hotel rooms. At the time of its construction, the work was valued at $135,000. The structure was completed in 1928. 36 [Fig 51] In early 1929, James filed incorporation papers for the Gasoline Engine Manufacturing Company, with $5000 in capital recorded. Other incorporators listed were Ben Herz and A. E. James, Harrys brother. No additional information could be found about this company. By December 1929 and into February 1930, James placed increasing numbers of advertisements offering property for sale or trade, perhaps himself having suffered financial losses following the October 1929 stock market crash, or handling transactions for others. Several buildings offered for sale or trade were Capitol Hill apartment buildings, a new West Seattle apartment building (the James?), as well as some empty lots, and even a five-acre chicken ranch near Kent. After early 1930, these ads disappear, as do any more articles about projects by James. He appears to have retired on or before 1935, the last year that he is listed as an architect in the city directory. James was one of the founders of, and active in, the Washington State Society of Architects, which was established with headquarters in Seattle in 1917. This was a professional organization, like the Washington State Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which had been chartered in 1894, and which was also based in Seattle. 37 President of the Washington State Society of Architects in 1917 was Augustus Warren Gould, with Harry James serving as vicepresident. Other board members were W.J. Jones and J.L. McCauley. 38 James continued to serve as an officer and member of the board of trustees at least until 1930, and was president for a period in the 1920s. 39 The organization attracted architects of some prominencein a 1921 article, other officers listed included Louis L. Mendel, Edgar Blair, and Frank Fowler of Seattle, as well as Julius Zittel of Spokane, Watson Vernon of Aberdeen, and Richard V. Gough of Okanagan. 40 The organization was active in the 1920s, among other things, for lobbying the state government for a uniform building code across the state. 41 The organization in the mid-1920s also pushed for Seattle municipal legislation that would have required all building plans for projects in the city limits to be prepared by accredited architects and engineers. 42 James was also appointed by the governor to serve on the three-member state board of architect examiners for several terms in the 1920s.
West Seattle to get apartment house, The Seattle Times, November 13, 1927, p.28. $135,000 Apartment house being erected, The Seattle Times, December 11, 1927, p.36. 37 At some point in about the 1940s, the organization was absorbed into the AIA. 38 Washington State Society of Architects, The American Architect, Vol. 111, April 4, 1917, p.218. 39 The Architect and Engineer, February, 1930. 40 Washington State Society elects, The Architect and Engineer, Vol. LXIV, No. 1, January 1921, p.115. 41 Would limit plans to accredited architects, December 9, 1923, p.23; and Architects seek uniform building code legislation, The Seattle Times, January 11, 1920, p.16. 42 Fight amendment to building code, The Seattle Times, April 24, 1924, p.1, 13; and editorial page.
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In the 1920s, James and his family resided at 3228 63rd Avenue SW, a few blocks above Alki Beach in West Seattle, and he was an officer in the Admiral District Commercial Club in 1930. At the time of his death in 1937 at age 66, his obituary stated that he and his wife Anna resided at 1806 Harvard Avenue, a site now occupied by Seattle Central Community College. 43
F. Apartment buildings in Seattle and in the west Capitol Hill neighborhood The residential landscape of early Seattle was dominated by single family dwellings which housed the one hundred or so people that lived there. Visitors or new residents had the opportunity to stay at the Felker House, Seattles first hotel, which was established in 1853 and offered food and bedding to lodgers. In 1862 the population was only 182 persons, but the town grew steadily, reaching 1,107 by 1870, 3,553 in 1880, and jumping to 42,800 in 1890. 44 Multifamily housing options available for those who could not afford single family homes were essentially limited to boarding houses and hotels. After the late 1890s, Seattle experienced rapid urban and population growth, and the demand for housing became more acute in the following years. From 1890 to 1900 the Seattle population nearly doubled over the decade, to 80,761. City boundaries expanded through several 1907 annexations, such that by 1910 the population had nearly tripled to 237,194, and to approximately 327,000 in 1920. The pace of growth slowed considerably in the 1920s, so that by 1930, the population had reached only 365,500. 45 In the first decades after 1900, apartment buildings began to play more of a role in housing Seattles population, particularly in the denser neighborhoods. According to Diana James research into the development of local apartment buildings, the City of Seattle building code in 1907 defined the following multiple-dwelling structures: boarding houses, lodging houses, hotels, and apartments. 46 Boarding houses were defined by the ordinance as offering five to twenty sleeping rooms. By custom, they generally offered meals in a family-style setting. James describes the typical boarding house as operating like a family, and typical tenants of boarding houses might be teachers, gentlemen, families, or sometimes women only. By contrast, lodging houses were defined by ordinance as offering the same number of rooms, but differed in that they offered no food. Meals were taken at restaurants. This low-cost form of housing typically attracted laborers, recent immigrants, railroad workers, and the like. Hotels offered furnished rooms to visitors as well as locals, and terms were offered by the day, week, or month, as was typical across the country in the early 20th century. Hotels ranged from luxurious to modest, and every price range. Larger hotels had spaces available to the public, such as dining rooms, reception rooms, or outdoor verandas. Apartments offered an alternative to boarding houses, lodging houses, and hotels, and was defined by the City of Seattle in 1907 as a building containing separate housekeeping units for three or more families, having a street entrance common to all. 47 More specifically, apartment buildings (unlike boarding houses, lodging houses, or hotels) offered the same spaces and utilities that could be found in a single-family housefull bathroom on the premises, a kitchen for preparation of meals, hot and cold running water, standard-sized rooms, operable windows, and a street address. Apartment buildings could also sometimes offer additional semipublic spaces not found in single-family houses, such as foyers or rooftop gardens, to be shared by all the residents. 48 Apartment buildings as we know them today in the United States began to become popular in the larger, denser East Coast cities in the latter half of the 1800s. Some of the early buildings were tenement apartments, which housed large numbers of residents in rooms that often lacked windows, fire exits, or plumbing. Building codes aimed at preserving
43 Admiral Way folk organize club, The Seattle Times, December 10, 1930, p.5. Polks Directory lists completely different residential addresses for 1935, 36, and 37 than that shown above; this might have reflected financial difficulty. 44 Ochsner, Shaping Seattle Architecture, pp. xviii. 45 Ochsner, Shaping Seattle Architecture, pp. xviii-xxxii. 46 James, Shared Walls: Seattle Apartment Buildings 1900-1939, pp.8-10. 47 James, pp.8-10. 48 Hunter, pp.210-212.
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basic health and safety standards for apartment dwellers developed in cities like New York around the turn of the 20th century. By about 1900, Seattlealthough never as densely populated as such cities as New York or San Francisco had adopted similar measures as well. 49 In the early 1900s, apartment buildings proliferated as the increasing value of close-in land prices made the construction of apartments more attractive to land owners. Nodes of apartment buildings developedalong with commercial buildings housing shops and servicesalong streetcar routes, both in-city and in developing streetcar suburbs. 50 Any initial public apprehension about a lack of privacy in apartment buildings, or living in the same building as complete strangers, was outweighed by the convenience of living near the city center or near transit routes. At the early part of the century, Seattle apartment buildings often advertised new or standard conveniences in units that might not have been available in older houses, including running hot and cold water, gas, and electricity; kitchens with gas or electric ranges; cooler cabinets, iceboxes, or refrigerators; dishwashers; even built-in radios. Buildings might include laundry rooms, additional storage space, or a parking garage, or feature extras such as elevators, or telephone service. 51 In James analysis of Seattle apartment buildings, she describes three classes of apartments which developed concurrently in the first third of the 1900sluxury, efficiency, and intermediate. At the higher end, for those who could afford them, luxury apartment buildings featured distinctive exteriors, ornate lobbies and finishes, large suites of rooms, and occasionally servants quarters. Most affordable were efficiency apartment buildings, which emphasized compact living quarters, and did not focus expense on luxurious common areas. These apartments had one to five roomsusually a living/sleeping room, small kitchen or kitchenette, eating alcove or dinette, bathroom, and a dressing room/closet which often concealed a hideaway bed. Space in efficiencies was maximized through the use of built-in cabinets, benches, or tables, and multipurpose rooms. Intermediate apartment buildings occupied the middle range of the three apartment classes--they offered more space than the efficiencies, and some finer finishes or amenities, but not at such higher rates as the luxury market. 52 James also addresses the term apartment hotel, which she describes as a subcategory of efficiency apartments. Beginning in the 1920s in Seattle, this term began to be applied to some multifamily buildings which offered hotel-like amenities such as housekeeping or dining service, as well as hotel-like ornate exteriors, elaborate lobbies, public dining rooms, elevators, and roof gardensbut the units inside were essentially efficiency apartments. 53 The first purpose-built apartment building in Seattle was the St. Paul, built in 1901 at the corner of Summit and Seneca on First Hill. The building, which still exists but has been substantially altered, was intended to attract the upper classes by featuring a private vestibule, reception room, library, parlor, dining room, kitchen, and two to three bedrooms, per apartment. 54 Besides First Hill, apartment buildings were also widely constructed in close-in neighborhoods or denser neighborhoods served by streetcar, such as the Denny Regrade, lower Queen Anne, the University District, and Capitol Hill. The west side of Capitol Hillthe neighborhood surrounding the subject property, from Melrose to Broadway and Galer to Pikeis noted by James as having an embarrassment of riches related to the number of apartment buildings it contains. 55 The close proximity to the central business district, and the early expansion of streetcar lines along Pike, Pine, Broadway, Bellevue, Summit facilitated a dense neighborhood and made it attractive for investors to construct apartment buildings in the area. Schools, churches, entertainment venues, fraternal organizations, and womens clubs, in addition to mom-and-pop stores, accommodated the growing number of people who were moving into newlyconstructed apartments, as well as the resident population who lived in a wide range of single-family homes. 56
James, p.8; Hunter, pp.225-227; Sheridan, 1994, p.34. Sheridan, 1994, p.28. 51 James, pp.20-34. 52 James, pp.68-79. 53 James, pp.71-72. An example of an apartment hotel cited by James is The Camlin Hotel (1926), which originally had kitchenettes in all but eight of the units. 54 James, pp.131-133. 55 James, p.180. 56 James, p.144.
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Apartment building in this area remained strong throughout the 1920s, although World War I and a subsequent recession slowed development somewhat. Apartment buildings ranged from three story walk-ups to six or more stories with elevators. Materials were generally brick and terracotta for newer buildings, or wood for those constructed in the earlier part of the century, and often in eclectic styles. James cites over two dozen notable extant apartment buildings in this neighborhoodof those, about half were built prior to 1910. 57 The following apartment buildings, however, were constructed within a few years of the subject building: The Lauren Renee (1912) at 312 Olive Place; The Melrose (1916) at 1520 Melrose ; The Porter (1917) at 1630 Boylston; and The Lenawee (1918) at 1629 Harvard. Nearby apartment buildings from the later years of the 1920s were often brick and terracotta in a Colonial Revival or Tudor Revival styles which were popular by that time; examples cited by James include the Olive Crest (1924) at 1510 E. Olive Way, and the Biltmore (1924) at 418 Loretta Place. [Fig 44] Apartment buildings along commercial streets often had storefronts along the sidewalk, with residential units on upper floors, as in the case of the subject building. These mixed-use buildings were attractive to owners and investors because they provided two sources of rentresidential tenants, and commercial tenants. Nearby examples of such buildings constructed about the same time as the subject building are the Hotel Avondale (1908) at 1100 Pike, or the Wintonia (1909) at 1431 Minor (a designated Seattle Landmark). Examples farther afield, on the east side of Broadway, include the Tyson Oldsmobile/Triangle Auto Parts/Graham/REO Building (1912) at 905 E. Pike (which contained both residential and office space on upper floors), or an early wood-frame example, the Lorraine Court Apartments (1905) at 1023 E. Pike Street. [Fig 45]
