Welcome to this walking tour of historic homes in the Stadium-Seminary Historic District. This tour was produced by Tacoma Historical Society with support from the Pierce County Landmarks & Historic Preservation Commission, as well as Tacoma Creates. The Historical Society thanks them for their support, and thanks you for checking out this tour. "The Stadium-Seminary Historic District in the City of Tacoma is a residential neighborhood of substantial two and three-story homes developed between 1888 and 1930. It is located northwest of the central business district on a high sloping site along a bluff overlooking Commencement Bay. Within the district there are nearly 400 buildings in an area encompassing the equivalent of 50 blocks. This neighborhood is distinguished by its exceptional quality and variety of architecture and its unusual continuity of period that is only rarely interrupted by more modern structures."
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The Tacoma Land Co. began construction in 1890 of what was to be a grand Tourist Hotel. The architects were Hewitt & Hewitt. The work was well along when the Panic of 1893 and the ensuing depression put a permanent halt to construction. In 1898, a fire of unknown origin destroyed the wooden portions of the structure, leaving just the foundation and brick walls standing above ground level. In 1903 demolition of the structure, primarily to salvage the bricks, stopped when the school board decided to convert the unfinished Tourist Hotel into a high school.
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Though it is now gone, the magnificent Huth Mansion once loomed large in the Stadium Historic District, overlooking the Gulch and the historic Stadium Bowl. Designed by the prolific architect Carl A. Darmer, it was demolished in 1958 to make way for a parking lot. Anton Huth and his partner started the Puget Sound Brewery and Malting Company in 1888. In addition to this home, Huth had hired Darmer to design another project of his, that being the historic Carlton Hotel in downtown Tacoma which was named for Anton's son, Carlton.
The building which houses the Washington State History Research Center dates back to 1911 when the Washington State Historical Society shared space with another heritage organization, the Ferry Museum. Before 1911, the Society had housed its collections and exhibits in both the Old City Hall (until 1907) and in the Pierce County Courthouse, located in Tacoma.
In 1889, A. Norton and Helen W. Fitch had this Queen-Anne style home of over 4,900 square feet built for $5,500. The architect was Frederick A. Sexton, who built a number of houses and buildings in Tacoma, including the Biltmore Apartments at 801 North I St. and the home at 414 North C Street.
This Queen Anne home, built for Henry L. and Gertrude Strong Achilles in 1889, is the mirror image of the home at 412 North C St. Architect Frederick A. Sexton "flipped" the plan of the two homes. The Achilles and the Fitches were part of a group that moved to Tacoma from Rochester, New York. Gertrude was the daughter of Henry A. Strong, who later became the first president of the Eastman Kodak Company. It was Strong who held title to the home.
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Tacoma architect Ambrose Russell designed this large English Tudor, two-story home of 4,566 square feet for Robert and Marie Walker. Contractor Cornell Brothers completed the home in 1909 at a cost in excess of $7,000. Robert Walker was a real estate developer, who came to Tacoma in 1887. In 1922, after his wife's death, Wells sold the home to George and Grace Guyles.
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Frederick Watson purchased two lots on what is now the corner of North 5th and D Streets and engaged the local architectural firm of Albert Sutton and James Pickles in 1890 to design a Colonial Revival style residence for himself and his new bride Elizabeth. The home was completed in 1892 and occupied by the family, which now included daughter Elizabeth. Frederick worked in mortgage loans, real estate and insurance and had offices in downtown Tacoma.
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It was in 1890 that prominent Tacoman Conrad Hoska employed architects Charles Daniels and Samuel Cook to design a fine Federal Colonial home for his family just three blocks from Blackwell Point, the planned site of the grand Tourist Hotel to be built by the Northern Pacific Railroad. Hoska’s completed three-story, nine-room house included interior finishes of oak, California redwood, walnut, cherry and ash. The top floors provided grand views of Commencement Bay. Construction began on the hotel the following year.
William and Hattie Branscheid built this five-bedroom, 4,824-square-foot, Queen Anne-style home in 1889 at a cost of $6,000. The architecture firm which designed it was Proctor & Dennis; the contractor was William L. Barker. The Branscheids relocated to San Francisco in 1900. They sold the home to Edward and Belle Shields in 1910.
A uniquely refined mix of architectural styles, Richard and Louise Vaeth’s 6,207 square-foot mansion was built for $16,000, a princely sum in 1898. Designed by Scottish architect Ambrose J. Russell, it combines the proportions of the Shingle Style with Neoclassical Palladian, Gothic Revival, and Richardsonian Romanesque features in a delightfully asymmetrical Queen Anne package. The home almost gives the impression that Russell challenged himself to harmoniously fit as many architectural styles into a single home as he possibly could. With a prominent turret, an encircling octagonal veranda set on rustic stone foundations, Doric columns, triangular pediments, high chimneys, and steep rooflines capped in Gothic spires, the exterior speaks the word “elegance” in a multitude of languages. Follow the links below to enjoy a tour of the interior of this stunning home.
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Architect Albert Sutton designed an eleven-room American stick-built home for George R. and Carrie Osgood in 1893 at a cost of $3,500. Sutton, a rising architect in Tacoma's early decades, formed the firm of Sutton & Whitney in 1912 and designed many Tacoma landmarks, including the Rust Building, the National Bank of Washington, Annie Wright Seminary, and Jones Hall at the University of Puget Sound.
Ambrose Russell designed this grand Prairie-style home of 5,597 square feet for George and Minnie Dickson in 1909 at a cost of $30,000. The influence of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style, as well as the Arts and Crafts movement, is clearly seen in the prominent low-pitch roof of green tile that provides broad eaves and sweeps gracefully over the spacious porch.
In 1903 famed Tacoma architect Carl August Darmer designed this stately Colonial-revival home for William and Anna Virges. In 1913 the Virges family remodeled and expanded the home (at a cost of $25,000). A redesign by Darmer’s partner, Everett Cutting, added the south wing, a solarium and a carriage house, bringing the total square footage of the main house to just under 5.000 square feet.
This Queen Anne Victorian mansion, with sweeping views of Commencement Bay and the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, was designed and built in 1889 for Lucius R. Manning by renowned state architect and icon of early Tacoma, John G. Proctor. The Manning home, now known as the Chinaberry Hill Inn, became renowned for its innovative gardens and landscaped terraces designed by Edward Otto Schwagerl, who also landscaped nearby Wright Park and Point Defiance Park.
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Predating the official founding of New Tacoma by eight months, seven people met with the regional Presbytery on July 27, 1873 to form "The Tacoma Presbyterian Church". This eventually became today's First Presbyterian Church. The financial crash of that year scattered many in the small congregation, but the church was reinstated on September 11, 1877. This church has a long history in Tacoma.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This walking tour of the Stadium Historic District was produced by the Tacoma Historical Society, with support from the Pierce County Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission and Tacoma Creates.
