OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Google Streetview (new tab)

Building History

Albert J. Rhodes (born 12/31/1864 in Trempealeau County, WI-d. 1921) worked with his brothers Charles, Henry and William to build a family business in Tacoma, WA, beginning in 1892. The first enterprise began as a coffee shop and rapidly expanded; a full-fledged department store operated by 1903. Albert left the Tacoma operation in 1907 to go it alone in Seattle, WA, where he founded his own Rhodes Department Store. His Downtown Seattle Rhodes store, by 1926, operated at 2nd Avenue and Union Street and was a key part of the city's retail core.

Rhodes lived in this residence with his wife, Harriet ("Hattie," born 04/25/1872 in Polk County, OR) and a Swedish-born maid, Mamie G. Dahlin (born c. 1889), according to the US Census of 1920. Albert and Harriet married c. 1893. In 1918, Albert and Harriet traveled to Japan, his first trip abroad, as a part of an Honorary Commercial Commission from the Seattle Chamber of Commerce to Japan, "to promote [a] friendly business relationship." (See U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 Record for Albert J Rhodes, Ancestry.com, Accessed 10/20/2011.)

Building Notes

The original address of the Rhodes House was 1901 10th Avenue North. The Rhodes House was a two-story Mediterranean Revival Style house, with a rectangular form covered by a shallowly-pitched hipped roof covered in red tile. A pen drawing of the Rhodes House is retained at the University of Washington Libraries, Department of Special Collections, Seattle, WA; the library catalog record is as follows: TITLE: [Rhodes House, 10th Ave. N., Seattle, Wash.] NOTES: Pen drawing (8.5 x 11") by Irwin Caplan, ca. 1942; attached history of house; Gift from Betty Wagner, 1993; Wagner worked as the Head of the Architecture Library at the University of Washington from the early 1950s-2004. SUBJECT TERMS: Caplan, Irwin, 1919-; Mansions - Washington (State) - Seattle - Drawings; Dwellings - Washington (State) - Seattle - Drawings; Architecture, Italian - Washington (State) - Seattle; Rhodes, Albert J.; Capitol Hill District (Seattle, Wash.) CALL NUMBER: 1. Biography: Rhodes, Albert J.: Pamphlet File LIBRARY LOCATION: 1. Allen Library: Special Collections RECORD ID: 19482