Showing 1 - 20 of 61 results

King County Landmarks: Auburn Post Office

Address: 20 Auburn Avenue NE, Auburn. The Auburn Post Office was constructed in 1937, at a time when the Great Depression still gripped the American economy and psyche, the building was meant to do several things. A new post office was constructed in the 1960s, but the building continues to serve a public function as a community health clinic.
File 3302: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: August Lovegren House (1904), Preston

Address: 8612 310th Avenue SE, Preston. The Lovegren house, a substantial two-story house with a wrap-around porch and bay windows, overlooks the community of Preston. The high-ceilinged Victorian style interior features elaborate handcrafted vertical grain woodwork and mass-produced fireplace mantels and decorative spandrels. The house, which had fallen into disrepair, was extensively restored in the early 1990s. August Lovegren, who built the house in 1904 for his growing family, developed the Preston Mill and encouraged extensive Swedish settlement in the Preston area.
File 2377: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Black Diamond Cemetery

Address: Cemetery Hill Road, Black Diamond. This community cemetery was established in the 1880s on a hilltop site at the edge of the thriving mining town of Black Diamond, then the biggest settlement in King County outside of Seattle. The cemetery is a complex cultural landscape, capturing the tremendous ethnic diversity of the town's early history, in the surnames of those buried there, as well as in the languages, religious and fraternal organization affiliations, and styles of the grave markers.
File 3304: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Burton Masonic Hall (1894), Burton, Vashon Island

Address: 23927 Vashon Highway SW, Burton, Vashon Island. The Burton Masonic Hall, built in 1894, is a prominent structure in the Vashon Island community of Burton. Constructed by carpenter/builder Howard C. Stone, the building has a prominent front gable roof and a shed roof porch across the front that offers views of the harbor. The lodge was originally constructed by the Woodmen of the World. The Mark P. Waterman Lodge No. 177 of the Free and Accepted Masons acquired the building in 1925. The first floor has long housed commercial uses, with the upstairs reserved for lodge meetings and social gatherings.
File 2343: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Camp North Bend (1935), North Bend

Address: 45509 SE 150th Street, North Bend. Camp North Bend, located east of the town of North Bend at the base of Snoqualmie Pass, was constructed by and for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1935. Out of more than 4,000 "temporary" CCC camps built nationwide, Camp North Bend is one of the few that remain intact. Extant buildings at the camp include a dining hall, barracks, office, Forest Service quarters, and an education building. Now (2000) known as Camp Waskowitz, the camp has housed the Highline School District’s outdoor education program since the 1950s.
File 2385: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Captain Thomas Phillips House (1925), Burton, Vashon Island

Address: 11312 SW 232nd Street, Burton, Vashon Island. Captain Phillips played an important role in the history of Puget Sound’s “Mosquito Fleet” of steamboats (so called because they swarmed the inland waters and were considered pests by larger ocean-going vessels). Phillips started his seafaring career at age 14, and served as Captain of well-known steamers including the George E. Starr, Vashon, Dove, and ferry Kitsap. Most of his work related in some way to Vashon Island, his home. His modest one-story Craftsman house sits on a large flat lot west of Burton on Vashon Island.
File 2350: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Carnegie Public Library (1914), Auburn

Address: 306 Auburn Avenue NE, Auburn. The development of a public library in Auburn was part of a national movement spurred by the philanthropy of iron and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). In 1911, the Auburn Library Board received $9,000 from the Carnegie Foundation to construct a building on property donated by the Ballard family. The Carnegie Public Library was designed by Seattle architect David Myers and built in 1914. The two-story brick building reflects the restrained Neoclassical design and simple rectangular massing of Carnegie libraries built in the early 1900s throughout the country. The building currently houses a dance studio.
File 2395: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Charles and Elvera Thomsen House (1927), Kenmore

