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Overview

The Seattle architect William J. Bain, Sr., designed this very large English Country style residence for furniture merchant Herbert A. Schoenfeld and his wife Sylvia Levi on a large, 1.5-acre piece of property in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Building History

William J. Bain, Sr., designed this English Country house completed in 1938 for the furniture merchant Herbert Schoenfeld, his wife Sylvia Levi, their two children Judy and Herbert, and two domestic workers, Elizabeth Sporner (a cook, born c. c. 1903 in NE) and Minnie Brandt (a maid, born c. 1909 in WA). his wife. The 1940 US Census indicated that they lived at 1700 17th Avenue North and it also indicated that they resided in the "same place" in 1935, which likely meant Seattle, not this specific house. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: Seattle, King, Washington; Roll: m-t0627-04378; Page: 18B; Enumeration District: 40-143, accessed 04/30/2024.) The Schoenfelds lived in an apartment at 1710 East Denny Way in Seattle, WA, built in 1926. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1934, p. 1282.) According to King County iMap, the house was completed in 1938.

On 03/31/1997, Charles S. and Barbara J. Snyder sold the house to the PNC Bank National Association for $2,230,000. The Bank then leased it to Ann Wilson on 04/09/2001 and later physician Stephen Tarnoff and Suzanne Katz on 11/06/2002. The bank sold it to the businessman and art collector Barney Ebsworth (1934-2018) for $6,000,000 on 03/09/2006. Ebsworth transferred the deed to Chapel LLC on 04/24/2006, and later that year sold it to Los Angeles real estate attorney Andrew S. Clare for $5.5 million on 09/13/2006. On 01/03/2008, Clare possibly leased the residence to David Brede and Kelly King for $110,000, but retained ownership. He sold the property on 07/23/2018 to Sandra Cox for $8,400,000.

Building Notes

The Atlas of Seattle 1939 showed two large estates side-by-side, that of H.A. Schoenfled and of Mary De Steigher and Oliver C. Spencer. The former had 1.5 acres, the latter 1.4 according to this map. In 2024, the estate at 1700 17th Avenue East contained 164,032 square feet (3.77 acres), making it a very large property for this well-heeled section of the city, that may have been a combination of the Schoenfeld and De Steigher/Spencer lots.

The L-shaped house had 3,360 square feet on floor one, 2,810 square feet on floor two and a 2300 square-foot finished basement. The house also contained a 360-square foot deck and an open porch with 410 square feet.

PCAD id: 25173