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Overview

Seattle architect Ralf Decker designed this butterfly-roofed, Modern residence for Eugene Schickler and his wife Natalie Raymond on a sloping site in Normandy Park, WA, a town incorporated in 1953 southwest of Seattle (and due west of Sea-Tac Airport). The lot overlooked Elliott Bay to the west. Decker designed the residence in 1948, according to blueprints.

Building History

Eugene Schickler (born 01/08/1912 in New York, NY-d. 10/03/1966 in BC, Canada), then stationed at Fort Lewis, WA, married Theresa Alice Natalie Raymond (born 07/30/1910 in Seattle, WA-d. 12/05/1999 in King County, WA) in Seattle, WA, on 09/06/1941. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Washington State Archives; Olympia, Washington; Washington Marriage Records, 1854-2013; Reference Number: kingcoarchmcvol93_64, accessed 08/12/2021.) Just before his wedding, he lived in Stockton, CA, where he worked as a draftsman for the Pacific Gas and Electric (P,G & E) Company. (See Stockton, California, City Directory, 1940, p. 283 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation: National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for California, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1606, accessed 08/12/2021.) Eugene worked as an engineer at Boeing and he and his wife raised three children in this residence before selling it to the Frankfurter Family.

In 2020, Dr. Meredith Broderick owned the Schickler House. (Thank you very much to Dr. Broderick for sharing information and blueprints of the house with the author on 02/12-13/2021.) According to her: "The home sits about 50 ft above Puget Sound with a walking path down to shore. The second owners of the home (Frankfurters) told us the Schicklers chose this lot very carefully and it was a place on the shore the natives often came to picnic. We had a land restoration project here a few summers ago and the KIng Conservation District confirmed it after finding some arrangement of shells in the land. We were told the Schicklers had trouble getting a loan for the house because of the unconventional layout but Mrs. Schickler’s father was a judge in Seattle and helped them somehow." (See email from Dr. Meredith Broderick to the author, 02/13/2021.)

Building Notes

Being an engineer, Eugene Schickler insisted that the kitchen and bathrooms be sheathed in cement-asbestos board rather than sheetrock, likely for water-resistance.

Alteration

The Frankfurters altered the residence in the 1980s, adding a party room, new master bedroom suite and an entryway.

Plumbing and electrical work was updated in the 2010s.

PCAD id: 24114