Building History

This neighborhood of Seattle was originally referred to as the "Colman-Denny Property" and was later named "Windermere."

An article of 07/29/1928 in the Seattle Times indicated that one house, that for the writer Frank R. Pierce, Sr., and his wife Vivian Gill Pierce, would be the first to be built in the new tract. (See "First Home Soon To Be Built in New Community," Seattle Times, 07/29/1928, p. 24.) The Colman-Denny community was planned for luxury housing, and was set father away from Downtown Seattle than the established and affluent Capitol Hill and Queen Anne neighborhoods. Windermere was set on a western edge of Lake Washington, in the northeast part of the city undergoing steady deavelopment following the relocation of the University of Washington to the Montlake area in 1895. It sat on bluffs above the water, but possesed fine views of the Cascade Mountains and the lake.

The 07/29/1928 Seattle Times article went on to describe the restrictions, amenities and spaciousness of the new Colman-Dennyresidential neighborhood: “The Colman-Denny property, embracing approximately ninety acres, situated on a beautiful hillside sloping above Lake Washington on the south and east and to East 60th Street, which forms the north boundary. This property is now being fully improved and when completed will be one of the most highly restricted residential communities in Seattle. Approximately $250,000 will be spent in the installation of the improvements and utilities. The main approach will lead off Sand Point Way, the new 100-foot boulevard soon to be built, and will pass through a beautiful gateway down the broad paved thoroughfare to be known as Colman Avenue. All the streets in the plat will be paved and cement sidewalks laid. Water and sewer mains will connect with every lot and all light, telephone and power lines, both for home and street lighting, will be laid underground so that none of the panoramic view will be marred by unsightly poles and hanging wires. The entire property will be served with a complete system of street lighting for which new and beautiful lamp standards are being designed. In platting the lots in this new community the idea of spaciousness and beautiful grounds around each dwelling was considered of first importance. There are eighteen waterfront lots ranging in size from 100 feet by 700 feet to 150 feet by 614 feet, and 152 view lots, the smallest of which is 80 feet by 134 feet and the average approximately 100 feet by 200 feet. Restriction in every deed provide not more than one house can be erected on any lot. All streets, with the exception of Colman Avenue, which is sixty feet wide, will be fifty feet in width, and alleys will be twenty feet. Other restrictions which will go far in the development of a residential community with a particular appeal, provide that the purchaser of any lot build within three years, the cost of the house to be $5,000 to $20,000, depending on the location of the lot. Included in the purchase price of every lot will be a membership in the Community Club, which will be organized by the purchasers for the use and improvement of a four and one-half acre tract, embracing approximately two hundred feet of waterfront on the south end of the property, which will be used as a community playground with tennis courts and bathing beach and a sand pile and yard for the children. The playground and beach will be supervised by an attendant and admission will be by membership card only.” (See "First Home Soon To Be Built in New Community," Seattle Times, 07/29/1928, p. 24.)

In order to provide "particular appeal," restrictions in this new tract covered the size of lots (preventing subdivision), expenditures to be spent on houses, when houses had to be built and people who could buy property. The Rayville plat restrictive covenants recorded in 09/1928 read as follows: "No person or persons of Asiatic, African or Negro blood, lineage or extraction shall be permitted to occupy a portion of said property, or any building thereon, except, domestic servant or servants may be actually and in good faith employed by White occupants of such premises." Later unrecorded plat restrictions written in 1937 and 1947 by the J.M. Colman Company stated: "Said property shall not be conveyed, sold, rented or otherwise disposed of, in whole or in part, or otherwise occupied by any person or persons except of white and Gentile race, except, however a domestic servant actually employed by the lawful owner or occupant thereof." (See University of Washington, Seattle Civil Right and Labor History Project.edu, "Restrictive Covenants Database," assembled 2006, accessed 04/04/2024.)

PCAD id: 25087