Address: 7332 NE Simonds Road, Kenmore. Also known as Wildcliffe Farm, this elegant country home built in the French Provincial style sits on the south bank of the Sammamish River. The house was built for Charles and Elvera Thomsen. Thomsen, a successful businessman who founded the Centennial Mill Company and later acquired the Pacific Biscuit Company, retired in 1937 and turned his hobby of growing blueberries into a lucrative venture. Thomsen planted 27,000 blueberry bushes on the property's riverbottom land, built a cannery, and shipped 40 tons of blueberries annually under the Wildcliffe Farm label. The interior of the house features a gracious hall, elaborate paneled woodwork, and ornate period tilework in the baths.
File 2360: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Commercial Hotel (1913), Carnation

Address: 31933 W Rutherford Street, Carnation. Small hotels played a significant role in the economic and social development of King County's rural communities by providing temporary housing for newly arrived workers drawn by opportunities in booming logging and agriculture operations. Constructed in 1913, the two-story Commercial Hotel provided lodging for newcomers and a community gathering place in its restaurant. The hotel's street-front commercial space was demolished during the Depression, and the hotel rooms converted to apartments.
File 2368: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: County-City Building - King County Courthouse (1916), Seattle

Address: 3rd Avenue and James Street, Seattle. The King County Courthouse is a dignified example of early twentieth-century civic architecture in the Beaux-Arts style. In 1931, 10 stories were added to the 1916 four-story building to bring the courthouse to its current height. Prominent local architect A. Warren Gould guided the first phase of construction; architects Henry Bittman and J. L. McCauley managed the second phase. A major remodeling in the 1960s intended to capture the spirit of urban renewal and cosmetically disguise the building’s true age destroyed many original features of the elegant marble-clad lobbies and entrance portals. Until 1962, the County-City Building accommodated the offices of King County and City of Seattle government. Today (2000) the building houses offices of the County Executive, County Council, and County court system.
File 2356: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Crawford Store (1922), Shoreline

Address: 2411 NW 195th Place, Shoreline. The Crawford Store is the last intact retail building in the historic Richmond Beach business district. John Holloway, an early resident of Richmond Beach, built the two story structure in 1922. The building, with a large covered front porch, faces the road that once led to the railroad depot. Langford and Eva Crawford were the first in a long line of shopkeepers who operated the store and lived in the apartment upstairs.
File 2359: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Dockton General Store and Post Office (1908, 1922), Dockton, Maury Island

Address: 25908 99th Avenue SW, Dockton, Maury Island. Located in the community of Dockton on the southwestern part of Maury Island, the general store and post office building is the only well preserved example of an early twentieth century commercial building on Maury Island. Like other country stores on Vashon Island, the Dockton General Store was built close to the water in order to serve customers who arrived by boat. As the automobile brought greater mobility to rural residents, many small stores suffered as their former customers traveled to more regional stores and markets. The owners of the Dockton store defied this trend by offering automobile repair service and by selling gasoline, thus ensuring that their customers with cars still visited the Dockton store. The store was restored in the early 1990s for use as office space.
File 2345: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Dougherty Farmstead (1888), Duvall

Address: NE Cherry Valley Road, Duvall. Built in 1888 when Washington was still a territory, the Dougherty House has been at its present (2000) location since 1909. The house first stood closer to the Snoqualmie river, in the town of Cherry Valley. In 1909, when the railroad line was extended through the Snoqualmie Valley, the town's structures were moved up the hill and Cherry Valley was renamed Duvall. Outbuildings, including a bunkhouse (1909), garage (1919), milk cooler (1918) and milk shed (1940), were added to the farm as the Doughertys developed their dairy operation. The house, which retains many of its original interior and exterior features, is now (2000) owned by the City of Duvall and is being restored by the Duvall Historical Society.
File 2367: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Elliott Farm (1909), Maple Valley

Address: 14207 Maple Valley Highway, Maple Valley. The prominent farmhouse and barns at the Elliott Farm, located in the Cedar River Valley just east of Renton, reflect the development of small-scale dairy farming in the valley in the early 1900s. Homesteaders settled the Cedar River Valley in the 1870s, cleared land for crops and pastures, and established small subsistence farms. As transportation and refrigeration technologies improved, dairy farming became the main agricultural activity in the area. The milk barn on the farm, built by R. J. Elliott between 1909 and 1910 along with four ancillary farm buildings, reflected Elliott's interest in the latest dairying practices. In 1911, he designed and built the 2.5-story, nine-room Craftsman-style home on the farm. Threatened today (2000) by neglect and encroaching urban development, the Elliott Farm is the last intact dairy farm in the valley.
File 2388: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Entwistle House (1912), Carnation

