The Ward House is a house on
Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
, USA. Having been built in 1882, it is one of the oldest houses in Seattle. Existing houses reportedly built before 1882 in Seattle include the 2629 East Aloha Street (1881), 727 28th Avenue (1870) and Maynard's House located at 3045 64th Avenue Southwest (approximately 1860 ± 2 years).
The building, originally at 1427 Boren Avenue, was designed, built and originally owned by George W. Ward. In 1962, the architect
Victor Steinbrueck wrote of it, "…this fanciful example of residential Victorian carpenter Gothic, one of the most interesting and apparently sound of the rare few remaining… could be made delightfully attractive by sympathetic preservation…"
Nonetheless, it became vacant in 1974 and was scheduled for demolition in the mid-1980s. The owners, Dr. and Mrs. Michael Buckley, donated the structure to
Historic Seattle, a
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
architectural
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...
preservation organization chartered as a
public development authority In the U.S. state of Washington, a public development authority (most commonly PDA; also known as a public corporation) is a government-owned corporation. They are established under RCW 35.21.730.[First Hill
First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is named for the hill on which it is located, which in turn is so named for being the first hill encountered while traveling east from downtown Seattle toward Lake Washington ...]
lot on Boren Avenue between Union and Pike Streets to its current location at the corner of E. Denny Way and Belmont Avenue E. Leen worked to restore the building using fixtures and furniture from the original time period. The building was occupied by Leen's law office, as well as several other solo practices, until 2016. It is now owned and occupied by Tola Capital, LLC.
Besides being listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, the building is also an official City of Seattle landmark.
Landmarks Alphabetical Listing for W
Individual Landmarks, Department of Neighborhoods, City of Seattle. Accessed December 28, 2007.
See also
* List of the oldest buildings in Washington (state)
Notes
External links
*George W Ward Biography http://archive.org/stream/volumeofmemoirsg00lewi#page/286/mode/2up
Historic Seattle's Ward House page"Seattle's Oldest House Gets a New Home"
''Historic Preservation'' magazine (link not working)
*Robert Ketcherside
CHS Re:Take , Onward for the Ward House
Capitol Hill Seattle Blog.
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1880s architecture in the United States
1882 establishments in Washington Territory
Capitol Hill, Seattle
History of Seattle
Houses in Seattle
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state)
National Register of Historic Places in Seattle
Relocated buildings and structures in Washington (state)
Victorian architecture in Washington (state)
Houses completed in 1882