Tag Archives: Doc Maynard

Seattle Now & Then: Return of the Homestead

August 28, 2015 jrsherrard 5 Comments

(click to enlarge photos)

THEN: Included among the several detailed photos taken for the Bernards of their new and yet rustic Fir Lodge, was this one of the living room with its oversized fireplace and the piano on which Marie, their older daughter, learned to play well enough to concertize. (Courtesy Doris Nelson)

NOW: Southwest Seattle Historical Society supporters Annie Tigtig and Kippy Jo Alexander (seated) pose with director Clay Eals for Jean Sherrard beside the charred Homestead’s fireplace. One of the mysteries of Fir Lodge/Alki Homestead is why the original fireplace was enlarged with the rock crown added in the mid-1930s. One of the puzzles of landmark preservation, and for the new owner-restorer, is should the living room hearth be returned to its former glory or be kept with this dark rock corona?

The well-connected Gladys Barnette and William Bernard started their thirty-two years of married life in the Olympia mansion of Washington state’s first governor, Elisha Ferry. That is, they were married there in 1892. About ten years later the Seattle couple began spending part of their summers on Alki Point, when it still took a steamer or a ferry ride followed by a long walk to get there. The first Midwestern farmers had landed there fifty years earlier, with enterprising intentions of building a city, although they soon fled Alki Point for Piners Point, known now as the Pioneer Square Historic District.

While not the first Bernard communion with Alki Point, Driftwood Camp is a typical for the time creation at the Point, canvas stretch tight over a sturdy frame set on a plank foundation and facing the beach. This first appeared in Pacific on Jan. 9, 2000.

The earliest clip about Fir Lodge, the Bernard home, published in The Times on Aug. 19, 1906.

When first vacationing on the Point, the Bernards rented one of the well-wrought and framed tents and furnished it first with Persian rugs spread on a carpentered frame. They soon bought the block extending south from Alki Beach along the west side of Southwest 61^st Street and hired Seattle architect Fred Fehren to design for them a rustic and yet baronial log lodge. The couple who founded the Seattle Soap Company, the city’s first, was skilled at both real estate and manufacturing. The Bernards could afford their new Alki home, which they named Fir Lodge.

Something about Fred Fehren, pulled from "Shaping Seattle Architecture," the University Press history of local architecture, which has recently been republished with a second and enlarge edition. — Something about Fred Fehren, pulled from “Shaping Seattle Architecture,” the University Press history of local architecture, which has recently been republished with a second and enlarge edition. CLICK TO ENLARGE

Built in 1903-04, the lodge was one of the two largest structures on the then still sparsely settled Point. The other, the nearby Stockade Hotel and chicken dinner resort, was built by their friends, Alfred and Lorena Smith. It also was constructed of logs “harvested” off the Point, and both of these Arcadian creations had oversized fireplaces built of beach stones. The Bermards bought their block from the Smiths, because Lorena’s parents, the Hansons, had purchased the entire Alki Point in the late 1860s from Doc Maynard, one of Seattle’s original pioneers. This was, and is, historic ground.

First appeared in Pacific, July 24, 1988.

For reasons that are still a mystery to Alki Point historians, the Bernards, after three years of hosting well-appointed parties on the open veranda of their log palace, sold it in 1907 to the then fledgling Seattle Auto Club. After the motorists decamped from the Point in 1911, the lodge served as a residence. In 1950 it opened as a restaurant, the Alki Homestead, which brings us to its scorching and closure in 2009. (See the Log Cabin Museum links on all that, which Jean has attached below.)

Another helpful Times clip, this one from June 30, 1907.

A surviving log construction, Sea View Hall is off South Alki Beach. (First appeared in Pacific, Jan. 23, 2000)

We have excerpted the part about the Bernards from Margaret Pitcairn Strachan's feature on "Alki Point District, Seattle's Brithplace" published in The Seattle Times on June 14, 1946. — We have excerpted the part about the Bernards from Margaret Pitcairn Strachan’s feature on “Alki Point District, Seattle’s Birthplace” published in The Seattle Times on June 14, 1946.

This year Jean and I enjoyed the Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s 4^th of July picnic on the patio beside the Society’s Log House Museum, a restored Carriage House that was part of the Bernards’ estate. Following the potluck, Clay Eals, the spirited executive director of the Society, led us into the damaged Homestead. He had the key and a light heart, too. After the fire the Homestead was left haunted for six-plus years by fears that the log landmark might be razed. Instead, it has been saved, and its new hands-on owner Dennis Schilling has begun the restoration. Now the Society has named its upcoming November 7^th Gala, “Coming Home to Homestead.”

