OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Overview

The Second Empire Stacy House was one of Seattle's grandest residence during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and was designed by the architect Arthur E. Doyle. It was one of Doyle's last major works in the city.

Building History

Real estate investor Martin Van Buren Stacy (1837-1901) and his wife, Elizabeth A. Briggs Stacy (1824-1904), spent approximately $50,000 to erect this grand Second Empire Style residence, considered at the time one of the three most lavish mansions in the city, along with the Henry Yesler House #2 and the McNaught Mansion. The couple married c. 1870, and first lived in a residence near the corner of 2nd Avenue and Columbia Street. Martin Stacy developed a reputation in Seattle as a trustworthy and honest real estate broker by pioneer families; although beloved by his peers, Martin and Elizabeth were not always harmonious, and they lived in this dwelling for a few years before moving to a new address at 1104 Madison Street (1004 Boren Street) by at least 1891. (She died in a house she had had built at 1016 Boren Street in 1904.) Busy making financial transactions and attending social and fraternal club events (he was an active Mason), Martin did not linger at home too much, preferring to stay in hotels or men's clubs. After being sold by the Stacys, the mansion became home to the Seattle Chamber of Commerce (formed in 1882), before becoming an expensive rooming house.

After this, Chef Charles Joseph Ernest Blanc, who had worked previously as the Chef de Cuisine at the Rainier Club, New Washington Hotel and Rathskeller Café, remodeled the Stacy House #2 into an illustrious, gourmet restaurant, La Maison Blanc, opened on 01/12/1916. The Rathskeller Bar--which featured barmaids in German costume--operated in space below the Maison Blanc, and was accessed on hilly Marion Street. Blanc's restaurant operated from 1916 until 1960, when it had a significant fire that charred the interior. Considered unsalvageable, La Maison Blanc was torn down in 1960.

Building Notes

Irish-born, Seattle architect Arthur E. Doyle (1819-1889) designed this house in the Second Empire Style; the house's neighbors in 1890 were the 1st Presbyterian Church #1 (to the north) and 1st Methodist-Episcopal Church (to the south); architect Stephen J. Meany (born c. 1857) served as a draftsman on this project. Doyle began work in Seattle in 1871 and retired by 1884.

Alteration

When 3rd Avenue was regraded, the house was lifted up on new, two-story foundations and turned 90 degrees to face Marion Street. It had an address of 308 Marion Street. Writer Frank R. Atkins wrote in the Seattle Star in 1937 of the Stacy House: "The Stacy home, a mansard-roof affair still stands on its old location, but with the grading of Third Avenue, it was raised and stores built underneath." (See Frank R. Atkins, "Henry Yesler Home One of Early Show Places," Seattle Star, 08/07/1937.) An addition was built in front of the First Empire Style residence facing 3rd Avenue. This addition was a simplified modern box that contrasted notably to the ornate French styled house, but featured open air dining on its roof.

Demolition

The interior was destroyed by fire in 1960.

PCAD id: 18308