The Mount Baker Home Tour returns — as does this bungalow by Ellsworth Storey

Vintage Pacific NW: We’re revisiting some of our favorite stories from some of our favorite former magazine contributors. Check back each week for timeless classics focusing on food, fitness, gardening and more.

Originally published Nov. 26, 1995
By Lawrence Kreisman, former NW Living writer

MOUNT BAKER PARK was the first city neighborhood integrated into the Olmsted Brothers’ comprehensive plan for parks and boulevards. That accounts for the pleasant way in which streets follow hillside contours and afford wonderful views of Lake Washington and the Cascades.

In 1907, the Hunter Tract Improvement Company sought to create an exclusive upper-income residential district adjacent to the park. They did this through deed restrictions that limited the number of houses on a lot; the minimum cost for these houses; a requirement that every house have a basement; and a regulation that there be “no outhouses or stables, and no animals, except domestic pets.”

The firm’s efforts paid off. The area has an outstanding mix of architect-designed residences and builder homes and bungalows. Two of these were designed by one of the city’s best-loved architects, Ellsworth Storey (1879-1960). [One of these, featured here, will open to the public again this year on the 2022 Mount Baker Home Tour.]

The home of Jerry and Vreni Watt, built in 1916, was the featured building in Jud Yoho’s Bungalow Magazine of March 1916. It shows the influence upon Storey of the Arts and Crafts movement and of the Prairie style architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright in Storey’s native Chicago. The house came shortly after Storey had completed a group of speculative rental cottages on the edge of Colman Park on Lake Washington Boulevard nearby, which share with this bungalow the distinctive diagonal mullions of corner windows.

The Watts’ home is a stucco California bungalow with references to the Prairie style in the wide projecting eaves; the bold, square columns that support the pergola; and the bands of windows that, all told, count 37 and make the house into one great sunroom.

The three-bedroom, 1,700-square-foot house was estimated to cost about $3,200 to build for developers Swanson & Austin as speculative housing. For the monthly supplement to Bungalow Magazine, it had been photographed inside and out. Every board and nail used in the construction of the house was documented, and full working drawings and details were provided so that “any capable builder should experience no difficulty in duplicating this bungalow.” The article provided the Watts with invaluable documentation when they took on the task of undoing the work of previous owners’ upgrades to the kitchen and bathroom.

The pictures also revealed that the first owners had appropriately furnished their bungalow living room in Mission oak. The Watts have followed suit with Limbert and Stickley Brothers rockers, a Lifetime bookcase and some Stickley reissue furniture. Their architect, Joseph Greif, designed window boxes and a table for the kitchen that fit right in. Steven Cook built them when not doing the cabinetry in the redesigned kitchen for the contractor, Greg Peterson of Contemporary Renovations.

Jim Watt literally bought the house over the phone. He had been in the house years before at a party, and told the owner he’d be interested if she ever wanted to sell it. “Three years later she called and said, ‘I’m selling my house. Still want to buy it?’ ” There was no question in his mind.

Which isn’t to say the house was just as it had been when built. Outside, brick window boxes had been removed. A green fiberglass canopy was supported by two 4-by-4 posts, the original large-scaled columns having long ago disappeared. The new owners have rebuilt the entrance columns and trellis, opting for slightly smaller-scaled columns and a wet-weather glass canopy to protect the trellis and themselves during those many non-California-weather days. They took to heart the Bungalow Magazine criticism of this part of the original design: “The supporting pillars look far too massive for the light weight which they are expected to support.”

Inside, the brick-trimmed fireplace had been painted over. French doors to the dining room had been removed. None of the lighting fixtures remained, nor did any of the wood paneling remain in the dining room. At some point, the upper half wall between the kitchen and dining room had been removed for a bar and pass-through, and the kitchen had received a 1960s era makeover.

In reconstructing the kitchen, the Watts have thought of everything and every conceivable way in which they might use the space. In rebuilding the breakfast nook, for example, Vreni suggested it be raised a step, and that the table open up so that when she works, she can slide out additional work space. Her children have supplies in built-in drawers so they can play while she works.

The cabinetry looks as if it has always been there. But instead of the simple glass-pane cabinets shown in the Bungalow Magazine article, these cabinets incorporate the distinctive diagonal and triangular details that were Storey’s trademark. And the cost of the kitchen remodel — $45,000, including high-end Gaggenau appliances — shows that custom work that respects and enhances the existing architecture is possible for the price of off-the-rack design.