The West Seattle Herald's coverage of the Alki Homestead's opening, published on June 25, 1950. CLICK CLICK to ENLARGE — The West Seattle Herald’s coverage of the Alki Homestead’s opening, published on June 25, 1950. CLICK CLICK to ENLARGE

First appeared in Pacific, May 19, 1985.

By Price who was also responsible for Price Photo on Roosevelt, a film processor and server for many years. CLICK to ENLARGE.

WEB EXTRAS

Let me throw in a handful of photos that illustrate a few of our previous run-ins with Mr. Eals and his SW Seattle preservationists.

In 2010, a remarkable coalition of persevering preservationists collaborated to save the Homestead from demolition

In June of this year, Clay assembled more than a thousand school kids to help celebrate the new beginning of the Homestead. I took this photo from atop a lift with a very wide angle lens.

This past Fourth of July, we returned to mark the anniversary of 'This Place Matters' — This past Fourth of July, we returned to mark the anniversary of ‘This Place Matters’

Another interior from that same day; this one with Paul as grandee

First appeared in Pacific, April 10, 1994.

Anything to add, kids?

YUP and sticking to form, Ron Edge starts off with a few not-so-old features that are relevant to the Homestead and-or Alki. [Now Jean, Ron calls to explain that his home sitting high on a knoll overlooking Lake Washington has been a victim of today’s (Saturday morning) storm. So he is waiting for the electricity service to return, but has also learned that it will probably not be until 3 a.m. Sunday morning that he should hope for it. And so we will wait too on our Edge Links. WHEN THEY COME he will position them at the very bottom.

This is the third time was have touched on that landmark for a story, although the first use was long enough ago that we have scaned the clipping and attach it just above. There were five or more glossies of the Homestead from which that one was chosen. Once the Edge Links are up you will find many of the others by exploring their fea tures. Ron is also including at the bottom of this week’s eight chosen links a feature titled “Travels with Jean,” which will, we hope, inspire Jean to share some of the photographs he took on his recent visit to Europe with a cadre of about twenty of his students at HILLSIDE SCHOOL (See the “button” link above right for more on the Bellevue School where Jean teaches.) Berangere Lomont, who is, we hope you know, one of the principals behind this blog, helped out in France. And Jean has responded!!! And here, next, is BB.

Jean here. Let me hasten to add a couple of photos I took a couple weeks ago featuring our remarkable blog partner Berangere Lomont:

Berangere on the banks of the Dordogne in the town of Brantome

Here's Beranger with her husband Denis Christophe perched on Beynac's medieval castle walls high above the river — Beranger with her husband Denis Christophe – one of my favorite humans on the planet, incidently – perched on Beynac’s medieval castle walls high above the river

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FOUR TIMES CLIPPINGS of the BERNARDS’ TWO DAUGHTERS. First on with a fashionable sketch of their oldest, Marie (the concertizing pianist), followed by three of Billie, their youngest. (Billie was one of Ivar Haglund’s friends. He used to pick her up in his Ford convertible with a heated brick on the floor board to warm her feet.)

The caption identifying Marie Bernard is below the sketch. Pulled from The Seattle Times for Oct. 15, 1911. CLICK CLICK

Baby Billie Bernard in The Times for Aug. 20, 1911.

Billie Bernard in New York preparing to tour Europe with her mother. Appeared in The Times for Oct. 10, 1929, and so close to the market crash.

Billie serving as the center base for a March 30, 1930 montage of Seattle Society women.

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HERE FOLLOWS THOSE EDGE LINKS – WHEN THE POWER LINES ARE REPAIRED

Seattle Now and Then

Seattle Now & Then: The Terry House at 3rd & James

January 10, 2015 jrsherrard 2 Comments

(click to enlarge photos)

THEN: When it was built in 1864 Charles and Mary Terry’s home was considered the finest in Seattle. (Courtesy Museum of History and Industry)

NOW: The ornate home was razed early in the twentieth century, first for more business-friendly structures, and then in the early 1950s for the city’s Public Safety Building. This too was razed, and the “Civic Square” proposed to replace it abides now as a construction pit fenced behind fanciful walls at the sidewalk. The site waits upon financing for development as a “public-private” space.

