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This
elaborate two-and-one-half-story frame residence was built in 1904 by
Dr. Scott Percy Woodin following his marriage to Imogene
Huntsman. Their wedding, which was held at the Seattle home of
Dr. Woodin’s sister, Mrs. Van Ness, was highlighted in the Georgetown-
South Seattle News (December 3, 1904): “They enjoyed a week’s
honeymoon in Seattle, but the Doctor is now back in the harness,
working hard as ever.” The article went on to say that the
newlyweds will reside at the doctor’s residence on Bateman Street
“until the completion of their elegant home on Charlestown
Street.” |
Dr. Woodin, a well-known Georgetown figure, served as City Health
Officer and Assistant Physician at the nearby King County
Hospital. He met Imogene, who was described as “an accomplished
and amiable woman,” when she was a nurse at the hospital.
(According to Woodin’s grandson, Scott Daniel Boone, Imogene had a
daughter from a previous marriage who passed away from appendicitis
soon after her marriage to Dr. Woodin.) Woodin assisted hospital
superintendent Dr. Willis H. Corson from 1906 to 1912 and introduced
the first x-ray machine to King County; however, enthusiastic overuse
of the new technology, and the radiation poisoning that went with it,
were a contributing cause to the doctor’s death.
Scott and Imogene Woodin lived at this residence from 1904 to
1923. The 1906 directory lists their address as 507 Charleston
(later renamed Corson Avenue South). Conveniently located one
block north of the hospital and across the street (south) from the
Georgetown Public School, Woodin used the upper bedroom above the front
porch as a physician’s office. They had their first
daughter, Diadama, in 1907. Woodin’s grandson recounted that when
Diadama was a little girl, the Duwamish Indians would paddle up and
down the river and ring their doorbell to sell their wares. Among
his grandmother’s acquisitions were a wooden bowl and a couple of grass
mats. After Imogene died of cancer in 1923, Scott Woodin remained
here until his death in 1929. The 1930 city directory lists his
daughter Diadama as the sole occupant.
The 1929 Sanborn map indicates that the Woodin Residence was one of the
few residences in this neighborhood. An adjacent frame dwelling
(#5801 ½), situated west of the house, and two garages are
located in this block. The subdivided lots north along Corson
Avenue remain undeveloped, except for the Germani’s residence and
ornamental cast stone manufacturing business (#5609-11).
On Christmas Day in 1931, Diadama married Jacob Boone at the University
Presbyterian Church and they took up residence at her parent’s
residence, remaining there for the next 16 years. Periodically,
throughout the depression and early 1940s, the house was rented out to
nurses who worked at the King County Hospital. The tax assessor’s
records indicate that tenants paid $30 per month. Diadama appears
in the 1940 city directory working as an office secretary at the
University of Washington and living at 418 23rd Avenue North.
(According to her son, Scott Daniel Boone, she was temporarily staying
at a family friend’s home while tenants rented the Woodin house.)
Diadama and Jacob Boone divorced in 1947, and two years later she
married Eldon Pratt.
In 1965-66, when the Corson Avenue exit ramp was put in, the house was
moved back roughly 20 feet. A new concrete foundation, as well as
a new oil furnace, was installed at this time. After Eldon passed
away in 1977, Diadama continued to live at the house until her death in
1996. The property passed down to Diadama’s son and only child,
Scott Boone, who plans to spend the rest of his days there.
PHYSICAL
DESCRIPTION
The Woodin Residence, which sits at the base of the Corson Avenue exit
ramp and across from the Georgetown Playfield, is one of the block’s
sole survivors from the early 20th century (the Georgetown Presbyterian
Church still remains one block west, at the corner of South Homer
Street and Padilla Place South). As good fortune would have it,
the house has remained under the same family’s continuous ownership
with minimal changes to its original design and, as a result, stands as
a well-preserved example of a “Seattle Classic Box.” This
residential type gained popularity on the West coast between 1900 and
1910 and was largely promoted in plan books, magazines, and local
newspapers. Both the Radford Architectural Company in Chicago and
the Alladin Company in Michigan published house plans, including a
four-square house called the “Standard.” Seattle’s two leading
proponents were architects Victor W. Voorhees and Fred L. Fehren, who
published fully illustrated plan books that were heavily used by
Seattle area homeowners and builders. Voorhees’s Western Home
Builder featured several “Classic Box” designs consisting of eight-room
houses that measured 28 by 36 feet, and ranged in cost from $2,400 to
$4,000.