57 The pre-1910 buildings listed are: The Celeste (1906) 304 E. Olive Place, The Glencoe (1907) at 1511 Boylston, The Starbird (1907) at 1512 Boylston, The St. Johns (1907) at 725 E. Pike, The Chardonnay (1907) at 203 Bellevue Avenue E., The Bel Fiore (1907) at 1707 Bellevue, Rialto Court (1907) at 1729 Boylston, Buena Vista (1907) 1633 Boylston, The Petra (1908) at 1703 Harvard, The Carroll (1908) at 305 Bellevue Avenue E., Summit Arms (1909) at 1512 Summit, The Alexander (1909) at 1711 Bellevue, and Thomas Park View (1909) at 411 East Thomas.
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V. BIBLIOGRAPHY Architect and engineer. (1919). San Francisco, CA: Architect and engineer. Berner, Richard C. Seattle 1900-1920: From Boomtown, Urban Turbulence, to Restoration. Seattle: Charles Press, 1991. BOLA Architecture + Planning, 1205 East Pine Street, Seattle Landmark Nomination, June 2007. City of Seattle: Department of Neighborhoods, Historic Resources Survey database, www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/historicresources Department of Planning and Development, Microfilm Library, permit records and drawings. Department of Planning and Development Parcel Data, 2010. www.seattle.gov. Department of Planning and Development, Directors Rule 3-2012, Character structures that cannot be demolished if incentives allowing additional height and floor size are used on a lot within the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District, February 27, 2012. Clarke, S. J. Seattle: Deluxe Supplement to the History of Seattle. Seattle: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1916. D.A. Sanborn. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. Seattle, Washington (various dates) maps accessed from Seattle Public Libraries, online. www.spl.org. HistoryLink, the Online Encyclopedia to Washington State History. www.historylink.org. Hunter, Christine. Ranches, Rowhouses & Railroad FlatsAmerican Homes: How They Shape Our Landscapes and Neighborhoods. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1999. James, Diana E. Shared Walls: Seattle Apartment Buildings, 1900-1939. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co: 2012. Ketcherside, Rob. Undermining the Republican Senator from Melrose, February 26, 2012, Re:Take history column, www.capitolhillseattle.com. King County Assessors Records, at Puget Sound Regional Archives, at Bellevue Community College, Bellevue, WA. King County Parcel Viewer website. www.metrokc.gov/gis/mapportal/PViewer_main. Kroll Map Company Inc., "Kroll Map of Seattle," various dates. Nyberg, Folke, and Victor Steinbrueck, for the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. Capitol Hill: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources. Seattle: Historic Seattle, 1975. Nyberg, Folke, and Victor Steinbrueck, for the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. First Hill: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources. Seattle: Historic Seattle, 1975. Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, and Dennis Alan Andersen. Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and the Legacy of HH Richardson. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003. R.L. Polk and Company. Polks Directory to the City of Seattle. Seattle: various dates. Rosenberg, Casey. Streetcar Suburb: Architectural Roots of a Seattle Neighborhood. Seattle, WA: Fanlight Press, 1989.
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Seattle House and Street Directory-1928. Portland, Oregon: H.C. Grey, 1928. The Seattle Times newspaper. Seattle, Washington. Includes previous incarnations as The Seattle Press Times, The Seattle Daily Times, and The Seattle Sunday Times. Sheridan, Frances Amelia. Apartment House Development on Seattles Queen Anne Hill Prior to World War II. Unpublished masters thesis, Department of Urban Design, University of Washington, 1994. Sheridan, Mimi. Historic Property Survey Report: Seattles Commercial Districts. City of Seattle, Department of Neighborhoods, 2002. Veka, Clay H. Seattles Street Railway System and the Urban Form: Lessons from the Madison Street Cable Car. Unpublished paper, University of Washington, March 14, 2007. Washington State Division of Archives and Record Management. Historic Photo and Assessor Documentation. Williams, Jacqueline. "A New Seattle Neighborhood, Courtesy of J. A. Moore." Columbia Magazine, Spring 2002, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 30-35. Williams, Jacqueline. The Hill With A Future: Seattle's Capitol Hill, 1900-1946. Seattle: CPK Ink, 2001. Woodbridge, Sally, and Roger Montgomery. A Guide to Architecture in Washington State. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1980.
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VI. PREPARER AND REVIEWER INFORMATION Submitted & Prepared by: Nicholson Kovalchick Architects 310 First Avenue S., Suite 4-S Seattle WA 98104 Phone: 206-933-1150 Contact: Email: Direct: David Peterson david@nkarch.com 206-494-9791
Date:
January 25, 2013
Reviewed by:
Date:
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VII. REPORT ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig 1 - Site map; red box indicates location of site. North is up. (Google Maps, 2012)
Fig 2 - Site map; red dotted box indicates location of site. North is up. (Google Maps, 2012)
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Fig 3 Neighborhood context: East side of Melrose, between Pike and Pine. House at center was built prior to the regrading of the local streets; the apartment building at left was built after regrading.
Fig 4 Neighborhood context: View west along E. Pine Street. Arrow indicates subject property.
Fig 5 Neighborhood context: View south along Bellevue Avenue. Arrow indicates subject property.
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Fig 6 Neighborhood context: View north along Bellevue Avenue; First Covenant Church (the former Swedish Tabernacle) is at far right in left photo, and featured more clearly in right image (from firstcovenantchurch.org). Arrow indicates subject property.
Fig 7 Neighborhood context: View east along E. Pine Street. Arrow indicates subject property.
Fig 8 Neighborhood context: (Left) View southward towards Pike Street of east side of Bellevue Avenue, showing the McDermott Apartments and First Christian Church, formerly the Swedish Tabernacle; (Right) View northward towards Pine Street of east side of Bellevue Avenue, showing the 400 E. Pine and Area 51/Carr Brothers buildings.
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Fig 9 1937 Tax Assessor photo (Puget Sound Regional Archives)
Fig 10 View of the north and east elevations in 2012.
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Fig 11 North elevation in 2012.
Fig 12 North elevation in 2012, showing storefronts at street level, and apartments above.
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Fig 13 North elevation in 2012. The secondary entry to the upstairs apartments, mezzanine apartment, and the basement is located at the far right of the building. The Melrose Building is the white building at right.
Fig 14 View of south (rear) elevation and east elevation (facing Bellevue Avenue) in 2012. The main entry to the upstairs apartments is covered by the blue canopy.
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Fig 15 South (rear) elevation in 2012.
Fig 16 East elevation in 2012.
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Fig 17 North and west elevations, in 2012.
Fig 18 Storefronts along Pine Street, in 2012.
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Fig 19 Detail: (Left) Terracotta plaque painted with Feeley Apts, not the original name of the building; (Right) Terracotta entry on Bellevue Avenue.
Fig 20 Detail: (Left) Fire alarm (?) at Bellevue Avenue entrance; (Right) Transom for mezzanine apartment along Pine Street; note operable sash, which is not original.
Fig 21 Detail: (Left) Terracotta pilaster cap; (Right) Metal fire escape balcony on east/Bellevue Avenue elevation.
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Fig 22 Interiors in 2012: (Left and Right) Mud Bay shop, occupying the easternmost storefront on the Pine Street elevation, and the only corner shop location (at Bellevue Avenue).
Fig 23 Interiors in 2012: (Left), Mud Bay, showing no mezzanine; (Right) Edies Shoes, showing mezzanine for storage.
Fig 24 Interiors in 2012: (Left and Right) Edies Shoes, the second storefront from the east. Note concrete frame structure.
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Fig 25 Interiors in 2012: (Left and Right) Le Frock, the third from east or center storefront. Note stair to mezzanine.
Fig 26 Interiors in 2012: (Left) Stair at Le Frock; (Right) Wall of Sound, the fourth storefront from the east on the Pine Street elevation.
Fig 27 Interiors in 2012: (Left and Right) Wall of Sound music store. Note ladder to mezzanine.
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Fig 28 Interiors in 2012: (Left and Right) Scout clothing store, the fifth and last storefront from the east along the Pine Street. The mezzanine space above was converted into a studio apartment at an unknown time (see fig. below).
Fig 29 Interiors in 2012: (Left and Right) The mezzanine apartment above the westernmost storefront along the Pine Street elevation (see fig. above).
Fig 30 Interiors in 2012: (Left) Basement; (Right) Small entry vestibule for apartments, on Bellevue Avenue.
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Fig 31 Interiors in 2012: (Left) Stairwell at Bellevue Avenue side; (Right) Upper level hallway accessing apartments. Enframed elements mid-height on walls (now sealed) may have been pass-through cabinets for laundry/towel service..
Fig 32 Interiors in 2012: (Left) Typical apartment, view from bedroom to living room; (Right) Typical apartment, pocket doors between bedroom and living room.
Fig 33 Interiors in 2012: (Left) Typical apartment showing kitchen, and bathroom with raised floor; (Right) Original kitchen built-in cabinets.
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Fig 34 (Left) Grace Hospital, b.1885-87; (Right) Summit School which replaced it, b.1905 (both images from www.pauldorpat.com)
Fig 35 Detail, USGS 1899 topographic map of Seattle. Contour lines represent 20 feet in elevation; darker blocks represent denser settlement. Red box indicates site; arrows indicates Capitol Hill ridge. (UW maps, T-2421)
Fig 36 Pine Street regrade, (Left) diagram showing existing and proposed grades (SPU 76-24-1) ; (Right) Undated view north along Melrose at Minor, from Pike Street towards Pine Street (a block from the subject parcel), showing regrading underway (UW Spec Coll SEA1305).
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Fig 37 Detail, 1905 Sanborn maps #191 and 219 (two maps stitched together); red dotted box indicates location of site. North is up. Note Swedish Mission Church at Bellevue & Pike, and Grace Hospital at Crawford, Union, & Summit.
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Fig 38 Development of neighborhood. (Left) Swedish Mission Church at Pike and Bellevue in 1900, later replaced by the Swedish Tabernacle in 1910 (www.firstcovenantseattle.org); (Right) House at NW corner of Pike and Melrose in 1909 (today the location of the Six Arms pub); the roof peak of the Swedish Mission Church is barely visible at far right (UW Spec Coll LEE219).
Fig 39 1912 Baist map; red dotted box indicates location of site. North is up.
Fig 40 Development of the neighborhood. (Left) Butterworth Mortuary, b.1922, in 1923 (MOHAI 1983.10.2561.3); (Right) 400 E. Pine (kitty corner from the subject building), b.1917, in 1957 (SMA 75827).
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Fig 41 Detail, 1951 Sanborn maps #191 and 219 (two maps stitched together), showing the development of the neighborhood, with increased commercial development along Pike and Pine; red dotted box indicates location of site. North is up. Note Swedish Tabernacle at Bellevue & Pike, and Summit Public School at Crawford, Union, & Summit.
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(Left) Packard dealership at Pike and Melrose, b.1920; (Right) Seattle Automobile Co. at 1000 E. Pike, b.1912.
(Left) Universal Auto Repair at 1611 Boylston, b.1923; (Right) Triangle Auto Parts at 1001 E. Pike, b. 1916.
(Left) Liebeck Garage at 1101 E. Pike, b.1911; (Right) Carr Brothers Auto Repair at 401 E. Pine, b.1910. Fig 42 Automobile-related buildings which are listed as character structures in the DPDs Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District, from approximately the same period as the subject building. Names listed are historic names. Images are all tax assessor photos.
Fig 43 Boundaries of the DPD Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District (yellow), showing conservation core of the densest location of targeted properties (blue). Subject site indicated by red arrow. North is up.
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(Left) The Lauren Renee at 312 Olive Place, b.1912; and (Right) The Melrose at 1520 Melrose, b.1916. (Both Department of Neighborhood photos)
(Left) The Porter at 1630 Boylston, b.1917; and (Right) The Lenawee at 1629 Harvard, b.1918. (Both tax assessor photos)
(Above) the Biltmore at 418 Loretta Place, b. 1924. (Tax assessor photo) Fig 44 This page: Nearby apartment buildings on Capitol Hill which date from approximately the same period as the subject building.
