HARLAN THOMAS VILLA
Historic, architecturally significant 1910 Italianate villa superbly sited on a double lot on the crest of Queen Anne Hill’s lofty western slope, with commanding panoramic views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound, in convenient proximity to major Seattle employers and urban amenities.
1401 8th Avenue West, Seattle, WA
Built for his own family by celebrated Seattle architect Harlan Thomas (who also designed the iconic Sorrento Hotel and the Corner Building of Pike Place Market, among many other Seattle landmarks), the residence embodies the optimistic, worldly spirit of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, which first put Seattle on the national map as a commercial and cultural hub. The design was influenced by Thomas’s world travels and his professional experiences and by the site, its topography, and its views. For the lover of architectural history, the building offers an unusual opportunity to take custody of an architectural treasure, and for the preservationist, the option of respectfully restoring it to its original glory.
Sold For $1,750,000
Historic 1910 Italianate villa superbly sited atop the crest of Queen Anne Hill’s lofty western slope. Commanding panoramic Sound & Mountain views. By architect Harlan Thomas (Sorrento Hotel, Corner Building of Pike Place Market) for his own family. Take custody of and restore a Seattle icon. Amidst a vibrant collage of stately Old Seattle mansions, charming hilltop parks, strolling boulevards, tree canopies. Polished urban conveniences and wire-free vistas unfurl in all four directions.
3,630 SF
4+ bedrooms
Panoramic views: ferry routes, Sound, Mountains
Original Italianate stucco façade
Sunny south-western exposure
Easy access on foot or by bike to major employers
Opportunity to restore and own a Seattle icon
Extensive documentation
INTIMATE INTERIORS, HILLSIDE VISTAS
Elegantly Detailed, Comfortable Space, Ideal for Entertaining. The villa’s imposing street presence contrasts with surprisingly comfortable, warmly wood-paneled interiors, designed to maximize views and light.
The villa’s imposing street presence contrasts with surprisingly comfortable, warmly wood-paneled interiors, designed to maximize views and light.
Engineered for the Slope
The innovative reverse floorplan (with the kitchen facing the street and the living room at the back) suggests Thomas’s interest in site-specific design in the modern sense. The house nestles into the hillside, with choreographically linked points of entry on different levels, and all modern utilities buried below ground. An adjacent 20,000+ SF City of Seattle pedestrian right of way broadens views to the south and west.
Homage to Italy
Enchanted by his visit to the Amalfi coast, Thomas liberally borrowed Italianate elements for the exterior design of his first Seattle commissions, the Chelsea Hotel and the Sorrento hotel. For his own house he took precise inspiration from the villa in Capri where he had stayed, and which he repeatedly painted. Italianate design elements in the Harlan Thomas house include the stucco façade, the square courtyard terrace with pergola, and the large sunset-facing windows.
Beauty Worth Preserving
12” x 12” solid timber ceiling beams hewn from vertical-grained first-growth fir. Siberian white oak floors, quarter-sawn for durability and top-nailed. Ornamented cast iron radiators and porcelain sinks. Bathroom tile surround from the Rookwood Pottery Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, renowned for its ceramic art tile. Decorative fireplace brickwork design by the architect. A lion head fountain spout emblazoned on the facade. An arched window on the landing, to flood the stairs with natural light. Beautifully intact and ready for restoration, to delight the heart of the antiquarian or history buff and provide another 100 years of comfort and inspiration.
Old World Hospitality
Serve an aperitif on the charmingly intimate lower terrace, or cozy up to the terra cotta-tiled brick fireplace as you watch ferries crisscross the Sound and the sun set over the Olympics, through the original six-paned windows. An in-law apartment with its own entrance offers privacy for visiting family or overnight guests.
Circular floor plan
Brickwork fireplace with terra cotta bas-relief tiles
First-growth 12” x 12” timber beams
Siberian white oak floors
Bathroom with Rookwood ceramic tiles
Self-contained in-law or guest apartment
Paved Italianate courtyard terrace
Sweeping views from Alki Beach and Magnolia Bluff to Blue Ridge
The Harlan Thomas Villa, beyond the Wilcox Wall. First considered by Olmsted Brothers for their 1903 plan for Seattle, the 3.7-mile loop of Queen Anne Boulevard encircles the hill, held up by retaining walls like the massive reinforced concrete Wilcox Wall (completed 1915) that neighbors the Harlan Thomas House. Its decorative brickwork, Gothic arches, and Art Deco streetlights have earned it landmark status.
Historic, architecturally significant 1910 Italianate villa superbly sited on a double lot on the crest of Queen Anne Hill’s lofty western slope, with commanding panoramic views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound, in convenient proximity to major Seattle employers and urban amenities.
Built for his own family by celebrated Seattle architect Harlan Thomas (who also designed the iconic Sorrento Hotel and the Corner Building of Pike Place Market, among many other Seattle landmarks), the residence embodies the optimistic, worldly spirit of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, which first put Seattle on the national map as a commercial and cultural hub.
Panoramic wire-free views from all levels encompass ferry routes, Puget Sound, and the Olympic Mountains.
The house nestles into the hillside, with choreographically linked points of entry on different levels, and all modern utilities buried below ground.
