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Image from Seattle P-I story / Meryl Schenker |
Steve Flynn has been pouring his heart and his life’s savings into rescuing this beautiful turn-of-the-century Fremont house currently located at 3628 Palatine Ave N. The house was moved on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 2:00 am. The neighborhood came out in-force and showed their support for Steve’s efforts to save the house and wished it well along its journey! It arrived at Steve’s lot in the late morning and now awaits its foundation to be poured for a daylight basement.
Many unexpected challenges have risen during this project, each costing Steve Flynn’ additional thousands of dollars; including higher-then-expected wire costs along the move route (e.g. the costly splicing and lowering of Qwest phone lines, plus two mystery fiber-optic lines serving high-tech functions, which could cost almost thousands of dollars apiece to take down and put back up without disturbing the customers that they serve on the move night). Fremont is a literal tangle of wires and obstacles to get past! Steve’s land preparation costs are also higher than expected; his permitting, architecture fees, etc.
We have set up this special website so that Seattle residents and Historic Preservation fans can each play a part in helping to save this house and allow Steve to survive this challenging process from a financial perspective. At this site you may donate $100 [see below] toward the cause, and a commemorative brick will be made with your name on it, or someone you wish to buy it for.
Each commemorative brick can have up to two short lines of text [entered below]. They will be professionally engraved and inset-painted, and Steve will build a front garden pathway up to the house, or a garden circle, with everyone’s name permanently associated with the grand Fremont house that they helped save!
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There are two ways to pay for your Commemorative Brick…
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Go to any Bank of America branch and say that you wish to deposit $100 into an account called “Fremont House Rescue.” You may also deposit an additional $100 for anyone for whom you wish to order a brick. Please write your name and the name(s) for whom you are making the deposit so that we can cross-reference and confirm your brick order.
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Make a PayPal Payment from this website in the amount of $100 for each brick you wish to order. For each PayPal Payment, please list any name(s) for whom you are ordering a brick in the purchase comment section.
Once payment has been made, please return to this page and be sure and Fill Out the Online Form to specify your brick wording, and let us know the method of payment and date payment was made so we can confirm your order. We will send you an e-mail confirmation that your payment has been made and the brick(s) are being ordered.
Order Your Commemorative Brick:
Your Commemorative Brick will be engraved with up to 18 characters per line with two lines of text. Text will appear as all upper-case and centered. If you only use one line for your desired text (and it fits into 18 characters), then it will be centered on the brick both horizontally and vertically. Each space also counts as one character.
Steve’s expenses continue to rise, and may continue to do so up until and after the house arrives at his site. However, this account has been set up in such a way that if by chance it reaches an amount sufficient to cover his extra costs, Steve has agreed to our suggestion that we leave this as a standing account which will be used to help rescue future houses which become threatened in our Seattle neighborhoods by the pressures of high-density development. Collectively, we all want to encourage such houses to be “rescued” if at all possible by moving them to nearby residential lots in their neighborhoods, rather than seeing them having to be demolished.
Your participation in this group-effort to save this wonderful house is greatly appreciated, and you may contact Jeff McCord at 206-347-0573 or if you have any questions about this house rescue operation.
House History:
The Fremont Historical Society has been researching the house’s history. The 1-1/2 story cottage at 3628 Palatine Ave N was constructed in 1905 after an earlier house built for the same owner was moved north off the property in 1903.
The first owner was Chas J. Taylor. In 1900 Mr. Taylor was a Seattle streetcar conductor. In July 1900, he was commissioned as a letter carrier for the U.S. Post Office. Around that time, he had his first house built in Fremont, at 3628 Palatine. He and his wife Effie moved into the house. In 1903 he had the house moved north one lot and had a second house built on the lot. He and Effie lived in this second house until the early 1940s. They had five children during the time they lived in the house, four of which survived. The children were Mildred, Roberta, Chas, La Vern and Phyllis. Chas Jr. does not appear to have survived infancy/childhood. Mr. Taylor worked as a letter carrier until at least 1930. He died in 1944, the last year that his wife is listed as living in the home.
The following residents lived at house in later years: Mildred deLacy, 1946 (perhaps the Taylors? oldest daughter); E. A. Hanson, 1948-49; Mrs. Minnie J. Hanson, 1951-1958; Bradley West, 1959-1977; Alan Billingsley, 1978; Don Taylor, 1979; Ronald Winn, 1980; Lawrence Gray, 1981-82; Wayne Simoneaux, 1985-2008. The house was most recently used as the Gypsy Arms B & B from the 1990s until 2007, a business owned by Wayne Simoneaux and Gary Kubista.
The House Today:
The house has been cared for an maintained remarkably well during its long life. The entire house has been recently re-sided with clear cedar siding, outfitted with all-wood reproduction leaded windows, authentic door hardware, all new electrical service, new roof, and other features. The classic curved window feature atop the house’s front facade really adds character to this Seattle Craftsman. The house has many stories to tell, including some particularly colorful memories which will stay behind with its basement at its old location on Palatine Ave N — as one Fremont resident lovingly put it, “What happens on Palatine, stays on Palatine!”
The house will now earn many more stories in its long future at its new location… It has now found its new life at 4020 Evanston Ave N — a residential lot rather than a multi-family lot. By Steve Flynn moving the house to his lot, he has likely given the home a “Golden Ticket” to at least 100 more years of existence!
Please check back periodically to this section of the website and more contributions will be added as they are gathered. The Fremont Historical Society may also be able to contribute additional background materials as more research surfaces on this wonderful project.
Also, please check out the floor plans recently created in PDF format, and the video tour of the house below:
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New photo of house taken on September 1, 2008 prior to lifting.