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(Left) Lorraine Court Apartments at 1023 E. Pike, b.1905; (Right) Hotel Avondale at 1100 Pike, b.1908. (Both tax assessor photos)
(Left) The Wintonia Apartments at 1431 Minor, a designated Seattle Landmark, b.1909 (Joe Mabel, wikimedia.com); (Right) Tyson Oldsmobile/Triangle Auto Parts/Graham/REO at 905 E. Pike, b.1912 (tax assessor photo). Fig 45 This page: Mixed-use apartment buildings on Capitol Hill which date from approximately the same period as the subject building. Each of these buildings had commercial space at the street level, with floors above occupied by a residential useoften identified by windows that are scaled smaller than office or commercial windows. Like the subject building of this report, the upper residential levels of the buildings shown above sometimes functioned both as apartments and as a hotel. According to city directory listings, the Tyson Oldsmobile building, at lower right, appears to have had both apartments and office space on its upper floors, distinguishable by the larger end windows (offices) and the smaller mid-elevation windows (apartments/hotel units). Because the Tyson building has multiple ground floor entries, a separation of such uses above could be easily achieved.
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Fig 46 Other work by Harry James: 417 E. Pine Street (1919), built for Mitchell Motor & Service Company, later known as the Rowland Motors Building, and today is the Portofino Condominiums. The building has three street-facing elevations on an unusually narrow block of Pine Street, between Summit Avenue and Crawford Place. It was designed to be five stories, with three stories built first; the other stories were apparently never pursued. (Images from Seattle Times, May 25, 1919, p.5; and DON photo 2011).
Fig 47 - Other work by Harry James: 900 12th Avenue, b.1923 (tax assessor photo).
Fig 48 - Other work by Harry James: The Louisiana Apartments, aka Homborness Condominiums (1926), at Boylston Avenue and E. Harrison Street on Capitol Hill. (Left) Image from The Seattle Times, January 8, 1925, p.18; (Right) King County tax assessor photo, c.2011.
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Fig 49 - Other work by Harry James: Two identical brick and terracotta houses at 1430 and 1434 37th Avenue (1926), at E. Pike Street in Madrona. The houses were built for local builder and developer A. B. Mesher, who resided in one of the homes, to demonstrate how brick may used in the building of attractively designed houses. 58 Mesher also built the Averill-Lowden Apartments (1930, by an unknown architect but perhaps James) on Summit Avenue at Harrison Street, not far from the subject building, similar in scale and materials to James other apartment building work. Both King County tax assessor photos (Left) c.1937 and (Right) 2011.
Fig 50 - Other work by Harry James: The James Apartments (1927) at 2124 California Avenue SW in the Admiral district of West Seattle. This building was also owned and developed by Harry James. (Left, rendering from The Seattle Times, November 13, 1927, p.28; Right, tax assessor photo).
Fig 51 - Other work by Harry James: DeLorges Apartments (1927-28), now Condominiums, 325 Harvard Avenue E., at Harrison Street. (King County tax assessor photo, c.2011). Ad, The Seattle Times, October 7, 1928, p.34.
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Model brick homes being erected at 37th Ave. and Pike, The Seattle Times, May 9, 1926, Eighth Section front page.
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SUBJECT SITE
Name (common, present, or historic): Year Built: 1915
Melrose Building
Street and Number: 301-309 E. Pine Street Assessor's File No. 872560-0240 Legal Description: See attached Plat Name:
Twelfth Avenue Addition Replat
Block: 3
Lot: 1
Present Owner: M&P Partnership Address: 10510 NE Northup Way, Kirkland, WA 98033 Original Owner: Mr. Pelham H. Blossom or George Gund II Original Use: Commercial, retail Architect: Builder:
John Creutzer Unknown
Present Use: Cafe, offices
Melrose Building Seattle Landmark Nomination
January 25, 2013
Melrose Building Seattle Landmark Nomination INDEX I. Introduction II. Building information III. Architectural description A. B. C. D. E. Adjacent neighborhood context Site Building exterior and structure Building interior Summary of primary alterations 8 Page 3 4 5
IV. Historical context A. B. C. D. E. Early development of the neighborhood and the Pine Street regrade Building owners Building occupants The development of the Pike-Pine Auto Row on Capitol Hill The architect, John Creutzer
V. Bibliography and sources VI. Preparer and Reviewer information VII. Report illustrations Tax assessor records, site plan, selected architectural images
20 22 23-44 Following
Nicholson Kovalchick Architects Melrose Building Seattle Landmark Nomination January 25, 2013
I. INTRODUCTION This report was written at the request of the owners of the property, M&P Partnership, as part of the Seattle land-use permit and SEPA process to ascertain the historical nature of the subject building. Sources used in this report include: Records of permits from the Seattle Department of Planning and Development microfilm library Assessor's photographs and property card from the Puget Sound Regional Archives in Bellevue, Washington. Newspaper, book, city directories, and maps referencing the property (see bibliography). Author's on-site photographs and building inspection, or by other NKA employees. Information on owners and residents was derived from the sources above; a title search was not conducted on the property. Historic photographs of the subject property provided an important source of information on changes to the exterior to the building: Unless noted otherwise, all images are by NK Architects and date from autumn and winter 2012.
II. BUILDING INFORMATION Name (traditional/current): Year Built: Street & Number: Assessors File No.: Original Owner: Present Owner: Melrose Building 1915 301-309 E. Pine Street (corner of Melrose Avenue) 872560-0240 Mr. Pelham H. Blossom M&P Partnership Contact: Tom Lee 10510 NE Northup Way Kirkland, WA 98033 425-889-9500 Cafe, offices Commercial, retail John Creutzer, architect Twelfth Avenue Addition Replat less street / Block 3 / Lot 1 Overall parcel legal description: Lots 1, 2, 3, 12, 13, and 14, Block 3, Replat of Twelfth Avenue Addition to the City of Seattle, according to the plat thereof, recorded in Volume 8 of Plats, page 54, in King County, Washington; Except the north 7.75 feet of Lots 1 and 14 condemned in King County Superior Court Cause No. 57057 for street purposes as provided by Ordinance 14500 of the City of Seattle. Legal description for portion containing this building only: Lot 1, Block 3, Replat of Twelfth Avenue Addition to the City of Seattle, according to the plat thereof, recorded in Volume 8 of Plats, page 54, in King County, Washington; Except the north 7.75 feet of Lot 1 condemned in King County Superior Court Cause No. 57057 for street purposes as provided by Ordinance 14500 of the City of Seattle.
Present Use: Original Use: Original Architect/Builder: Plat/Block/Lot: Legal Description:
III. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION A. Adjacent Neighborhood Context The site is located at the west end of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, in the Pike-Pine corridor, near where the two streets cross over Interstate 5 towards downtown. [Fig 1-Fig 2] The immediate neighborhood is primarily a dense mix of commercial, mixed-use, institutional and civic buildings, with few single-family houses nearby. While the neighborhood has been continuously developed every decade from the 1890s to the present, the area was heavily developed in the decades between 1900-1930, and the immediate area derives considerable character from automobile-related service buildings and showrooms built between about 1910 and 1925. [Fig 3-Fig 8] Since that period, the most significant alteration to the immediate neighborhood was the construction of the Interstate 5 highway two blocks west of the subject block, in the early 1960s. The work demolished several continuous blocks of residential and commercial buildings in the immediate area, and created a stark western boundary to the subject buildings neighborhood, albeit with spectacular downtown views just downhill from the subject site. Today, the Pike-Pine Corridor just north of the site is notable throughout the city for a vibrant urban living, working, and entertainment environment, particularly in recent decades. Seattle historic landmarks within about a six block radius include: First Covenant Church (John Creutzer, 1906), originally the Swedish Tabernacle, at E. Pike Street and Bellevue Avenue [Fig 39] The Wintonia Hotel (1909), at E. Pike Street and Minor Avenue [Fig 32] The Summit School / Northwest School (James Stephen, 1905 with additions 1914 and 1928), at Summit, Crawford, and Union [Fig 27] The Stimson-Green mansion (Kirtland Cutter, 1898-1900), at Minor and Seneca The Dearborn House (Henry Dozier, 1904-05), at Minor and Seneca Paramount Theater and Building (B. Marcus Priteca, Frederick J. Peters, and Rapp & Rapp, 1927-28), at 9th Avenue and Pine Street Camlin Hotel (Carl Linde, 1926), at 9th Avenue and Pine Street Eagles Temple Building/ACT Theater (Henry Bittman, 1924-25), at 7th Avenue and Union Street Baroness Apartment Hotel (Schack & Young, 1930-31), at Spring Street and Terry Avenue Ward House (1882), at E. Denny Way and Belmont Avenue E. Broadway Performance Hall (Edgar Blair, 1911), at Broadway and E. Pine Street Seattle First Baptist Church, at Harvard and Seneca Some notable nearby buildings that are not landmarks include the following: The former Butterworth Mortuary (Charles Haynes, 1922) across Pine Street from the subject building [Fig 7] The Area 51 building, originally the Carr Brothers Auto Repair building (1910), across Bellevue Avenue from the subject building [Fig 36] The McDermott (Gerald Field, 1926), an ornate brick and terracotta midblock seven-story apartment building, across Bellevue Avenue from the subject building Utrecht Art Supplies, originally a Packard Automobile dealership (1920), a block away at Pike, Minor, and Melrose [Fig 36] Partly in response to the Pike-Pine corridors early history as Seattle's original auto row, the City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development (which administers the Land Use Code and the Seattle Building Code) established the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District in 2012. The boundaries of the District extend on either side of Pike and Pine Streets, from about Interstate 5 to 15th Avenue, including the triangle between Madison, Broadway, and Union Streets. The purpose, among other things, is to identify character structures located within the district boundaries and to offer height and floor size bonuses if a character structure is retained, rather than demolished, in the
redevelopment of a site. 1 [Fig 36-Fig 37] The subject building is a listed character structure in the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District, but not within the conservation core which constitutes the highest concentration of targeted buildings. The Overlay District is unrelated to, and completely separate from, the Seattle Landmarks Preservation program administered by the Department of Neighborhoods Historic Preservation Office. B. Site The site is located in a NC3P-65 (Neighborhood Commercial 3 Pedestrian 65) zone, which extends along much of the core around Pike and Pine Streets. The property is also located in the Pike/Pine Urban Center Village, and the Pike Pine Conservation Overlay District (see section under Context explaining this district). The property is located on a rectangular parcel measuring approximately 105 feet east-west x 42.25 feet north-south, at the southwest corner of E. Pine Street and Melrose Avenue. There is no alley. The site slopes gently downward from the southeast corner to the northwest corner. A narrow, 7.75 foot wide strip along the north part of the original parcel facing Pine Street was acquired by the City of Seattle in 1905 by City Ordinance 14500 in order to accommodate widening of the Pine Street right of way. Parcels south, southeast, and east of the site are held by the owner of the subject parcel. [Fig 1-Fig 2] South of the site is a former one-story light industrial automotive service building constructed in 1917, which most recently housed a retail store. Southeast of the site is a surface parking lot, serving approximately 25 parking stalls, accessed off of Bellevue Avenue. To the east is a building known as the Timken Roller Bearing Building, a flat-roofed three-story structure built in 1916. It contains apartments, commercial and retail spaces including Mud Bay Granary, and is the subject of a concurrent Seattle Landmark nomination report. To the north, across E. Pine Street, is the former Butterworth Mortuary, an ornate Beaux-Arts building constructed in 1922. Today it contains professional offices and a restaurant. To the east there had been a c.1960s apartment building which suffered a fire and was demolished. Today, a mixed-use building is currently under construction on the site. To the west, across Melrose Avenue, is a triangular block of stores and restaurants located in three c.1910s one- to two-story light industrial buildings, including Ristorante Machiavelli, Sitka and Spruce, The Baltic Room, Melrose Market, and others. To the northwest, kitty-corner from the site, is a three-story c.1967 reinforced concrete office building, housing professional offices. A 1975 historic resources inventory of the Capitol Hill neighborhood by Victor Steinbrueck and Folke Nyberg (part of their citywide inventory project) describes three categories of historic building significance: significant to the city, significant to the community, or of no significance. Their inventory called out the subject building as being of significance to the community. 2