Enchanted by his visit to the Amalfi coast, Thomas liberally borrowed Italianate elements for the exterior design of his first Seattle commissions, the Chelsea Hotel and the Sorrento hotel. For his own house he took precise inspiration from the villa in Capri where he had stayed, and which he repeatedly painted. Italianate design elements in the Harlan Thomas house include the stucco façade, the square courtyard terrace with pergola, and the large sunset-facing windows.
HARLAN THOMAS (1870-1953)
Architectural Practitioner, Professor, Traveler, Engineer, Carpenter, and Artist.
For four decades Harlan Thomas’s work, often in collaboration with other architects and firms, formed and transformed Seattle’s built environment. His travels in Europe and study in Paris, at an independent atelier associated with the Ecole des Beaux Arts, had provided him with a repertoire of European architectural idioms that he could successfully adapt and elaborate for the twentieth-century American context. Major projects included the Chelsea Hotel (1907), Sorrento Hotel (1909), the Pike Place Market Corner Building (1912), Rhodes Department Store (1926), the first Harborview Hospital Building (1931), as well as the Carnegie-funded Queen Anne (1914) and Columbia City (1915) branches of the Seattle Public Library, Bagley Hall at the University of Washington (1937), and numerous college buildings and schools across the nation, from Juneau to New Haven – in exterior styles ranging from Renaissance Italianate, Tudor Revival, and Georgian to Collegiate Gothic and Art Deco. For the interiors Thomas found eclectic inspiration in his 1903-04 world travels (to India, Ceylon, and Australia), prioritizing human-scaled comfort, salubrious ventilation, and inspiring outlooks over adherence to a stock style.
Harlan Thomas played a dynamic part in the architectural development of Queen Anne Hill. In 1906, in conjunction with the contractor N.W. Hindle and the attorney George Wright, the entrepreneurial Thomas formed two companies – the Realty Improvement Company and the Queen Anne Company – for the express purpose of building and marketing single-family homes and apartment buildings in Queen Anne. For projects like the 1907 Rosita Villa Apartments (still extant as Lomita Vista) at 1208 10th Avenue West and a 1914 spec house at 314 W. Halladay St., Thomas was his own client, able to exercise complete creative freedom. Thomas also designed substantial houses or additions in Queen Anne for prominent Seattle figures Roy J. Kinnear (325 W. Prospect St), Frank Bayley (1235 8th Avenue West), Daniel B. Trefthen (1211 8th Avenue West), David E. Fryer (1223 8th Avenue West), and T.T. Barton (717 W. Blaine St).
Harlan Thomas Landmarks on Queen Anne Hill
Chelsea Hotel (1906-1907)
Rosita Villa Apartments (1907)
Roy J. Kinnear Residence (1908)
Harlan Thomas Residence (1908-1909)
Thomas Cottage (1908-1909)
Frank S. Bayley Residence (1901-1910)
Daniel B Trefethen Residence (1911-1912)
Queen Anne Branch of the Seattle Public Library (1912-1914)
David E Fryer Residence (1912-1913)
Spec House (1915)
Amalfi Apartments (1915)
F. T. Bartoon Residence (1921)
7th Church of Christ Scientist (1926-1927
A CITY UPON A HILL
Once known as Eden Hill, Queen Anne Hill offers a vibrant collage of stately Old Seattle mansions, charming hilltop parks, strolling boulevards beneath tree canopies, and polished urban conveniences, including some of the city’s best restaurants, perched just above Seattle’s grandest cultural institutions and most attractive employers, with extraordinary vistas unfurling in all four directions.
Every Convenience Just Down the Street
Pick up your morning latte at the excellent coffee shops just a three-minute stroll away. On Queen Anne Avenue find supermarkets, pharmacies, gyms, yoga studios, cafes and gourmet eateries galore, with a side of old neighborhood charm. The giant Whole Foods at Interbay will satisfy every food craving or culinary need.
Walk to Work, or to the Ballet
The world-renowned cultural attractions of Seattle Center and downtown Seattle (dance, theater, music, museums) beckon, a mere 10-minute walk away – as is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Walk to the new Expedia campus at Interbay and bike, via the Westlake corridor, to the South Lake Union technology hub.
Recreational Nirvana
Scattered like jewels across Queen Anne Hill, some of the most beautiful parks in Seattle (Kinnear, Bhy Kracke, Marshall, Kerry, and Parsons Garden) provide secluded, wisteria-shaded dining spots and elevated vantage points for the sweeping views. 100 pedestrian staircases energize your daily walk or run – or try Queen Anne Pool for a brisk lap workout.
An Old-Fashioned Promenade
First considered by Olmsted Brothers for their 1903 plan for Seattle, the 3.7-mile loop of Queen Anne Boulevard encircles the hill, held up by retaining walls like the massive reinforced concrete Wilcox Wall (completed 1915) that neighbors the Harlan Thomas House. Its decorative brickwork, Gothic arches, and Art Deco streetlights have earned it landmark status.
Easy walk to Gates Foundation
Easy walk to new Expedia campus
Quick commute to South Lake Union, Amazon
Access to North & South Seattle via Rte 99
Urban amenities a few blocks away
10-minute walk to Seattle Center
Lovely neighborhood walks & parks
Spectacular park & boulevard views
Schedule a Private Tour.
Edward Krigsman
Listing Agent
206-387-6789
edwardk@ekreg.com
