Buried Treasure

by Bruce Jones

As published in the Queen Anne News August, 2006

A sign from the past showed up recently at the Diamond/Boutin house on top of Queen Anne. The cute Craftsman style house on 2nd Avenue West was getting a basement remodel, the usual tear out and rebuild. Across the back of one room some cabinets were installed, blocking a window. Deborah Diamond, one of the owners, explained that the contractor was tearing down the cabinets, and suddenly called upstairs. While Deborah had seen the back of the board before (which faced out in the basement window), she was surprised to find on the “front” an old real estate sign from the 1930’s.
The “For Sale” sign indicated the property could be purchased for “$2.50 down and $17.80 per month” from the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC). Turns out HOLC was a government agency established in 1933 to help refinance real estate that had depreciated during the depression. The agency ceased activity in June, 1936, so the sign’s age is pretty well known. Also on the sign is the name Henry Broderick, who founded a Seattle real estate firm in 1908 by the same name. Henry later was on the board of Century 21, the organization that directed the operations of the 1962 World’s Fair.
The sign now hangs proudly on a wall in the basement—no more hiding in the window. And who wouldn’t want to buy a Queen Anne house today for $250 down and $17.80 per month?

Real estate sign sees the light once more as part of basement remodel.