1 The full purpose and intent, per Seattle Municipal Code 23.73.002, is to implement Resolution 28657, calling for development of the Pike/Pine Overlay District in order to preserve and enhance the balance of residential and commercial uses, by encouraging residential development and discouraging large, single-purpose commercial development. In addition, a purpose of this chapter is to promote the conservation of Pike/Pine's existing historic character by limiting new development to a scale that is compatible with the established development pattern, accommodating arts facilities and small businesses at street level, and encouraging the retention of the existing structures and their architectural features that establish the District's architectural character; generally, those structures that have been in existence for 75 years or more ("character structures") and are related to the area's early history as Seattle's original auto row. 2 Nyberg and Steinbrueck, 1975, unpaginated.
C. Building Exterior and Structure The Melrose Building, located on a corner, is a one-story brick-clad light industrial building constructed in 1915, originally designed for five commercial tenants. The building is a multi-bay, straightforward design, with minor ornamentation and ample glazing, typical of modest early 20th century neighborhood commercial storefronts. [Exterior images Fig 9-Fig 15] The building fills the lot. The structure is concrete frame with post and beam interior supports. Exterior is unreinforced brick masonry, with storefronts that are wood and metal sash, with wood bulkheads. Storefront windows are reinforced with metal posts visible on the interior of the masonry walls. Floors are cement on a concrete foundation. There is no basement. The roof is flat, with a stepped parapet topped with metal coping. The north or primary elevation faces Pine Street, and is divided into six equal bays. From the sidewalk, the building presents a large area of glazed storefronts stepping down Pine Street, an effect enhanced by a level of transoms composed of grids of thin vertically-oriented lights, which deepen with the dropping sidewalk grade. The storefronts and transoms all appear to have original wood sash, although entrances appear to have been altered over time to suit tenants. Due to the slope of the sidewalk grade rising above the interior floor level, the easternmost (uphill) bay was not designed to have a commercial entry, but rather is part of the store space one bay west. Brick piers enframe the outermost four windows on the north elevation (with the exception of the westernmost corner of the building, which lacks a pier), leaving the center two window bays undivided by a brick pier, emphasizing the center of the building. The piers support above a deep brick facade modestly embellished with in-plane brick panels centered with a diamond-shaped tile. Today, the masonry is painted and these brickwork elements are not as visible. The brick piers feature a simple corbelled top with a decorative masonry element at the center top. In the center of the building on the primary elevation, above the center two windows, is a brick in-plane panel with the words Melrose Building flanked by two ornamental wreath medallions. On the west, or Melrose Street elevation, the storefront windows wrap the corner and set on a masonry bulkhead, continuing the general pattern set on the main elevation. However, there is no brick pier at the storefronts where the corner turns; the storefront is reinforced with a metal corner post hidden from view. Additionally, the west elevation windows are undivided by brick piers, and therefore create one large west-facing glazed area. A side door is at the southernmost portion of the west elevation, providing a back door to the store occupying the corner location. The south and east elevations are party wall conditions, and not visible. D. Building Interior According to 1937 tax assessor records, the ceiling height is 17 feet 6 inches. Floors are cement, and interiors were originally plastered. Originally, the commercial spaces were nearly identical in plan, with very few built-out amenities shown on the plans, other than restrooms. Party walls separate the spaces. [Interior images Fig 16-Fig 26] Currently, the building is occupied by Bauhaus Books and Coffee at the corner, which takes up the two westernmost bay spaces. The three easternmost bays are occupied by professional offices, accessed through one entry. The sixth bay, just west of center, is occupied by a clothing store. The interior of all of the spaces have been renovated over time to suit the tenant. In the professional offices at the three easternmost bays, and at Bauhaus Books, some of the original brick walls are exposed. In the professional offices, deep structural joists, supported on engaged masonry piers, may be enclosed behind gypsum wall board. At Bauhaus Books, a freestanding structure has been built inside the cafe space, to provide mezzanine seating and kitchen support spaces. Also at Bauhaus, full-height bookshelves have been installed, hiding the interior partition wall.
E. Summary of Primary Alterations Based on available historic photographs and physical investigation of the building, the building appears to have had little alteration to the exterior since construction. Some commercial storefront entries appear to have been altered over time to suit tenants, but relatively little, and apparently only below the transom level. The exterior brick has been painted in recent years, obscuring the decorative brickwork patterns in the upper portions of the north and west elevations. Primary changes to the building have been interior alterations to meet the needs of a variety of commercial tenants. These currently include the construction of partition walls and platforms in the wide-open warehouse-like spaces, in order to create and enclose bathrooms, offices, kitchens, and so forth, depending on the space. Significant permitted alterations (other than mechanical permits, or signage permits) on file at the building department are as follows: Building Permit 328249 435148 450224 526250 527054 672190 746213 Date 1938 1955 1956 1968 1968 1993 2004 Cost --$500 $450 $800? $3,000 $10,000 $3,000 Work --Move office partition to rear of building and install p.b. on ceiling Construct addn. to ex. bldg. (16x16) Repair bldg; replace window sills Alter portion of 1st floor of existing building Tenant improvements to retail (bookstore/espresso) [Bauhaus Books] Interior tenant improvements for space #303, change use from office to retail and occupy per plans.
IV. HISTORICAL CONTEXT A. Early development of the neighborhood and the Pine Street regrade In the late 1800s, the still-undeveloped subject site was perched at the western edge of a long continuous ridge stretching north-south from Eastlake to First Hill. In the 1880s, the only building of significance in the immediate area had been the modest Grace Hospital, constructed 1885-87 by the Episcopalians of Trinity Church, as the citys second hospital. The facility was located two blocks southeast of the subject site at Crawford Place, Union Street, and Summit Avenue. The hospital did not survive a local and national economic downturn in 1893, was used for a few years by a group of doctors, and by 1899 was abandoned. It operated as a boarding house and hotel, but finally in 1905 it was demolished and replaced with the Summit School, which was the largest institutional building near the subject site. [Fig 27] At the turn of the 20th century, the growth of the early city of Seattle had centered around todays downtown. Expansion was hemmed in by steep hills, such as the ridge where the subject site was located, consisting of glacial till shaped during the last ice age. A 1899 topographic map of Seattle shows the areas west of the subject site, at the base of this hill, more developed; the areas east of the site, at the top of the plateau, were less developed. [Fig 28] Pike Street as far east as 8th and 9th Avenues was more developed than Pine Street, because it was served by a streetcar for that length. At about 9th Avenue, the streetcar lines then angled northward along the gentle grades of Stewart and Howell Streets, to serve the Cascade neighborhood to the north, and entirely avoided the steep slopes up Pike or Pine Streets. To accommodate commercial and residential development in the explosively growing city at the turn of the century, the city undertook extensive programs to regrade streets, which involved flattening slopes and filling gullies. The City of Seattle had already undertaken other regrades in the downtown area (notably raising the grades around the waterfront and tideflat areas, and lowering the grades around Jackson and Madison Streets) at the turn of the 20th century. The primary advocate for the regrades was Reginald H. Thomson, who was the longtime City Engineer from the 1890s to 1911, and again briefly in the 1930s. The main purposes were to encourage development in parts of the city plagued by steep street grades (a serious problem in an age of horse-drawn vehicles, although soon to be a moot
point with the advent of combustion engines), and to improve water and sewage systems in the city. In the process of regrading a primary street, the perpendicular intersecting streets had to be regraded as well, to keep slopes consistent across intersections. At Pike Street in 1899, on the three blocks between what is todays 9th, Terry, Boren, and Minor Avenues, the elevation rose approximately 120 feet, with an average grade of over 12%. Pine Street was even steeper at an almost 19% grade, due to the same elevation change over just two blocks, between todays Terry, Boren, and Minor Avenues (ie, immediately west of the subject site). In 1903, the city regraded Pike Street from 7th Avenue to Boylston to a steep but more manageable 7% grade, finally providing convenient access to this part of the growing Capitol Hill neighborhood. In 1907, Pine Street and Olive Street were regraded, with Pine Street reduced to a continuous 5.6% grade from 9th Avenue to Belmont. As part of this work, Pine Street at the subject block was also widened. According to press accounts at the time, Pine Street at Melrose was to be leveled by 5.9 feet, and Pine at Bellevue by 5.7 feet. Fill depths for this regrading work reached over 25 feet, at Pine and Terry. 3 [Fig 29] Both regrades affected the grades of Melrose Avenue, Bellevue Avenue, and other side streets. Two c.1906 houses midblock on Melrose Avenue, which were built prior to the regrading work, remain on the subject block. They tower approximately 18 feet above todays sidewalk, providing an indication of the previous grades on that street. 4 [Fig 3] In the 1905 Sanborn map, the surrounding blocks have begun to fill in with modest c. 1900 single-family frame homes. The maps are detailed enough to show corner turrets, bay windows, and projecting porches, following the Queen Anne style, typical of the period. Some outbuildings are shown in the rear yards. Probably because of the grades, the subject block was not platted with an alley. A few boarding houses are identified on the 1905 map as well, most frame buildings. By 1905, the wood-frame Swedish Mission Church [Fig 31] indicated on the map at the corner of Bellevue and Pike, a block south of the subject site, would be replaced in 1910 by the stone-built Swedish Tabernacle (todays First Covenant Church). [Fig 39] Other substantial masonry buildings constructed in the immediate area during this time were the six-story Wintonia Hotel in 1909 at Pike and Minor [Fig 32], and the three-story Hotel Avondale in 1908 at Pike and Boren. Just a few years later, the 1912 Baist map shows extensive streetcar lines serving the neighborhood, including along Pine directly in front of the building, along Pike and Melrose at the subject block, and along Summit and Bellevue north of Pine. During this decade, increasing numbers of apartment buildings , mixed use buildings, and automotive-related businesses began to line the main streets of Pike and Pine, leading up to Broadway, the main north-south spine of the growing neighborhood. [Fig 34] In 1915, the subject building was constructed as a light industrial store building for multiple commercial tenants, no doubt to take advantage of the growing commercial area. The property had remained undeveloped until that time. B. Building owners No chain of title was available for this report. Tax roll ledgers from 1895 to 1941 at the Puget Sound Regional Archives were reviewed for information regarding possible owners of the property. The ledgers list the propertys fee owner every five years, generally in years ending in a 5 or 0. A fee owner is the person paying the taxes on the property, which is usually the owner, although not necessarily so. The property was platted in 1892. The first fee owner of the property listed in the tax roll ledgers was Gustaf Falk and his wife, Hulda, in 1900. According to Polks Directory that year, Falk was a carpenter who lived a few blocks away at 204 Bellevue Avenue N. Hulda was still living at that address at the time of her death in 1945, but she and Gustaf had
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Pine Street to be widened, The Seattle Times, October 7, 1906, p.54. Ketcherside, Robert. Undermining the Republican Senator from Melrose, February 26, 2012, CHS Re:Take history column, www.capitolhillseattle.com.