Most likely the first “now and then” treatment this charming pioneer home received was in these pages seventy years ago on Sunday, November 10, 1944. The author, Margaret Pitcairn Strachan, chose the Charles and Mary Terry home as the fifteenth weekly subject of her yearlong series on “Early Day Mansions.” Strachan’s fifty-two well-packed and illustrated essays must be counted as one our richest resources for understanding Seattle’s history. In 1944 many of the mansions built by the community’s nabobs were still standing, and sometimes the original families were still living in them and willing to talk with the reporter. (We will attach the Strachan feature below. Click TWICE to enlarge for reading.)

In the Strachan feature the Terry home faced Third Avenue near its northeast corner with James Street. We can learn something about the family’s history – especially about Charles – from the journalist’s reveries that came upon her as she stepped into the “now” after opening the door to a café near the northeast corner of Third Avenue and James Street. She writes, “The Columbian Café is probably the place which is on the exact spot where the house stood. Sitting at the maroon-colored counter, facing the huge mirror which runs the length of the room and reflects the booths in the background, I listened to the clatter coming from the kitchen and watched the waitresses in their spotless white dresses, as they hurried back and forth over the red tile floor, serving busy Seattle citizens who were unaware that this spot was once the home of the man who named Alki Point, owned its first store, was the instigator of the University of Washington, foresaw a great future for this ‘town of Seattle’ and drafted its first ordinances.” (Next, we have attached an earlier photo of the Terry home before it was pivoted off of Third Avenue to face James Street. Below the home we have added a snap of the 3rd Avenue front door to the Public Safety Building, and below that two photo that include the Columbian Cafe that Strachan visited for her research and/or edification or nutrition. The two cafe photos are public works subjects and have their own captions with dates.)

The Terry Home on Third Avenue before its pivot for facing James Street.

The Public Safety Building facing Third Ave. about a dozen years ago (since destroyed) where once the Terry home revealed its lavish facade to both the village and the bay.

The Columbian Cafe is signed just above the photo's center. The view looks south on Third Avenue from near Cherry Street. (Courtesy Municipal Archive) — The Columbian Cafe is signed just above the photo’s center. The view looks south on Third Avenue from near Cherry Street. (Courtesy Municipal Archive)

Looking north on Third Avenue from James Street on November 13, 1928 during some road work. The — Looking north on a closed Third Avenue from James Street also on November 13, 1928 during some road work. The Columbian Cafe is far-right. (Courtesy Municipal Archive)

An early 20th Century look up Third with the Webster and Stevens Studio photographer's back toward James Street. Note the St.Elmo Hotel at the southeast corner of Third and Cherry, on the right. It served the fire fighters and citizens during the city's Great Fire of June 6, 1889. You can find it as well in the 1928 photo above it. (Courtesy, MOHAI) — An early 20th Century look up Third with the Webster and Stevens Studio photographer’s back toward James Street. Note the St.Elmo Hotel at the southeast corner of Third and Cherry, on the right. It served the fire fighters and citizens during the city’s Great Fire of June 6, 1889 when the hotel was nearly new.. You can find it as well in the 1928 photo above it. **[Below, Ron has included a link to the feature we did on the above W&S photograph** – (Courtesy, MOHAI)

JEAN'S repeat from not so long ago. — JEAN’S repeat from not so long ago.

By purchases and trades with pioneers Carson Boren and Doc David Maynard, the Terrys owned most of the business district and were the wealthiest couple in town. On the sweet side of their pioneer life, they opened Seattle’s first bakery in 1864, the year they also built this jolly home, the “ornament of the town.” In 1867 the couple ran a large advertisement in the Pacific Coast Directory, which read, in part, “C. C. TERRY, Seattle, W.T. wholesale and retail dealer in Groceries, Provisions, Cigars, etc., manufacturer of crackers and cakes of all kinds. Unlimited supply of Ship Bread constantly on hand at San Francisco prices.” Tragically, Charles died of tuberculosis, a mere thirty-nine years old, in 1867. On the day of his death his third daughter was born.

A Seattle Times announcement on Feb. 4, 1906 that the C.C. Terry house with its "peculiar Gothic design" was being demolished. — A Seattle Times announcement on Feb. 4, 1906 that the C.C. Terry house with its “peculiar Gothic design” was being demolished.

Sometime between the 1878 birdseye view drawing of Seattle and the 1883 Sanborn real estate map, the Terry home was pivoted 90-degrees counter-clockwise to face James Street. At the same time the house was moved one lot east of its corner with Second Avenue, which is where we see it in the featured photo at the top. The home’s second footprint holds on in the 1904 Sanborn but not in 1908. It was demolished in 1907.

