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Overview

In 1887, Colonel Granville O. Haller and his wife Henrietta Cox Haller, maintained their residence at this address from 1883 until his death in 1897 and hers in 1910. In 1887, their children, including Charlotte E. Haller, Granville Morris Haller, a lawyer with the firm of Burke and Haller, and Secretary of the Puget Sound Telephone Company, and Theodore Haller, also a lawyer with Burke and Haller. (See R.L. Polk and Company's City Directory of 1887, p. 263.), all lived in this residence with their parents.

Building History

Military man Granville O. Haller (1819-1897) had a long military career that included service in the Seminole War (1841-1842) and Mexican-American War (1846-1847) as well as long stints operating in forts in the Washington Territory, Arizona Territory, and working in New York, NY. Haller also saw service between 1861-1863 during the Civil War, serving under General McClellan in Virginia and Maryland. In 1863, he was accused of disloyalty, and removed from the Union Army, a charge that Haller contested for the next 16 years. While he disputed his dismissal, he and his family settled on Whidbey Island, where he operated a farm, lumber business and general store. In 1879, the US Army reinstated him to a command in the 23rd Infantry in Missouri, where he served from 12/1879 until 02/1882. He then returned to Seattle where he erected this Second Empire residence on a plot bounded by Minor Avenue on the west, James Street (south), Broadway (east) and Cherry Street (north).

He and his wife Henrietta Cox Minor had five children. Two daughters, Charlotte and May Haller, resided in this house until their marriages to Redick McKee and William A. Nichols, respectively. Eldest son Granville Morris Haller, a lawyer, was the first to settle in Seattle, and became a successful businessman in town, a legal partner of Judge Thomas Burke. Morris Haller became an investor in Burke's Seattle, Lakeshore and Eastern Railroad Company, and a significant property owner, owning the Haller Lake area in the northern part of the city. He died during a hunting accident in 12/1889 with two other men. Another son, Theodore Haller also became a prominent attorney in town. Another son, Henry, passed away when he was young.

Henrietta Cox Haller lived in the house until her death, and her son, Theodore resided here for another 20 years. He passed away in 1930, at which time the Haller Mansion was obtained by Judge F.E. Fuller. He sold the residence to Nicholas Flelness, who managed the nearby Broadway Apartments, located at Minor and James. The site was sold to the government for public housing in the late 1930s. (See Margaret Pitcairn Strachan, Early-Day Mansions: No. 9 Col. Granville O. Haller," Seattle Times, 10/29/1944, p. 2.)

Demolition

The Haller House has been razed in the late 1930s or very early 1940s. A public housing project was in operation on the Haller House property by 1943. Strachan stated in 1944: "Today a government housing project, running from James to Cherry, and from Broadway to Minor, has taken the place of the fine old house." (See Margaret Pitcairn Strachan, Early-Day Mansions: No. 9 Col. Granville O. Haller," Seattle Times, 10/29/1944, p. 2.)

PCAD id: 19659