divorced in 1934. No additional information could be found about Gustaf. 5 The Falks were also listed as the fee owner in 1905, however, no buildings were built on the site during this period. For 1910, the fee owner listed is Albert Speyers, and for 1915, the fee owner is listed as A.W. Speyers - Realty & Leasehold Company. No information could be found about Speyers, and there is no listing for that person in the city directories during that time. The Realty and Leasehold Company was a real estate investment company active in Seattle from 1912 until 1977, when the corporation was dissolved. 6 Little information could be uncovered about it from state corporation records or Seattle Times news articles, but it appears to have been involved in downtown real estate investments and composed of prominent Seattleites. In 1913 the president was D. C. Conover, and in 1944, the president was Henry Broderickthe former a Seattle attorney and judge, and the latter a major real estate investor. 7 From 1920 onward, the tax roll ledgers list George Gund as the fee owner of the subject parcel. The current building was constructed in 1915 as a Store Building for Mr. Pelham H. Blossom, according to the architectural drawings on file at the Seattle Department of Planning and Development microfilm library. Therefore either Gund or Blossom may have been the owner, or the leaseholder, of the property. It seems likely that these two men were Pelham Hooker Blossom and George Gund II. Very little information was found for Blossom, but he and Gund appear at least to have been acquaintances. 8 Blossom was one of the younger of five children of Henry S. and Leila Stocking Blossom, of Cleveland, Ohio. He was born in 1886, and their family appears to have moved in wealthy social circles there. His oldest brother, Dudley S. Blossom, was a prominent judge, a member of the Ohio legislature in the early 1920s, held appointed offices in Cleveland, and active in financial, business, humanitarian, and cultural institutions. 9 George Gund II was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, in 1888, the son of George Frederick Gund and Anna Louise Metzger Gund. 10 The Gund family had owned and operated a large brewery in LaCrosse, begun by Georges grandfather, John Gund. The family moved to Seattle around 1891, residing first at 1307 Seneca Street, and later at 1203 Boylston Avenue, both on First Hill. According to one unconfirmed source, George Frederick Gund purchased an interest in Seattles Claussen-Sweeney Brewing Company in May 1891. 11 In 1893, this brewery had consolidated with the local Bay View Brewing Company and the Albert Braun Brewing Company, incorporating as the Seattle Brewing and Malting Company, and introducing in that year its Rainier brand of beer. 12 According to city directories, George Frederick Gund was president of the Seattle Brewing and Malting Company for just 1897, but probably late 1896 as well. This position at the brewery was apparently short-lived, for later in 1897 the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where George Frederick Gund purchased the Jacob Mall Brewing Company, renaming it the Gund Brewery. Gund apparently sold his interest in the brewery to Andrew Hemrich, who is listed in city directories for many years thereafter as president of the Seattle Brewing and Malting Company. Hemrich, with John Kopp, had owned the Bay View Brewery since 1883, which was located at todays Airport Way and Hanford
Gustaf should not be confused with E. Gustave Falk, who lived in Seattle in the early 1900s, and was the pastor of the First Swedish Church. 6 Dates of incorporation from Washington Secretary of States office. 7 Plan structure at Broadway and Pike, Seattle Times, February 23, 1913; and Finance--Banks of city hold elections, Seattle Times, January 11, 1944. 8 Both appear as members of seven-member election committee in 1920 in Cleveland, with Blossoms brother Dudley, as mentioned in a Congressional evidentiary hearing. United States Senate, Hearing before a subcommittee of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, Sixty-Sixth Congress, Second Session, pursuant to S. Res. 357, Vol.II (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1921), p.1767. 9 Biography of Dudley S. Blossom, in William R. Coates, A History of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland. The American Historical Society: Chicago and New York, 1924. Birth date from military service records, accessed online. 10 Information on George Gund is derived primarily from Biography of George Gund, The George Gund Foundation, www.gundfdn.org. Additional unconfirmed information is derived from George Gund, philanthropist, on wikipedia.org, which mainly uses two references as its source material for Gunds family and early life: German-American Business Biographies: High Finance and Big Business by Charles R. Haller (Asheville, NC: Moneytree Imprints, 2001), and Brewing in Cleveland, by Robert A. Musson (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2005). He is also known as George Gund Jr. 11 Biography of Edward F. Sweeney (1860-1926), derived from An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H. K. Hines, DD, The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago IL, 1893, at the website www.brewerygems.com. 12 Rainier Beer, Seattles Iconic Brewery, HistoryLink.org essay #9130, by Peter Blecha, August 26, 2009.
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Street. According to Hemrichs biography, he had worked early in his career at an unnamed brewery in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and therefore may possibly have known the Gunds through that connection. 13 In later years, George Frederick Gund apparently became wealthy investing in banking, mining, and real estate in Cleveland, until his death in 1916. George Frederick Gunds son, George Gund II, attended Harvard University, and graduated from the first class of the Harvard Business School in 1909. At 21 years of age, Gund moved back to Seattle in 1909, the city where he had spent his childhood years from ages 3 to 9, from 1891 to 1897. In Seattle, George Gund II began his career as a messenger for the Seattle National Bank, and quickly became active in Seattle clubs and society. After three years at the bank, he became Vice President of his friend Henry Brodericks Seattle real estate company, Henry Broderick Inc. Gund and Broderick would remain close friends for the rest of their lives. Other members of the Gund family maintained close connections to friends in Seattle as well, including Georges sister Agnes. 14 Gund appears to have immediately used his business acumen to become an enthusiastic booster for real estate development opportunities in Seattle, both commercial and residential. Several times between 1912 and 1914 he travelled to major cities in the Eastern US to assess possibilities in Seattlefor example, on one trip, he extensively analyzed industrial land real estate prices per square foot in Cleveland, Detroit, and Montreal as compared to Seattle, in light of the business opportunities with the opening of the Panama Canal a few years hence. 15 It seems possible that, during the trip to Cleveland in 1914, Gund may have recommended to Pelham H. Blossom that he invest in Seattle real estate. Throughout the boom years of the 1890s to the late 1920s, East Coast investments in Seattle business and real estate were not uncommon, and often without the investors ever visiting the city. Pelham Blossoms name could not be found in Seattle directories around the period that the subject building was designed and built, and so he was presumably not a resident of the city, which might support the theory that he was a remote real estate investor. When Gunds father died in 1916, he returned to Cleveland to head the family realty business, and expanded his familys wealth into a considerable fortune. 16 In later years, Gund served in Army intelligence during World War I, developed the Kaffee-Hag Corporation in Cleveland, attended animal husbandry school at Iowa State University, and pursued ranching in Nevada. Although living in Ohio, Gund continued his close connections to Seattle throughout his life. In 1931, Gund made considerable headlines by purchasing (through Broderick) a large half-block parcel at Seventh Avenue and Pine Street occupied by a public market building. It was hailed as the first substantial infusion of outside capital in the citys real estate since the economic depression of 1929 (the site is now occupied by the Qwest Plaza building). In 1941 Gund was described as having extensive holdings, especially in the Pine Street business section, a frequent visitor to the Pacific Northwest, and a long-time member of Seattles Rainier Club. 17 As previously mentioned, tax records indicate that George Gund was the fee owner of the subject property in 1935. It seems likely that his involvement in this propertyperhaps purchasing it from Pelham Blossomwas another of Gunds ongoing investments in the Seattle real estate market.
Andrew Hemrich, in Bagleys History of King County, Vol. IV, pp.32. Miss Agnes Gund dead, The Seattle Times, August 1, 1922, p.12. 15 Broker holds an optimistic view, The Seattle Times, August 25, 1912, p.12; Comparison shows prices low here, February 2, 1912, p.12; Speculation helps in building communities-Seattle realty dealer says that line between speculator and investor is frequently a narrow one, April 13, 1913, p.13; and Home city best that Gund sees, January 25, 1914. 16 George Gund, former resident, obituary, The Seattle Times, November 15, 1966, p.43. 17 Eastern mans buy gives real estate impetus, The Seattle Times, November 22, 1931; and Former Seattle man heads bank, July 13, 1941, p.23.
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In 1936, Gund married and settled down in Cleveland to raise a family, and worked in banking. In 1941 he became president of The Cleveland Trust Company, one of the largest banking institutions in the country at the time, and in later years was chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the bank. In 1937, Gund began a formal program of charitable giving. By 1952 he founded the George Gund Foundation. Major recipients of Gunds or the Gund Foundations philanthropy have included the Cleveland Institute of Art (where he was president), University School-Cleveland, Iowa State University, Harvard University, 18 Kenyon College, and many others. Gund died in 1966 at age 71. The Foundation has now made grants totaling more than $562 million since its founding. 19 In 1975 and 1976, the Gund Foundation and the Henry Broderick estate donated to Seattle University a 6,100 square foot property at the corner of Olive Way, Fifth Avenue, and Westlake, which George and Henry had jointly purchased in 1913 as an investment. The site, now occupied by the 20+ story Westlake Center Building, was valued at $500,000 at the time of its donation, and the funds were used by S.U. to establish the Gund-Broderick Endowment to foster human-services educational programs at the school. 20 Tax records indicate that the subject property was purchased in 1945 by John Lucurell, for $14,500, and the property remained in the family until recently (in 1971, the fee owner was Robert L. Lucurell). Lucurell was born in Italy in 1899 and came to the United States when he was five years old. He grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and received an accounting degree from Denison University. In 1931 he arrived in Seattle as a traveling auditor for a canned-food company, then met and married Lucile Delaloye in 1934. Lucurell purchased three macaroni-making businesses, merging them in 1939 into the Mission Macaroni Company. 21 After selling the macaroni company, he owned Staedecker and Company, a womens millinery business, and later, a restaurant at Olive Way and Melrose Avenue. In 1959, he founded Select Credit Card, the first travel and entertainment credit-card business in the Northwest. Lucurell also served as a president of the Seattle Accountants Association, and was active in the UW Tyee Club, the Young Mens Business Club, the Washington Athletic Club, Rainier Golf and Country Club, and the Nile Temple. He died in 1989, at age 90. King County tax records indicate that in 1999, then-owners Robert J. and Lynn D. Lucurell transferred the subject property to the Dodre Family Limited Partnership, which then transferred the property in 2006 to the M&P Partnership, the current owner. M&P Partnership also owns several parcels adjacent to the subject building. C. Building occupants The subject building was constructed in 1915 as a one-story commercial building for multiple tenants. The commercial spaces were addressed as odd-numbered 301-309 E. Pine Street. Polks Seattle Directory introduced reverse listings starting in 1938, allowing a reader to find the name of the occupant for a given address, in addition to the normal listings which are the other way around. Prior to 1938, reverse listings are only available for one year, 1928. A review of names of tenants every decade or so from 1928 to 1990 did not reveal any names of apparent significance. For years prior to 1938 (with the exception of the single year 1928), the method used to identify tenants for this report was through an online search of period Seattle Times advertisements. An early tenant, indicated through a c.1917 photograph and print advertisement, was the Excelsior Motorcycle and Bicycle Company. They occupied the westernmost commercial storefront, on the corner, from about 1917 until 1925
18 Among other Harvard programs that have received gifts from the Gund Foundation, the architecture department and Graduate School of Design is housed in George Gund Hall. Graham Gund, one of Georges sons, is a well-known Boston architect. 19 History of the Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, www.gundfdn.org, accessed December 5, 2012. 20 S.U. given key Westlake property, The Seattle Times, November 16, 1976, p.1; and S.U. gift dates to 1913 purchase by friends, November 17, 1976, p.A-6. 21 John Lucurell... obituary, The Seattle Times, January 25, 1989; and Engagement announced, The Seattle Times, December 28, 1933, p.11.