A variation of the American Four Square, the Seattle Classic Box is
characterized as a two-story, wood-frame box-shaped house capped by a
low-pitched, hipped roof. The footprint usually measured 32 by 36
feet. Roof dormers and a broad front porch are common, while more
substantial versions often feature projecting corner bays, full-width
verandas, and leaded glass windows. Its basic cubic form “lent
itself to infinite variation in applied ornamentation and detail,”
often borrowing stylistic features from English Tudor, Craftsman, and
Colonial and Classical Revival. Interiors contained a large entry
hall, living room, dining room and kitchen on the first floor, and
bedrooms on the second floor. More expensive versions boasted
tiled fireplaces, beamed ceilings, wainscoting, and dark-stained wood
trim. Examples of the Seattle Classic Box are scattered
throughout Seattle, displaying a range of sizes and architectural
details.
The Woodin Residence, which is distinguished by its symmetrical
composition and mix of Classical and Craftsman detailing, may have been
built using an architect-designed plan or mail-order design. The
owner has tracked down similar houses near Boeing Field and in South
Park; however, most of them have since been torn down. Standing
two stories tall and capped by a flared hipped roof with wide bracketed
eaves, the exterior is clad in horizontal wood siding (first floor) and
wood shingles (second floor), exemplifying its Craftsman
influence. At its midsection, a dentiled belt course – a typical
classical element - further delineates the two levels. Bay
windows and flared hipped roof dormers are other characteristic
features. A combination of tall, narrow, double-hung wood-sash
and smaller cottage-type windows are used throughout. Some of the
windows are grouped together and contain ornamental wood mullions or
leaded-glass upper sashes.
The front (east) façade contains an offset one-story hipped-roof
porch entry with a large tripartite window with an upper leaded-glass
sash positioned to one side. The classically-detailed porch has
grouped, square and circular fluted columns, raised on wooden plinth
blocks, supporting a wood entablature and bracketed hipped roof.
A projecting bay window (south) and grouped double-hung wood sash
(north) occupy the second-floor level. The bay window contains
three double-hung wood-sash windows and decorative wood brackets at its
underside. The central hipped-roof dormer contains paired,
wood-mullioned sash windows.
The south elevation contains a first-floor bay window and three
double-hung wood-sash windows on the second floor. An interior
brick chimney is located at this side of the house. The north
façade, which faces onto South Homer Street, features a
cantilevered staircase bay supported by three scrolled wood
brackets. The bay contains paired, double-hung wood sash and
incorporates the dentiled belt course that stretches across the main
façade’s midsection. A small, rectangular window
positioned to the east side of the bay contains the original
leaded-glass sash. Two double-hung wood-sash windows occupy the
first-floor west end. The upper floor contains three double-hung
wood sash windows and a hipped roof dormer is centered on the roof
slope above. A one-story hipped roof addition, measuring 5 by 20
feet, is appended to the rear (west) façade, and the upper floor
contains two double-hung wood-sash windows.
The building’s footprint, which measures 27 by 40 feet, contains eight
rooms on the interior – four on each floor. Many of its interior
features remain intact, including the plaster walls, fir floors and
trim, and brick fireplace. Most of the woodwork – except for the
kitchen - is in its original, unpainted condition. Craftsman
style built-in cabinets, with doors on both sides, divide the dining
room and kitchen. A small cast-iron coal burner is located in the
living room fireplace.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC
REFERENCES
Department of Neighborhoods, Office of Urban Conservation, 1997
Architectural Survey (Site No. GT014); WSA, PSB, Bellevue Community
College, King County Tax Assessor’s Real Property Records; Tim
O’Brian’s collection; Georgetown- South Seattle News, December 3, 1904,
Volume II, No. 40; Phone interview with Scott Daniel Boone, June 1,
2005; Seattle City Directories; Baist’s Real Estate Atlases; Sanborn
Fire Insurance Maps; Kroll’s Atlases of Seattle; Victor W. Voorhees,
Western Home Builder, 1910.
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