I have another photo in my collection that I would like to submit. I found this at a local antique store. The photographer is Edwin Rodgers of Seattle so I assume the pic was taken here in town, I just don’ t know where. I wonder if it’s possible if anyone recognizes the house. It’s probably a long shot, but I would love to find out.
Allen
Via E-Mail
7/26/2009
Allen
Via E-Mail
7/26/2009
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| Seattle family in car c.1915? Photo courtesy Allen. |
If only it were possible to do a search on every house with the number “102″ in King County!
I have a question, as I usually do: I don’t know anything about old cars, so can anyone tell me what that canister is that is strapped to the running board?
I think it’s an extinguisher.
I’m wondering if Shannon’s comment was a joke, because you actually can do that search in the King County Parcel viewer. Oddly, after I pulled up the list of matches for 102, the Parcel Viewer system crashed.
http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/GIS/PropResearch/ParcelViewer.aspx
If this house is in Seattle, and still standing, it should be pretty straight forward. In the given 100 block off of the intersections that have a 100 block, there can only be one corner that can be even and have the corner be situated like that. Normally I prefer Google street view, but for this, MS birds eye maps are better.
Haven’t found it yet, but haven’t given up
If we assume it is in Seattle based on the period of the homes, the car, and how close the houses are, then I think there are only two east-west streets that a house with number 102 could be — either Denny Way or E Yesler Way. The house would have to be on the NE corner of the intersection since it is an even numbered house starting at number 102 — i.e. the picture is looking basically northeast with the car being on a north-south avenue and the street on the right hand side going eastward. This all assumes that houses were not renumbered at some point (a fact I am not 100% certain about).
So my guess is the house is either at the corner of XX Avenue and Yesler Way (where numbers start at 10x going north from Yesler Way) or it is XX Avenue East and Denny Way, where numbers start over again at 10x going north from Denny Way.
My bet is some Avenue and Denny Way on Capitol Hill since I live on Yesler Way and don’t recognize the neighborhood immediately.
Jennifer, no, I wasn’t joking, although I can see why you thought so! I use the Parcel viewer all the time, but I just assumed there would be a zillion hits and then how on earth do you figure it out from there? So my vague use of the term “search” was more referring to photographical than practical. In short, I was copping out to the challenge thru sheer laziness.
It’s definetely not in West Seattle, they only have 4 digit addresses.
and it can’t be on Yesler because all the houses tend to face yesler. meaning there wouldn’t be a 102 address used.
The closest thing I could find was the house at the NW corner of McGraw and 1st Av. W. on Queene Anne Hill. It actually looks similar to this house but the neighbors don’t match.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
maybe it’s been remodeled?
The canister on the car might be for making Acetylene for the headlights. . . though in 1915 probably not. . more likely the lights are electric
Looks “fire extinguisher” to me. . .
The address might have been renumbered, but it sure looks similar to this house @ 1st Ave & Smith in Queen Anne…
http://tinyurl.com/mj2cgu
This is like a fascinating mystery — I took some of your suggestions and used Google Maps and Zillow to try to pinpoint addresses. So far I found 10th Ave E and E Denny Way, 98122, but the corner house is 106, not 102. Then Cal Anderson Park is there so no other houses with “lower” numbers could even be there. When was the park built!??! I will keep looking.
I had no idea you could look up just house numbers or I would have tried. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.
I’m convinced it’s the house at Smith and 1st. If it isn’t, than it’s an amazing coincidence that the exact same style of house is standing on a corner in the same position as the one in the original pic. All the other houses in the photo are different however.
Wow, Chris, that house almost perfectly matches it!
Oh I was looking at the wrong corner house in the 1st & Smith link – that IS IT! It has to be it if you compare the Street View to the 1915 picture. Everything is identical except some of the front siding that now extends the entire front rather than just the bottom. The house numbers of course are gone and if you go down Queen Anne to see the side of the house you can see where they created the driveway/garage etc. And as for the neighbor next door on the left, when looking at the house, it is the same house except the roof is redone/reshaped.
Very cool comment thread
Zillow says the 1st and Smith house was built in 1908. So that checks out.
But it says the address on that house is 24 Smith St. Maybe it changed?
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24-Smith-St-Seattle-WA-98109/48818630_zpid/
I am not convinced that it is the house at Smith St. and 1st Ave. Maybe remodel(s) have changed some things, but several of the details are different. The window in the upper floor center is different — the modern view has a bay window with angled side windows, whereas the historic view has box window with all 3 windows on the same plane. The two small windows in the upper floor also have different number of divided light panes in the two views, and the window to the left of the chimney on the main floor is different as well. The brackets are are also different on the two views, as is the facia board shape on the front gable.
The on the left in the historic picture that is partially visible also appears to be different. In the picture it appears to have a corner box window, but the modern view shows that as being a front porch on the neighbor house. Finally, the houses behind on 1st Ave don’t appear to match at all and there are too many of them before the next street is encountered. In the historic view you can see there are 5 houses behind the target house before the next street is encountered where you can see another house just on the edge of the frame that is also facing the same direction as our target house (presumably on the next intersection corner).
I still suspect it is (or was) along Denny Way somewhere east of 15th Ave and probably west of 23rd Ave based on the slight downhill slope of the street on the right side of the picture.
why would every house around it be replaced by homes that are nearly as old? The 1st & smith house isn’t it but it came from the same pattern book/builder.