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(according to city directories). A 1925 advertisement indicates that they sold and serviced new and used Excelsiors, Harley-Davidsons, and Indian brand motorcycles. 22 There have been several long-term tenants in the building, including some businesses related to automobile service, primarily Keystone Welding. Advertisements for the Keystone Welding and Brazing Company at this address appear in the Seattle Times as early as 1919. 23 Advertisement copy states that they were automobile welders, specializing in cylinders and hollow work, and that they provided a service car for deliveries. Advertisements over many years state that welding was also taught at that location, including night classes. The 1937 tax assessor photo shows another auto-related tenant of the building, E. R. Thornton Auto Parts. One long-term tenant, Broadway Cycle Company, begins to appear at this location in Seattle Times advertisements in 1946. Ad copy states that they offered lawn mower service and precision grinding but offer no information about bicycles or motorcycles, as one might expect. They also list a sister company, Ballard Cycle, at 6319 24th Avenue NW. A company called Broadway Cycle was located as early as 1911 at 1714 Broadway, and then at 1828 Broadway in the 1930s, and may be related. From the late 1960s to the present, some of the commercial spaces have used by the building owners, the Lucurells. The furniture store Mobilia was established in the subject building in 1968 by Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Lucurell, as a hobby enterprise importing designer European furniture. 24 In recent decades, one of the primary occupants has been Robert J. Lucurell & Co. Inc., an insurance adjusting firm. Polks Directory, and the 1928 Seattle list known occupants of the five street level storefronts for the following years were as follows; some occupied more than one commercial space: 1928 1938 1943 1951 1957 1961 Keystone Welding & Brazing Company (since 1919 at this address) Vacant Keystone Welding Company Everett G. Hoffman, auto dealer Keystone Welding Company Broadway Cycle sales and service (since 1946 at this address) Keystone Welding Company Broadway Cycle sales and service Vacant Broadway Cycle sales and service Vacant Uptown Radiators Service auto repair Mobilia furniture and clothes Calvin-Gorasht Architects Mobilia parking garage In The Beginning Quilts Calvin-Gorasht Architects Robert J. Lucurell & Co. Inc., insurance adjusting Northwest Arthritis Foundation fundraising charity
1971
1981
22 Excelsior cycle house growing, The Seattle Times, January 20, 1918, p.7; and How about that July trip? classified advertisement, The Seattle Times, June 28, 1925, p.12. 23 Broken Parts, advertisement, The Seattle Times, October 12, 1919, p.7. 24 Fun place to shop..., The Seattle Times, July 25, 1968, p.24.
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Melrose & Pine Building Co. apartment rental Restaurant Management Corp. Robell Company, investors 1990 Classic American Construction Anne Fisher Associates, interior designer Robert J. Lucurell & Co. Inc., insurance adjusting Northwest for Arthritis Foundation fundraising charity Melrose & Pine Building Co. apartment rental Adjusters International public insurance adjusting Melrose Coach used car sales Mobilia interior decorators Seattle Tea & Coffee food distributors Drew Lucurell Delaloye, lawyer
D. The development of the Pike-Pine Auto Row on Capitol Hill Some of the early commercial occupants of the subject building were automobile-related service companies, and therefore the building might be considered to have a relationship with the Pike-Pine Auto Row which developed in the early part of the 20th century. Capitol Hill is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. Seattles founders had settled on Elliott Bay only in 1852, and incorporated in 1869. While First Hill developed first as the fashionable neighborhood for the growing elite in the expanding city, Capitol Hill followed close behind, being developed by about 1880-1900. Both neighborhoods were convenient to downtown, enjoyed water views and fresh air, and were some of the earliest areas served by streetcar lines. A map showing 1896 street railways shows two lines serving First Hill via Yesler Way and James Street, while several lines were serving Capitol Hill via Pike, Union, Howell, Stewart, and other streets. Neighborhood development generally followed streetcar lines. 25 On the interior of the hills and on lower slopes, such as around the subject property, more modest middle-class homes and small apartment buildings were built, with scattered commercial buildings, creating a relatively dense, pedestrian-scaled neighborhood. Pike Street was the first street as one departed north from the downtown area that was improved to reach Capitol Hill. In 1901, the streetcar line in the downtown portion of Pike Street was extended all the way up to Broadway. 26 Pine followed shortly after. Both were regraded in the early 1900s to provide a gentler slope from downtown to Broadway, by the turn of the century. Nearly flat Broadwaythe main north-south spine of the developing neighborhoodwas also an early paved street, and had one of the few north-south streetcar lines that did not go through downtown, but rather connected Capitol Hill and First Hill. Where streetcar lines went, automobiles soon followed. The first sold in 1905, but to a city still used to streetcars, horse transportation, or walking, the new automobiles were essentially toys for the wealthy. Because Pike and Pine were the easiest connection to Broadway, and Broadway connected the wealthy First Hill and Capitol Hill enclaves, the Pike-Pine-Broadway area began to develop into an early Auto Row, characterized by numerous dealerships, auto repair shops, parts suppliers, paint shops, parking garages, used car dealers, and the like. 27 Dealerships would have been the most prominent buildings in the Auto Row area, usually located at the most visible locations and in ornate, architect-designed buildings. The building type housing these dealerships were generally fireresistive construction of concrete or brick, two to four stories tall, with large showroom or garage spaces on the first floor, and parking on upper floors accessed by ramps or large elevators. At the beginning of the 20th century in Seattle, automobiles were purchased from local distributors after selecting a model from an auto show, a showroom, or from literature. The vehicle would be delivered months later. Unlike today, there were a wide range of manufacturers
Horse-drawn streetcars had been introduced in Seattle in 1884, cable cars in 1887, and electric streetcars in 1889. By 1892, Seattle had 48 miles of streetcar lines and 22 miles of cable car lines. 26 Williams, p.42. 27 Today also referred to as the Pike-Pine Corridor.
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competing for market sharenot only Ford and Chrysler, but now-departed brands like Federal, Menominee, Chalmers, Saxon, Bauch-Lang Electric, Seldon, Mitchell, Hubmobile, Pierce-Arrow, Case, Reo, Willys-Overbrand, Peerless, Packard, Studebaker, and others. 28 Seattles population in this period was growing exponentially, and automobile purchases grew with it, due to increased familiarity with the new technology, and increasingly moderate prices. From 1890 to 1900 the Seattle population had nearly doubled over the decade, to 80,761. City boundaries expanded through several 1907 annexations, such that by 1910 the population had nearly tripled to 237,194, and to approximately 327,000 in 1920. 29 The growth of vehicle ownership resulted in large numbers of secondary businesses springing up to provide support and services. Automobile-related listings in the Seattle Polks Directory had grown substantially; for example, by 1915, there were 55 businesses listed under Automobile Manufacturers and Dealers, but nearly twice as many102 listed under Automobile Repairs and Supplies. These services included various headings such as Automobile Accessories, Automobile Fenders, Lamps, and Radiators, Automobile Gasoline, and so forth. Some automobile listings appear to be addressing a public still used to horses and carriagesfor example, the 1915 directory has subheadings such as Automobile Tops and Trimmings, Automobile Liveries (See Garages), and even Automobile Hospitals. Unlike the automobile dealerships, auto services were often likely to be located in more utilitarian structures, and often on the side streets of the Auto Row area. Garages and some service buildings were built of masonry or concrete fire-resistive construction like the auto dealerships, except less ornate. Between these masonry structures were also found simple wood-frame shop or service buildings, usually only one story. Beginning around the 1920s, other auto rows began to appear over the decades in other parts of Seattle, and autorelated service businesses began to be not necessarily associated with the Pike-Pine-Broadway area. In the Depression years of the 1930s, many auto businesses closed and some dealerships moved to selling used cars. In the postwar years of the late 1940s, dealerships moved to expansive outdoor lots and new buildings as they followed suburban development. In the Pike-Pine area during the past several decades, many former automotive-related concrete, masonry, and heavy-timber structures were adapted to residential, retail, entertainment, and institutional uses. Today, the Pike-Pine Corridor has several former auto dealership buildings and automobile service buildings that have been cited in city surveys as having a high degree of integrity. Automobile-related buildings cited in the Sound Transit environmental impact statement include the Seattle Automobile Company (1000 E. Pike) and the Lieback Garage (1101 E. Pike), which concluded that they may be eligible for National Register or city landmark status. The Historic Property Survey Report for Seattles Neighborhood Commercial Districts cites the following buildings as notable: 30 Utrecht Art Supplies, a former Packard dealership (1120 Pike) AEI Music, a former Packard dealership (1600 Broadway) Former Tyson Automobile Company (901 E. Pine) Former Graham Motor Cars (915 E. Pike) Former Colyear Auto Sales, later occupied by REI (1021 E Pine)
F. The architect, John Creutzer The architect of the subject building was John Alfred Creutzer, according to the original drawings on file at the Department of Planning and Development microfilm library. Creutzer was active in Seattle during the boom years of the 1910s and 1920s, and was a prolific and moderately well-known architect in his time. He designed a large number of apartment buildings, as well as churches, mixed-use buildings, and theaters. Many of his known works are still standing, although some have been altered.
Sheridan, p.27; BOLA, p.5. Ochsner, Shaping Seattle Architecture, pp. xviii-xxxii. 30 Sheridan, p.27.
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Information on Creutzers background is limited. He was born in 1873 in Sweden, and came to the United States around 1892. He then lived and worked for a time in Minneapolis, and while there married Hilma Johnson, another Swede whose family had settled there. The Creutzers then moved to Spokane, and then to Seattle, arriving around 1906, and eventually settling in Wallingford. In Seattle, Creutzer provided architectural work and construction supervision for Alexander Pearson, a Swedish-American contractor, and for architect Henderson Ryan. 31 Ryan had many active projects during the period of 1906 to about 1908; it is possible Creutzer could have worked on any of them. They include the Swedish Baptist Church at Pine Street and 9th Avenue (1904-5 or -6, destroyed), the sevenstory Waldorf Hotel at Pike Street and 7th Avenue (1906-7, demolished 2000), the Roycroft Apartments at Harvard Avenue and Thomas Street (1906-7), the Grandview Apartments on Eastlake Avenue E. near Harrison Street (1907), and the Fredonia Apartments on 15th Avenue E. and E. Mercer Street (1908). 32 By 1908, Creutzer had established his own office, but seems to have formed several short-term or perhaps projectspecific partnerships with builders or architects in this early part of his career, based on news articles at the time. Known projects during this period include: The Hawthorn Apartments at 16th Avenue and Harrison Street (Kingsley, Eastman & Creutzer, 1909). 33 [Fig 38] An eight-room dwelling north of Lake Union costing $3,000 (Kingsley & Creutzer, 1910). 34 Swedish Tabernacle at Pike Street and Melrose Avenue (Creutzer, 1910), today known as First Covenant Church, a designated Seattle landmark. 35 [Fig 39] 203 W. Comstock Street on Queen Anne Hill, a three-story apartment house for J. L. Lang, costing $35,000 or $20,000 (Quandt & Creutzer, 1912). 36 [Fig 38]
The most significant early project for Creutzer was the Swedish Tabernacle (1910), later known as First Covenant Church, a block from the subject site at Pike Street and Melrose Avenue. The church was composed primarily of Swedish immigrants. Creutzer was a member of the congregation, as was Alexander Pearson, and both were on the building committee. This may have been the reason for his selection as architect, although he does not appear to have designed anything before that is comparable in scale, size, materials, or complexity. The domed neoclassical structure, with monumental engaged columns along its Pike Street elevation, replaced the wood frame Swedish Mission Church on the site that had been the previous home of the congregation. By the mid-1910s, now in his forties and more established, he appears to have worked as the sole architect on the majority of his projects. There is no resource which lists his complete body of work. Below is a chronological list of projects during this period found for this report, derived primarily from newspaper accounts, and is therefore not exhaustive: Grand Central Building at 25 N. Wenatchee Avenue, in Wenatchee (1912, altered). 37 [Fig 40] The Broadway Theater (1913) at Pine Street and Broadway. The building is described as 60x120 feet, seating 800, and costing $25,000. 38 This project may have been unbuilt. A two-story masonry building at 1527 Broadway (1913). A possible photo of the building is located at [Fig 41]. This may be referring to the same building as the Broadway Theater, listed above. In any event, the building is no longer extant.
