The building permit from June 1910 named the architects as Kingsley and Creutzer, and the builder and owner as J. Peterson. John A. Creutzer practiced in Seattle from 1906 until 1929, and William Kingsley predated Creutzer in practice in Seattle and seems to have worked with many architects. Both designed residential and commercial buildings.
J. Peterson was most likely John F. Peterson. In 1911, John F. Peterson is listed in the "Polk's Seattle Directory" as Peterson Realty Co, 521 Peoples Savings Bank Building, and at home at 3338 Graham. By 1923, he was still living at the same address but is listed as a laborer, and the realty company is no longer listed. There doesn't seem to be another J. Peterson that would fit. But he knew what he was about - the building is in good shape 97 years after it was built.
Why did J. Peterson build a commercial building at this spot? The answer may be found in the development of Turner Way. The street was created and named by City Ordinance No. 15167 in 1907. To make the diagonal, the street cut through Capitol Hill Addition, Division No. 6 - that's where the building is located - and Madison Park Addition (the rest of the block).
It's an odd shaped lot and located on what was becoming the major connecting route between Madison Street to the south and Montlake (then called Interlaken) and the University District to the north. A streetcar ran this route before the roadway was entirely paved and before the building was built. Perhaps only a commercial building made sense.
Capitol Hill Addition No. 6 belonged to Herbert S. Turner (1866-1941) who, according to Clarence Bagley, came to Seattle and began selling real estate in 1889. He must have been adventurous, as he tried mining at Cripple Creek and then in the Yukon, but he's best known in Seattle for developing Capitol Hill divisions 4, 5 and 6; H.S. Turner's University addition; H.S. Turner's Interlaken addition; H.S. Turner's Park addition, and others. He seems the most likely Turner to give this street its name.
Today, the building is a four-store row with entrances and large display windows on Turner Way; tall ceilings with windows on the east, north and south sides high up above brick wall spaces. This seems to be just as it was built. Each store has its own staircase to the basement.
The concrete basement is cut into the slope and the height varies with the slope. There appear to have been flues for stoves built into the east wall for each storefront. Part of the basement's east wall is enclosed into storage spaces with metal doors, perhaps once ice boxes. I learned this from touring the building with Glenn Leichman, the building's gracious owner,.
There isn't any evidence that the building has ever been a residence, and there are no windows overlooking the fine view to the east. While it seems likely that early on at least one of the stores was a grocery, I wasn't able to find tenant information until 1938 when L.R. Stavig, groceries and meats was listed, as was John H. Thornblade, interior decoration and upholstery. Leslie Stavig seems to have been a second generation grocer - his father and uncle ran Stavig Brothers grocery and meats at 2330 East Madison Street in 1912.
The building was owned by Palmiro Di Grazia in June 1937, when the King County House Survey was conducted, and the photograph taken at that time shows deep canvas awnings on three storefronts. The awning closest to the corner with East Ward Street says "Drugs, Fountain Cigars." A van parked in front of the next storefront says "Grandma's."
A listing in the June 1949 issue of "The Spastic Child" features two businesses from the building: Hill Top Market and I.C. Cleaners. The Hill Top Market sign is quite visible in a May 1960 photograph in the Seattle Municipal Archives photograph collection, located atop the middle two storefronts with Woods Cleaning Shop on the corner at Ward Street and Wm. Greene Realty at the northern end. The awnings were gone by 1960, but there is still tile work along the Turner Way elevation.
In the early 1970s, the entire building seems to have housed Seattle Public School's Central Area Administration. By 1979, each store was occupied separately: Salisbury Photography, Seattle Works Inc., Carter Brems & Hansen, a design studio and Singleton & Pollock, architects.
Throughout the 1980s, the store spaces housed graphic designers, architects, counselors, a software company and an economic consulting firm. Artists and artisans made use of the basement spaces as well. Today, the building hosts William Zimmerman Architects, Willapa Bay Aikido Studio, Rolande Chesebro of Continuum Gardens and the owner's professional office. Pots of plants cheer the Taylor Way entrances.[[In-content Ad]]