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Overview

Architect Victor Steinbrueck selected a wooded, sloping lot in a mixed residential-commercial site in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. The architect used his house as a laboratory, experimenting with inexpensive, industrial and unconventional materials in a domestic context, and created an unusual series of elevations, closed on three sides and open on the fourth to take in a sheltered garden. The floorplan was designed to save space and money and contained only 670 square feet.

Building History

The residence at 1401 East Spring Street had a startlingly modern residential design for Seattle, WA, in 1949-1950. It feature a closed, plywood clad front facade and a rear wall of glass. The one-bedroom house was designed for Steinbrueck and his wife, and cost approximately $10,000.

The building did not have the typical gabled or hipped roof of the time, but a flat one with clerestory monitor to admit reflected light. Walls were covered with aluminum foil.

In later years, Jeffrey and Jennifer Sharp sold the residence on 03/24/1993 to Jacqui L. Evanchik for $139,000. Evanchik sold the dwelling 31 years later to Judith M. Rose for $1,207,000 on 04/10/2024. (See King County Department of Assessments, Parcel Data for Parcel #225450-1505, accessed 10/14/2025.)

Building Notes

Architect's own house. The dwelling had a 670-square-foot first floor, with a 460-square-foot basement. A rear deck extended living space by an additional 240 square feet. The Steinbrueck House occupied a 5,100-square-foot (0.12-acre) lot, that sloped from east down to the west and was still wooded in 1950. (See King County Department of Assessments, Parcel Data for Parcel #225450-1505, accessed 10/14/2025.)

The Steinbrueck House was awarded an Honor Award by the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1952.

PCAD id: 5092