| This house is an outstanding and well-preserved early example of a Craftsman Bungalow cottage constructed by Jud Yoho. It was built in 1910 as the home of Fred J. Kerr, a real estate developer, who had his office at 4228 Fremont Avenue. Known as “The Bungalow Craftsman” Jud Yoho (b.1882) is considered to have been Seattle’s most active and market-oriented bungalow entrepreneur. He was the owner of the Craftsman Bungalow Company and the Take-Down Manufacturing Company, as well as president of Bungalow Magazine. After 1912, Yoho published eight editions of Craftsman Bungalows, the Craftsman Bungalow Company catalog of house plans. The Craftsman Bungalow Company primarily built and sold bungalow-style homes on installment purchase plans between 1911 and 1918. The short-lived Take-Down Manufacturing Company specialized in small “portable” or manufactured buildings, especially prefabricated garages. Bungalow Magazine was published in Seattle from 1912 to 1918; it was modeled on Gustav Stickley’s The Craftsman and on an earlier Los Angeles publication with a similar title. This widely circulated publication featured many Seattle bungalows along with notable examples from southern California. The magazine served to promote The Craftsman Bungalow Company and the sale of Craftsman Bungalows catalogs, as well as the sale of stock house plans for residential designs credited to Yoho and others, including his close associate Edward L. Merritt (b.1881). Jud Yoho and the Craftsman Bungalow Company are known to have developed two small clusters of bungalow style residences in Fremont in the 600 block of North 47th Street and the 4400 block of Greenwood Avenue North, in the spring and summer of 1910. This house at 617 North 47th Street is part of the cluster on North 47th Street and is the most distinctive and best-preserved example of Jud Yoho work in Fremont. A very similar (possibly using the exact same floor plan) cottage constructed in 1911 is located at 500 North 43rd Street; it has been altered by cladding changes but retains a cobblestone porch and fireplace. King County property tax records indicate that the interior was remodeled prior to 1937 and again prior to 1972. Information regarding Jud Yoho and other Fremont houses associated with him was obtained from: Doherty, Erin M. “Jud Yoho and The Craftsman Bungalow Company: Assessing the Value of the Common House” – M.A. Architecture Thesis, University of Washington 1997. Located mid-block on the south side of North 47th Street with front elevation oriented to the north. Very well-preserved, one story, wood-frame, single-family residence constructed in 1910. Exhibits highly distinctive Craftsman Bungalow style design elements/features. Front gable building form with prominent cutaway porch at east side of facade. There may be a small habitable attic area (shed dormer at east elevation). Measures approx. 26’ x 40’ with concrete foundation and basement level. Prominent 12’ x 12’ cutaway porch with cobblestone wing walls, tapered column and stair cheeks. Craftsman style design elements/features include: low pitched roof forms; cobblestone porch features; cedar shingle cladding; multiple knee braces; wide barge boards and roof overhangs. Distinctive original wooden windows including diamond pattern upper sash cottage and accent windows (including long narrow set of windows at gable end). Corner bay window at west side of façade. Bay window at east elevation. Original multi-pane Craftsman style door remains in place. |
| Major Bibliographic References: King County Property Record Card (c. 1938), Washington State Archives. Polk’s Seattle Directories, 1890-1996. City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development, Microfilm Records. |
Month: May 2025
House History: 4905 Woodland Park Ave North
This large home is located at the northwest corner of Woodland Park Avenue North, and North 49th Street, just a block south of today’s Woodland Park & Zoo. The house, built in 1906, was in a convenient location along streetcar lines. The house is unusually large for the Fremont neighborhood and is distinctive with eighteen wood columns supporting its wrap-around porch. The house was “apartmentized” in 1951, divided up into multiple living units and is still used for apartment housing today.
The house was built for Charles H. Shields, a Seattle businessman who was a grain dealer and also part owner of an automobile dealership, Shields-Livengood Motor Company. Shields and his wife, Emma, had two children. By 1910 their household had expanded with inclusion of Shield’s widowed sister, and a nephew, age 31, who was employed by Shields in the grain company office. In the decade from 1910 to 1920, the household gradually shrank as the Shields children grew up and married. Shield’s fortunes also seem to have been in decline, or perhaps he was having health problems which impeded his work. By 1930, Charles & Emma Shields were living in Portland, Oregon, and at age 65 Charles was listed as a radio salesman. He died in 1935 at age 70.
The writing on the photo is the name of the plat, Woodland to Salmon Bay City, with Block 36, Lot 5, the legal description of the property. The plat map (land area of a couple of blocks, with streets and house lots marked) was filed in 1887 by Robert M. McFadden, and notarized by Guy Phinney, who was the original owner of the Woodland Park land. McFadden was the son of an early Washington Territory judge and legislator, Obadiah McFadden, so that Robert was born in Olympia. Robert went on to work as a banker in Seattle.
Sources:
For more photos of Fremont houses, go to the photo gallery here on this Fremont History page. Photos came from the 1938 survey of all taxable structures in King County.
Genealogical info: City Directories, genealogy websites, Washington Digital Archives, and Find A Grave. Links to Robert M. McFadden and Charles H. Shields.
Fremont Public Art: Late for the Interurban
East of the Fremont Bridge on North 34th Street, near Adobe Plaza, Seattle’s favorite clown, JP Patches, and his friend, Gertrude, are forever “Late for the Interurban” in these bronze statues created by Washington sculptor Kevin Pettelle. The Interurban was the train to Everett with its transfer point by the Fremont Bridge, referenced by the Waiting for the Interurban statue there.
Installed in 2008 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the J.P. Patches TV show, and viewable through a bronze “television” also created by the artist, the Late for the Interurban statues were funded primarily through donations from local fans who grew up watching the show. Here’s the info about the restoration fund to re-paint the statue due to vandalism: Late for the Interurban Statue Restoration Fund – JPPatches.com