Creutzer, John, Pacific Coast Architecture Database, retrieved December 6, 2012. Ochsner, p.350; and Larry E. Johnson, Ballard Carnegie Free Public Library, Seattle Landmark nomination report, November 2011, pp.12-13. 33 Apartments for Sixteenth Avenue, The Seattle Times, February 7, 1909, p.6. 34 Note under Manufacturers get valuable publicity, The Seattle Times, September 11, 1910, p.15. 35 New Swedish Tabernacle..., The Seattle Times, May 3, 1910, p.8. 36 Many apartments built this winter, The Seattle Times, February 25, 1912, page number obscured; and Building permits for week..., March 31, 1912, p.12. 37 Artifacts Consulting, Downtown Wenatchee Historic District, National Register of Historic Places Registration form, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, prepared July 23, 2008, p.18. 38 Nearly $9,000,000 spent..., The Seattle Times, November 9, 1913, p.12.
31 32
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Shops at 610-618 E. Pike Street (1913, altered), 39 occupied by automobile-related service companies. [Fig 42] The Colonial Theater at 1513 4th Avenue (1914; demolished). 40 [Fig 40] Carolina Court Apartments at Eastlake and Mercer Street (1915). The project was built by Alexander Pearson, Creutzers previous employer. The opening of this Colonial Revival courtyard apartment building received an unusual and perhaps undeserved amount of coverage by the Seattle Times, probably because Alden Blethen, the owner of the Times, was one of its investors. 41 [Fig 43] Willard Apartment House at Summit Avenue and Marion Street (1915; demolished). This three-story building was mill construction and cost $40,000, built for F. F. Adams, a Seattle investor. 42 The site is now occupied by part of the Swedish Hospital complex. [Fig 44] Melrose Building (1915), the subject building of this report. A motion picture and vaudeville theater on Pike Street downtown (Max Umbrecht and John Creutzer, 1916; unbuilt). This project was for Eugene Levy, owner of the Hippodrome Theater at Third Avenue and Cherry Street, and was estimated to cost $400,000. The project was never built. However, a news article went into detail describing the finished design: The building was to seat 5000 people, and had the largest stage in the West; the layout was similar to the existing Hippodrome plan; the lobby featured a mens smoking room, a womens parlor, a soda fountain and a candy store; a twenty-five man orchestra was to provide the music; and the seats were to have a novel electrical system in which a small light on the backs of seats would indicate which are vacant and therefore available. 43 Fairmount Congregational Church at SW Juneau Street and 42nd Avenue SW in West Seattle (1919), today known as West Seattle Church of the Nazarene. This eclectic, Craftsman-Gothic shingled church features a deeply coved main auditorium, as well as classrooms and a nursery. 44 [Fig 44] First Presbyterian Churchs Oriental Evangelization Society of Seattle (1919, demolished). This building, which had been located at 9th Avenue and Weller Street, and was presumably demolished for the construction of the Interstate 5 highway. 45 Apartment building at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Blanchard Street (1922). This project may have been unbuilt. The owner was J. W. Graff, and the building was described as five stories, clad in brick and terracotta, and contained 62 apartments. 46 Granada Apartments at E. Howell Street and Belmont Avenue (1923). This large brick and terracotta structure is six stories, originally contained 96 two- and three-room apartments with kitchenettes and Murphy beds, and cost $400,000 to build. 47 [Fig 45] Apartment building at Fifth Avenue and Cherry Street (1923). This project may have been unbuilt. It was described as a six-story, steel frame structure clad in brick and terracotta, with 107 efficiency apartments. 48
Boyle Wagoner Architects, Section 8, p.17. Building passes $9,000,000..., The Seattle Times, January 4, 1914. 41 New apartment house recently opened, The Seattle Times, February 7, 1915, p.14. 42 New modern three-story apartment house, The Seattle Times, July 11, 1915, p.12. 43 Splendid new theater to be built by Levy, The Seattle Times, February 14, 1916, p.1. 44 Two new church buildings planned, The Seattle Times, August 9, 1919, p.7. 45 Ibid. 46 New apartment house will cost $100,000, The Seattle Times, February 21, 1922, p.5. 47 Increased activity..., The Seattle Times, June 11, 1922, p.21; and Ready for occupancy, March 18, 1923, p.24. 48 Building bids opened, The Seattle Times, February 11, 1923, p.20.
39 40
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Apartment building at 4910 Brooklyn Avenue (1923; demolished?). Brick and terracotta, 33 apartments, for H. Riernertsen. 49 Englewood Apartments at 420 Terry Avenue (1923). 50 Medical-Dental Building at Westlake, Olive Way, and Fifth Avenue (1924). 51 Perhaps Creutzers best-known work, this sixteen-story building was hailed at the time as one of the tallest buildings in Seattle, and an anchor to the north end of downtown. The design in 1923 was expressed in an Italian Renaissance style, with Creutzer as design architect, Hamilton Rowe and Frank Fowler as associated architects. By 1924, Creutzers design was instead neo-Gothic in a skyscraper mode. The ornate, terracotta-clad building was designed to fill the entire block along Olive Street, but only the south end of the site was initially constructed to full height. The north half of the lot was completed only to the base. Later, in the 1950s, the north half was built out, but following a modernist design, and the base was renovated to match the modernist design. The building was specifically designed for physicians and dentists to be tenants. According to one source, A.H. Albertson was a consulting architect on the project, since he had had experience with the medical suites at other downtown medical buildings. 52 [Fig 46] Store building for Anton Schwab, in Kirkland, Washington (1924).
53
Store building for Meta Carkeek at Olive Way, Denny Way, and Summit Avenue (1924). 54 The Campus Apartments at 4210 Brooklyn Avenue (1924), also brick and terracotta, for Hans Reinertsen, and with 31 apartments. 55 [Fig 47] Pontius Court Apartments at Eastlake and Republican (1925, demolished). Creutzer owned and developed this project, which contained 44 efficiency apartments, and was located adjacent to the c.1910 Republican hill climb. He sold the building for $146,000 in 1927. The building was demolished for the construction of Interstate 5. 56 [Fig 47] E. M. Young Block / Ajax Drug building at southwest corner of Seventh and Pike (1925, demolished). 57 [Fig 48] Charbern Apartments (1926) at 1705 Belmont Avenue. 58 [Fig 48] Union Arms Apartments (1926) at 604 E. Union Street. 59 [Fig 49] Johnson & Hamilton Mortuary (1926) at Madison Avenue and 11th Avenue, today the Gene Lynn Building on the Seattle University campus. 60 [Fig 49]
Plans new apartment, The Seattle Times, March 10, 1923, p.14. Evidence of real estate activities, The Seattle Times, April 8, 1923, p.20; and Seattle excels in its apartments, The Seattle Times, July 6, 1924, p.15. 51 Work starts November 1 on skyscraper! The Seattle Times, September 26, 1923, p.1; and Sky scraper to cost two million, September 30, 1923, p.5; Building plans ready, January 6, 1924, p.15; and Tells of building, article by John Creutzer, May 24, 1925, p.23. 52 Thomas Veith, Albertson Wilson & Richardson, in Ochsner, p.164. 53 Building contract is let, The Seattle Times, August 10, 1924, p.26. 54 To build new stores, The Seattle Times, April 27, 1924, p.21. 55 Seattle excels in its apartments, The Seattle Times, July 6, 1924, p.15. 56 Building begins well, The Seattle Times, January 4, 1925, p.12; Big Eastlake structure completed, August 30, 1925, p.19; and Paul Dorpat, Seattle Now & Then: The Pontius Court Apartments, October 6, 2012, www.pauldorpat.com; Pontius Apartments sold..., The Seattle Times, January 31, 1927, p.8. 57 Building begins well / Will cost $65,000, The Seattle Times, January 4, 1925, p.12; and Structures sold or to be built and Remove old buildings, February 1, 1925, p.20; and Pioneer druggist..., July 20, 1925, p.16. 58 Charbern Apartment..., The Seattle Times, January 24, 1926, p.17. 59 Union Arms Apartments, advertisement, The Seattle Times, May 11, 1925, p. 60 Home buying activity..., rendering of building, The Seattle Times, August 1, 1926, p.14.
49 50
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Friedlander Court Apartments (1926), on Alki Avenue near 53rd Avenue SW. 61 [Fig 50] Park Vista Apartments (1928), at 5810 Cowen Place near Cowen Park. 62 [Fig 50] 1923 Fifth Avenue (1928), a two-story terracotta commercial building occupied originally by the Toledo Scale Company. 63 [Fig 51] El Rio Apartment Hotel / Julie Apartments, 1922 9th Avenue (1929, a designated Seattle Landmark). 64 [Fig 51] Emanuel Tabernacle Church at 503 N. 50th Street (1930). This project was completed posthumously.
Creutzer appeared to be somewhat active outside the office, as a few news citations attest. In 1918 he was appointed to the three-member Building Appeal Board, the group which decided contentions between builders and the citys building department. He was an active member of the Swedish Tabernacle, and served as their choir director for a time after 1919. 65 Creutzer died suddenly in 1929, at age 56, from a heart attack, just as he had arrived home on a Friday. An obituary in a trade publication stated that his popularity was attested by the large funeral cortege, composed of fellow architects, and contractors and materials men with whom he had business and personal relations during his long residence in Seattle. At least one existing project, a church, was completed after his death. His wife Hilma remained a member of First Covenant Church for the rest of her life, and died in 1958, at age 85. 66
Friedlander court adjoins salt water, The Seattle Times, October 31, 1926, p.30. 5810 Cowen Place, Historic Resources Survey, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Office of Historic Preservation, retrieved November 28, 2012. 63 Contract is let..., August 26, 1928, p.9. 64 Historic Resources Survey, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Office of Historic Preservation, retrieved November 28, 2012. 65 Swedish church shows prosperity, The Seattle Times, Feb. 1, 1919, p.8; and Woman Appointed..., May 10, 1918, p.15. 66 Funeral services for architect..., The Seattle Times, August 25, 1929, p.2; and John A. Creutzer, Pacific Builder & Engineer, September 7, 1929, p.46; Mrs. John Creutzer, obituary, The Seattle Times, April 29, 1958, p.42.
61 62
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V. BIBLIOGRAPHY Architect and Engineer. (1919). San Francisco, CA: Architect and engineer. Artifacts Consulting, Downtown Wenatchee Historic District, National Register of Historic Places Registration form, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, prepared July 23, 2008. Bagley, Clarence. History of King County, Washington - Volume IV. Seattle: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1929. Berner, Richard C. Seattle 1900-1920: From Boomtown, Urban Turbulence, to Restoration. Seattle: Charles Press, 1991. BOLA Architecture + Planning, 1205 East Pine Street, Seattle Landmark Nomination, June 2007. Boyle Wagoner Architects, El Rio Apartment Hotel National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, December 17, 1998. City of Seattle: Department of Neighborhoods, Historic Resources Survey database, www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/historicresources Department of Planning and Development, Microfilm Library, permit records and drawings. Department Of Planning and Development Parcel Data, 2010. www.seattle.gov. Department of Planning and Development, Directors Rule 3-2012, Character structures that cannot be demolished if incentives allowing additional height and floor size are used on a lot within the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District, February 27, 2012. Clarke, S. J. Seattle: Deluxe Supplement to the History of Seattle. Seattle: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1916. D.A. Sanborn. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. Seattle, Washington (various dates) maps accessed from Seattle Public Libraries, online. www.spl.org. HistoryLink, the Online Encyclopedia to Washington State History. www.historylink.org. Johnson, Larry E. Ballard Carnegie Free Public Library, Seattle Landmark nomination report, November 2011. Ketcherside, Rob. Undermining the Republican Senator from Melrose, February 26, 2012, Re:Take history column, www.capitolhillseattle.com. King County Assessors Records, at Puget Sound Regional Archives, at Bellevue Community College, Bellevue, WA. King County Parcel Viewer website. www.metrokc.gov/gis/mapportal/PViewer_main. Kroll Map Company Inc., "Kroll Map of Seattle," various dates. Nyberg, Folke, and Victor Steinbrueck, for the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. Capitol Hill: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources. Seattle: Historic Seattle, 1975. Nyberg, Folke, and Victor Steinbrueck, for the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority. First Hill: An Inventory of Buildings and Urban Design Resources. Seattle: Historic Seattle, 1975. Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, and Dennis Alan Andersen. Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and the Legacy of HH Richardson. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003.