Address: 32021 Entwistle Street, Carnation. The David and Martha Entwistle House was built in 1912 during a time of tremendous growth in the community of Tolt, now known as Carnation. Arrival of the Great Northern Railroad in 1910 and the Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railroad in 1911 triggered the rapid development of the area’s agricultural and logging industries. David Entwistle was the son of Tolt pioneers James and Sarah Entwistle. The Entwistle house, built in the Craftsman style, has a recessed full-width front porch supported on piers built of river rock from the nearby Tolt River, a hipped roof with dormers, and diamond pane windows.
File 2369: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Eric Gustave Sanders House (1912), Auburn

Address: 5516 S 277th Street, Auburn. Swedish immigrant Erick Sanders, a successful business and lumberman in Seattle and on Bainbridge Island, built this elaborate Craftsman house as a retirement home for himself and his wife Sara. Sanders and several partners purchased 660 acres of farmland in the Green River Valley west of Kent as an investment. On this land, they built the Standard Dairy, the Standard Mill, and Sanders’ country home. Constructed with lumber from the mill, the house features stained glass salvaged from the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition and bricks left over from the construction of the West Valley Highway
File 2399: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Fall City Hop Shed (1880), Fall City

Address: Fall City Riverfront Park, Fall City. This hop shed in the Fall City area is the last remnant of what was the largest agricultural enterprise in King County during the 1880s -- growing and exporting hops. Hops, an essential ingredient in brewing beer, became a major industry in valleys east and south of Seattle after hop aphids destroyed crops in traditional European hop growing centers. George Davis Rutherford built the rectangular building, measuring about 20 feet square, on a 1,500-acre hop farm near the Snoqualmie River. The building was moved to its present location in 1904, and converted for use as a storage shed. The Fall City Hop Shed Foundation has been instrumental in preservation of the shed, and in 1966 supervised its restoration.
File 2375: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Fall City Masonic Hall (1895), Fall City

Address: 33700 SE 43rd Street, Fall City. The Masonic Hall, which stands in the heart of Fall City, has been a focus of community life for more than 100 years. The large, two-story wood frame lodge rises above the peaks and gables of the surrounding homes. Its full width front porch welcomes members and visitors. The Lodge provided a place to meet and socialize for members, who lived and worked in the Snoqualmie Valley’s isolated farms or lumber camps. In its early years, the Lodge was known as a “Moon Lodge.” Meetings were held close to the full moon so members who came from outside Fall City could travel to evening meetings by moonlight. The hall, still owned by the Masons, serves as a meeting place for community organizations and a center of community activity.
File 2376: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: First Church of Christ, Scientist (Kirkland)

Address: NW Corner of Market Street & Lake Avenue W, Kirkland. This striking example of Neoclassical design with a columned "Greek Temple" portico is the oldest remaining church building in Kirkland, and one of East King County's best-preserved examples of Classical Revival style architecture. In 1999, the building was moved one block west of its original location, to a park property owned by the City of Kirkland. It is currently (2001) undergoing restoration, and will serve as the home of the Kirkland Heritage Society.
File 3305: Full Text >

King County Landmarks: Gunnar T. and Anna Olson House (1912), Redmond

Address: 20015 NE 50th Street, Redmond. This single-story farmhouse constructed in the Happy Valley east of Redmond by Gunnar and Anna Olson is a fine example of a pattern book Craftsman bungalow. In addition to the house, the 3.5-acre property also includes a garage, cement milk house, and barn. In the early 1900s, settlers such as the Olsons cleared the heavily wooded valley and established small subsistence farms. From the old valley road, which runs parallel to SR 202 on the south side of the valley, one can still (in 2000) see small farmhouses with surrounding pastures and small barns, as well as the historic grange hall, which reflect the valley's rural roots.
File 2362: Full Text >

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