This three-stack of Sanborn map details date from top-to-bottom, 1884, 1888 and 1893. — The above three-stack of Sanborn map details date from, top-to-bottom, 1884, 1888 and 1893. The Terry home sits at the bottom of block 22, to the left or west of what would have been the alley, had one been encouraged. Note how the footprint changes for the home. In 1884 the sun room attachment to the home’s south side when it still faced Third Avenue has been removed for good. By 1888 the row houses at the northwest corner of Fourth Ave. and James have been added. We can see the most westerly corner of those in the top featured photo. Also in the 1888 Sanborn the Russell Hotel has been added to block 22’s northwest corner at the southeast corner of Third Avenue and Cherry Street. In the photographs shared above, the Russell has had a name change to Elmo.

On the right side of this pair, the northeast quarter of C.D. Boren's Block 32 has been cleared of all, including the C.C. Terry home, by the time this 1908 Baist Real Estate map was assembled. The row houses survive, however, at the northwest corner of James and 4th Avenue. In the detail from the Baist map of 1912, the row is gone and the Terry home site filled with a rectangular shaped brick structure. — On the right side of this pair, the northeast quarter of C.D. Boren’s Block 32 has been cleared of all, including the C.C. Terry home, by the time this 1908 Baist Real Estate map was assembled. The row houses survive, however, at the northwest corner of James and 4th Avenue. In the detail, on the left, from the Baist map of 1912, the row is gone and the Terry home site filled with a rectangular shaped brick structure.

The Public Safety Building took the block in 1951, one of downtown Seattle's earliest Modern Building. Here looking southwest thru the intersection of Fourth Ave. and Cherry Street, the City County building looks back, on the left, and the Smith Tower peeks over, upper-right. The number "6." scrawled on the photo is not explained. (Courtesy, Seattle Municipal Archive.) — The Public Safety Building took the block in 1951, one of downtown Seattle’s earliest Modern Buildings. Here looking southwest thru the intersection of Fourth Ave. and Cherry Street, the City County building looks back, on the left, and the Smith Tower looks or peeks down from above, upper-right. The number “6.” scrawled on the photo is not explained. (Courtesy, Seattle Municipal Archive.)

The bottom subject of this pair is the oldest surviving photograph of any part of Seattle. It is conventionally (and probably accurately too) dated 1859. It looks east towards First Hill over the Yesler home at the northeast corner of Front Street (First Ave.) and James Street, on the left. The mid-1860s subject above it includes the ornate west facade of the Terry home at 3rd and James. Note that the timberline around Fifth Avenue if nearly the same between the two photographs. This suggests that at some point before 1859 the clearing of the forest in this earliest neighborhood stopped - for a spell. — The bottom subject of this pair is the oldest surviving photograph of any part of Seattle. It is conventionally (and probably accurately too) dated 1859. It looks east towards First Hill over the Yesler home, on the left, at the northeast corner of Front Street (First Ave.) and James Street. The mid-1860s subject above it includes the ornate west facade of the Terry home at 3rd and James. Note that the timberline around Fifth Avenue is nearly the same between the two photographs. This suggests that at some point before 1859 the clearing of the forest in this earliest neighborhood stopped – for a spell.

WEB EXTRAS

Anything to add, boys? Ron Edge begins by putting down a few links – often to the neighborhood. We’ll conclude with the oft-used couples portrait of Charles and Mary, and another full-page feature on their home by Lucille McDonald, once-upon-a-time, The Seattle Times principle reporter on regional heritage. Finally we will drop in a hide-and-seek in which the reader is encouraged to find the Terry home.

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Lucille McDonald Sept. 15, 1963 contribution to The Seattle Times. — Lucile McDonald Sept. 15, 1963 contribution to The Seattle Times. **DOUBLE CLICK** to Enlarge for Reading!

The Norwegian photograph Anders Wilse too this wide shot of Seattle ca. 1899 during the few years he lived in Seattle. Can you find (part of) the Terry home here-in? Clue 1: The intersection of Jefferson Street and the alley between Fifth and Sixth Avenues is near the photograph's bottom-right corner. Clue 2: The Yesler mansion, surrounded by Third, Fourth, James and Jefferson, is far left. — The Norwegian photograph Anders Wilse too this wide shot of Seattle ca. 1899 during the few years he lived in Seattle. Can you find (part of) the Terry home here-in? Clue 1: The intersection of Jefferson Street and the alley between Fifth and Sixth Avenues is near the photograph’s bottom-right corner. Clue 2: The Yesler mansion, surrounded by Third, Fourth, James and Jefferson, is far left.

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WEB EXTRAS

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