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Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD). University Libraries, University of Washington, Seattle. Alan Michelson, 2005-2012. https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect. R.L. Polk and Company. Polks Directory to the City of Seattle. Seattle: various dates. Rosenberg, Casey. Streetcar Suburb: Architectural Roots of a Seattle Neighborhood. Seattle, WA: Fanlight Press, 1989. Seattle House and Street Directory-1928. Portland, Oregon: H.C. Grey, 1928. The Seattle Times newspaper. Seattle, Washington. Includes previous incarnations as The Seattle Press Times, The Seattle Daily Times, and The Seattle Sunday Times. Sheridan, Frances Amelia. Apartment House Development on Seattles Queen Anne Hill Prior to World War II. Unpublished masters thesis, Department of Urban Design, University of Washington, 1994. Sheridan, Mimi. Historic Property Survey Report: Seattles Commercial Districts. City of Seattle, Department of Neighborhoods, 2002. Veka, Clay H. Seattles Street Railway System and the Urban Form: Lessons from the Madison Street Cable Car. Unpublished paper, University of Washington, March 14, 2007. Washington State Division of Archives and Record Management. Historic Photo and Assessor Documentation. Williams, Jacqueline. "A New Seattle Neighborhood, Courtesy of J. A. Moore." Columbia Magazine, Spring 2002, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 30-35. Williams, Jacqueline. The Hill With A Future: Seattle's Capitol Hill, 1900-1946. Seattle: CPK Ink, 2001. Woodbridge, Sally, and Roger Montgomery. A Guide to Architecture in Washington State. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1980.
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VI. PREPARER AND REVIEWER INFORMATION Submitted & Prepared by: Nicholson Kovalchick Architects 310 First Avenue S., Suite 4-S Seattle WA 98104 Phone: 206-933-1150 Contact: Email: Direct: David R. Peterson david@nkarch.com 206-494-9791
Date:
December 27, 2012
Reviewed by:
Date:
22
VII. REPORT ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig 1 - Site map; red box indicates location of site. North is up. (Google Maps, 2012)
Fig 2 - Site map; red dotted box indicates location of site. North is up. (Google Maps, 2012)
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Fig 3 Neighborhood context: East side of Melrose, between Pike and Pine. House at center was built prior to the regrading of the local streets; the apartment building at left was built after regrading.
Fig 4 Neighborhood context: View west along E. Pine Street. Arrow indicates subject property.
Fig 5 Neighborhood context: View north along Melrose Avenue. Arrow indicates subject property.
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Fig 6 Neighborhood context: View east along E. Pine Street, just downhill from Melrose Avenue. Arrow indicates subject property.
Fig 7 Neighborhood context: View south along Melrose Avenue; Butterworth Mortuary at left. Arrow indicates subject property.
Fig 8 Neighborhood context: (Left and Right) Views southwestward of block bounded by Melrose and Pine, across Melrose from subject building. Arrow indicates subject property.
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Fig 9 Earliest found image of building, from a brief article from the July 5, 1917 issue of Motorcycle and Bicycle Illustrated magazine (p.23), so presumably from early 1917.
Fig 10 Photograph of a photograph currently displayed in Bauhaus Books & Coffee. Image undated, but c.1917-1925, showing early occupants of the building, Excelsior Motorcycle & Bicycle Company, and Keystone Welding and Brazing.
26
Fig 11 1937 Tax Assessor photo (Puget Sound Regional Archives)
Fig 12 The Melrose Building in 2012 (photo by Hewitt Architects). House at upper right pre-dates the Pine and Pike Street regrades, which also included Melrose Avenue.
27
28
Fig 15 Detail, north elevation, showing decorative brick panels, diamond-shaped tile, pier capitals, and window sash.
Fig 16 Interior, Bauhaus Books, which occupies the westernmost storefront. View from upper level balcony, looking onto Pine Street.
29
Fig 17 Interior in 2011, Bauhaus Books, showing at right an interior support post, and the freestanding structure which contains kitchen and counter at ground level, and provides mezzanine seating accessed by stairs against far wall (not visible in this photo). (Photo by Solsken, from Flickr.com)
Fig 18 Interior, Bauhaus Books, in 2007, showing freestanding counter/mezzanine seating area, at left, and Pine Street windows at right. The interior remains essentially unchanged in 2012. (Photo by Nicholas Boos, from Flickr.com)
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Fig 19 Interior of Bauhaus Books, in 2012. View from mezzanine seating area. Windows open onto Melrose Avenue at left, and Pine Street at right.
Fig 20 Interior of Bauhaus Books, in 2012. View of mezzanine seating area, and the party wall along the south property line, at left.
31
Fig 21 Interior, easternmost commercial storefront, in 2012; currently occupied by professional offices.
Fig 22 Interior in 2012; showing the three easternmost bays occupied by professional offices.
32
Fig 23 Interior in 2012; showing the three easternmost bays occupied by professional offices.
Fig 24 Interior in 2012; showing the three easternmost bays occupied by professional offices. This stair leads to an upper level loft space, which provides additional space underneath for storage rooms, restrooms, and the like.
33
Fig 25 Interior in 2012; showing upper level loft space.
Fig 26 Interior in 2012; showing upper level loft space. Windows shown here are transom windows at the middle-bay entry to the professional offices, immediately to the left of the storefronts occupied by Bauhaus Books & Coffee.
34
Fig 27 (Left) Grace Hospital, b.1885-87; (Right) Summit School which replaced it, b.1905 (both images from www.pauldorpat.com)
Fig 28 Detail, USGS 1899 topographic map of Seattle. Contour lines represent 20 feet in elevation; darker blocks represent denser settlement. Red box indicates site; arrows indicates Capitol Hill ridge. (UW maps, T-2421)
Fig 29 Pine Street regrade, (Left) diagram showing existing and proposed grades c.1900 (SPU 76-24-1) ; (Right) Undated view north along Melrose at Minor, from Pike Street towards Pine Street (a block from the subject parcel), showing regrading underway (UW Spec Coll SEA1305).
35
Fig 30 Detail, 1905 Sanborn maps #191 and 219 (two maps stitched together); red arrow indicates location of site; the lot has not yet been subdivided into two parcels. North is up. Note Swedish Mission Church at Bellevue & Pike, and Grace Hospital at Crawford, Union, & Summit.
36
Fig 31 Development of neighborhood. (Left) Swedish Mission Church at Pike and Bellevue in 1900, later replaced by the Swedish Tabernacle in 1910 (www.firstcovenantseattle.org); (Right) House at NW corner of Pike and Melrose in 1909 (today the location of the Six Arms pub); the roof peak of the Swedish Mission Church is barely visible at far right (UW Spec Coll LEE219).
Fig 32 Pike and Bellevue in 1917, one block from the subject site. Wintonia Hotel/Apartments visible at upper left. View is from one-story building in middle of Fig. 31 above. (Asahel Curtis, UW Spec Coll CUR1367)
Fig 33 Development of the neighborhood. (Left) Butterworth Mortuary (b.1922), across Pine from the subject building, in 1923 (MOHAI 1983.10.2561.3); (Right) 1216 Pine Street (kitty corner from the subject building), b.1967.
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Fig 34 1912 Baist map; red dotted box indicates location of site. North is up.
Fig 35 Detail, 1951 Sanborn maps #191 and 219 (two maps stitched together), showing the development of the neighborhood, with increased commercial development along Pike and Pine; red dotted box indicates location of site. North is up. Note Swedish Tabernacle at Bellevue & Pike, and Summit Public School at Crawford, Union, & Summit.
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(Left) Packard dealership at Pike and Melrose, b.1920; (Right) Seattle Automobile Co. at 1000 E. Pike, b.1912.
(Left) Universal Auto Repair at 1611 Boylston, b.1923; (Right) Triangle Auto Parts at 1001 E. Pike, b. 1916.
(Left) Liebeck Garage at 1101 E. Pike, b.1911; (Right) Carr Brothers Auto Repair at 401 E. Pine, b.1910. Fig 36 Automobile-related buildings which are listed as character structures in the DPDs Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District, from approximately the same period as the subject building. Names listed are historic names. Images are all tax assessor photos.
Fig 37 Boundaries of the DPD Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District (yellow), showing conservation core of the densest location of targeted properties (blue). Subject site indicated by red arrow. North is up.
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Fig 38 Early work by John Creutzer with other architects: Left, Hawthorn Apartments (Kingsley, Eastman & Creutzer, 1909; rendering from The Seattle Times, Feb. 7, 1909, p.6); Right, 203 W. Comstock (Quandt & Creutzer, 1912; tax assessor photo)
Fig 39 Other work by John Creutzer: Left and Right, Swedish Tabernacle or First Covenant Church (Creutzer, 1910; rendering from The Seattle Times, May 3, 1910, p.8)
Fig 40 Other work by John Creutzer: Left, Grand Central Building, Wenatchee, Washington (1912, altered; image from Artifacts Consulting, Downtown Wenatchee National Register of Historic Places report); Right, Colonial Theater, Seattle (1914, demolished; image from UW Spec. Coll. SEA0259).
40
Fig 41 Possible work by John Creutzer: 1527 Broadway (1913) was described as a two-story masonry building, but no image from the 1937 tax assessor photos corresponding to that address could be found for this reportnote that 1525 and 1529 are shown above. However, due to addressing errors, it is possible that the two-story building on the right is the 1527 building, but this has not been confirmed. (Tax assessor images, both showing view in 1937).
Fig 42 Other work by John Creutzer: 610-618 E. Pike (1913). This 1937 tax assessor photo shows only three bays of this five-bay building; the decorative parapet feature occupies the center bay of the facade. The building today is dramatically altered.
Fig 43 Other work by John Creutzer: Left and Right, Carolina Court Apartments (1915) (Tax assessor photo; rendering from The Seattle Times, February 7, 1915, p.14).
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Fig 44 Other work by John Creutzer: Left, Willard Apartment House (1915, demolished; image from The Seattle Times, July 11, 1915, p.12); Right, Fairmount Congregational Church, or West Seattle Church of the Nazarene (1919)
Fig 45 Other work by John Creutzer: Left and Right, Granada Apartments (1923). (Tax assessor photo; rendering from The Seattle Times, June 11, 1922, p.21)
Fig 46 Other work by John Creutzer: Left, rendering of the Medical-Dental Building (1924) as designed by Creutzer (image from The Seattle Times, January 6, 1924, p.15); Right, the Medical-Dental Building as completed after the first phase--only the south half was built, in a terracotta Gothic revival style. The north half was completed (and the 2-story base altered) in the 1950s in a modernist style (Photo by Asahel Curtis; UW Spec. Coll. CUR1507).
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Fig 47 Other work by John Creutzer: Left, The Campus Apartments (1924; tax assessor photo); Right, Pontius Court Apartments (1925, demolished; pauldorpat.com), adjacent to the Republican Street Hillclimb (partly demolished) at Eastlake Avenue.
Fig 48 Other work by John Creutzer: Left, E.M. Young Block (1925, demolished); Right, Charbern Apartments (1926)
Fig 49 Other work by John Creutzer: Left, Union Arms Apartments (1926); Right, Johnson & Hamilton Mortuary, today the Gene Lynn Building of Seattle University (1926). (Both tax assessor photos)
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Fig 50 Other work by John Creutzer: Left, Friedlander Court Apartments on Alki Beach (1926); Right, Park Vista Apartments near Cowen Park (1928). (Both tax assessor photos)
Fig 51 Other work by John Creutzer: Left, 1923 Fifth Avenue building (1928); Right, El Rio Apartment Hotel, today known as the Julie Apartments (1929). (Both tax assessor photos)
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Melrose and Pinevue Landmarks Nominations

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Name (common, present, or historic): Year Built: 1916-17

Timken Roller Bearing Building

Present Use: Apartments, retail

Timken Roller Bearing Building Seattle Landmark Nomination

January 25, 2013

Present Use: Original Use: Original Architect/Builder: Plat/Block/Lot: Legal Description:

The building remains there today as the Northwest School.

January 25, 2013

VII. REPORT ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig 9 1937 Tax Assessor photo (Puget Sound Regional Archives)

Fig 10 View of the north and east elevations in 2012.

Fig 11 North elevation in 2012.

Fig 15 South (rear) elevation in 2012.

Fig 16 East elevation in 2012.

Fig 17 North and west elevations, in 2012.

Fig 18 Storefronts along Pine Street, in 2012.

Name (common, present, or historic): Year Built: 1915

Present Use: Cafe, offices

Melrose Building Seattle Landmark Nomination

January 25, 2013

Present Use: Original Use: Original Architect/Builder: Plat/Block/Lot: Legal Description:

December 27, 2012

VII. REPORT ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig 11 1937 Tax Assessor photo (Puget Sound Regional Archives)

Fig 13 North elevation in 2012.

Fig 14 North elevation in 2012.

Fig 25 Interior in 2012; showing upper level loft space.

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