I used to feel kinda lonely about this historical photos and old locations stuff. When I look at a thread like this, a silly grin comes over my face and I think “yep…I’ve found my tribe.”
I’m liking Colin’s pick at 102 W McGraw (I couldn’t get the link to take me directly there but could fumble it around putting the address in). It looks like the top floor was bumped out on the W McGraw side and the dormer window on the 1st street side got a new roof pitch. But the street/sidewalks seems to lay the same way.
I thought there was access to photos from tax assessors on-line but maybe I just dreamed that because I can’t find them. (I personally didn’t know about the parcel search so that’s a new one for me)
The steering wheel on the “wrong” side – does that mean it was shipped here or wasn’t it standard yet to put them on the left side?
Yep, Matt the Journeyman – I second that! I think there should be a Vintage Seattle Fan page on Facebook.
You guys are a load of fun! King county does have assessor’s photo records from the 1930′s and 1950′s of every building in king county at the time. I believe the collection is held at Bellevue Community College.
How about this location:
http://picasaweb.google.com/forgottenarchitecture/Misc#5363385301342294546
If this is so then this house and all its neighbors have been torn down for the Queen Anne play fields…..notice the house up the street with the two story bay windows and they nearly identical house just behind it.
I agree with Bryan… too many changes and that style was a favorite of the area. I suspect a google street level search along all the cross streets on Queen Anne Hill with 1st will lead to the answer if the house is still standing…
It would be fun to post the same shot in some old car threads and see what the car it… Maybe someone at the LeMay Museum in Spanaway could ID the car…
I agree with Colin (7/27 10:57 p.m.). 102 W. Crockett. The house was knocked down for McClure middle school in the early 1960′s.
I did find an online link that shows the house in the background in 1938–the main features you can pick out are the vertical lines from the faux timbering. No doubt Puget Sound Regional Archives has the 1938 photo for ultimate confirmation.
http://tinyurl.com/qamysteryhouse
A lot of the granite curbs are still in the area. And the car was a right-hand drive!
I’m just as curious as to the make and model of the car, and have yet to pinpoint it, but did come across this website: http://www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/autos8.htm , that illuminates the generic commonalities of all the automobiles being produced during this period – just as common and consistent as the architectural style of the time. There’s very little to distinguish this photo as even being in Seattle, other than its known origin. The square style side lanterns on the car seem to have started phasing out on most makes by 1915, eliminated or replaced by forward pointing head lights. The number of auto manufacturers at the time, many long forgotten, is overwhelming. Surely, someone can identify the car’s make and vintage.
http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/4796/sshot2c.jpg shows the 1938 Aerial of the area from King County iMAP
Sorry to be a nerd, but I think that car is a Simplex (s on the grill) a real high end car in the 1910′s. My dad is an expert on old cars..
I nominate this best VS thread to date! I love all my fellow history nerds. We should have a meet up sometime at the oldest still-running bar in town, whatever that is. Anyone know?
According to the http://www.realbeer.com website apparently it is the Central Saloon in Pioneer Square:
“Central Saloon 207 1st Avenue South (206) 622-3174 Located between Main and Washington, this is Seattle’s oldest bar, built in 1892 shortly after the great Seattle fire of 1889.”
http://www.realbeer.com/library/authors/smith-g/seattle.php
I think Colin is right. The map is almost certainly the correct house but it has been demolished. King County’s aerial photos from 1936 (despite the low resolution) seem to confirm this as well. DRAT!
BTW, left hand steering was not standard at the time this pic was taken. A steering wheel could be on either side depending on how the designer made it.
If anyone wants to initiate a gathering, I’ll be sure to bring the photo.
WOW! What an interesting mystery! I am from the “Dry Side” of the state (Eltopia) so I don’t have any reference as far as the house is concerned. However if you really want to find out about the car, send an e-pic to jaylenosgarage.com Yes, the Jay Leno of Tonight Show fame. I’d be very surprized if they couldn’t tell you the make, model, year, tire pressure, common colors and all the tolerances for every nut and bolt in the thing! By the way, that “canister” is most likely a toolbox. Well….That’s MY two cents worth. Except for one thing; GO COUGS!!! Oopps. Can I say that here? hehehe Eat them little doggies!
Oops. My bad. I handen’t bothered with the high res at first. What I thought was a toolbox is probably an acetylene tank. I see the toolbox behind it. My mistake.
I have also heard the Jules May Saloon in Georgetown may be the oldest bar in town (across from original Rainier Brewery) I don’t believe Georgetown was annexed till later…Food for thought
Hello,
I am an architectural engineer and deal with museum collections and research regarding data extrapolated from photographs. So far as this being the same house, it is without a doubt. I have compared a number of architectural details, actually visited the real house in question on the street view images, counted side struts, and number of bricks/greyscale comparison of brick from scale point to point. The house om Smith is the very house that appears in the 1915-1917 photo.
Thanks, R.D.
I’m pretty sure this is the house on Smith and 1st Avenue North, I grew up in the house behind it (you can’t see it in this photo, it was built in 1924). The house to the left looks different now because it has been remodeled but when I lived there it looked like the 1915 photo.
I loved this house when I was a kid, I always wished it had been better taken care of, the siding was not original and it was run-down.
I just found this blog today, it is so fun looking through all the great photos!