CHAPTER 2:  METHODOLOGY

 

This study consisted of a step-by-step series of analyses of land use and architectural and social history.  The initial step was the identification of an appropriate study area.  Several factors led to the selection of the southwest slope of Queen Anne: 

• Its considerable number of pre-war apartment houses, with a wide variety of ages, styles, sizes, and socioeconomic markets;
• Its range of land uses, with a mixture of single family development and multifamily and commercial buildings;
• Its high-quality building stock in generally good condition, with even modest apartment houses being well maintained; and,
• The relatively dynamic community, with multifamily buildings still replacing single family homes.

 

The primary research and analytical steps were:

• Preparation of a brief history of Seattle's development during the pre-war period, particularly addressing social, economic, planning and commercial activities;
• Compilation of a brief history of Queen Anne's development, to provide a context for the consideration of apartment houses;
• Completion of a survey of historic and current land uses, to identify where apartment house development occurred, the pace at which it occurred, and the extent to which apartment houses replaced other land uses; 
• Conducting a field survey to identify key physical features, such as size, age, building type, and ornamental detail, of the pre-war apartment buildings in the target area;
• Confirmation of construction dates and other characteristics through review of King County records;
• Review of primary sources, such as newspaper articles, advertisements, and city directories to identify socioeconomic and other factors, such as the intended markets of apartment buildings;
• Review of literature on apartment development elsewhere to provide context for the local findings;
• Selection of several buildings for further study, encompassing a range of types and building forms;
• Development of a description of Seattle's apartment house tradition, and a comparison with those of other cities; and,
• Discussion of urban design factors and potential applications to today's planning activities.

 

The research began with several field surveys of the study area, which had two purposes:  one was to observe the general atmosphere of the streets and the type of building stock; the second purpose was to collect detailed information on specific buildings that appeared to predate World War II.  Each building on the resulting list was then researched at the King County Tax Assessor's Office and the Washington State Archives.  Current assessment data was useful in confirming building age, size and certain structural features and amenities.  The historic data and photographs from the 1930s, at the State Archives, further confirmed this information and also showed how the buildings had changed over time.  This source was also invaluable in tracing development patterns, since it shows all structures that existed in the mid-1930s, major structural changes (such as conversion to multifamily use) and demolition dates.  Much of this information is summarized in the table in the appendix and the map on page 54.

 

Additional information on development patterns was obtained from a variety of historic maps, including those by Baist, Kroll and the Washington Map and Blueprint Company.  These were supplemented with several birds-eye view sketches from the early years of the century.  Sanford Fire Insurance maps were also used, but their practice of adding new buildings as they were built makes it difficult to identify patterns clearly over time.

 

Basic information on the history of Seattle was easily obtainable from several history books, including those by Roger Sale and Richard Berner.  However, these do not discuss the study area specifically.  The most important source for this was the Queen Anne Historical Society's thorough community history Queen Anne: Community on the Hill, which was published while this study was underway.  This work contains considerable information on early developers, platting, demographics and major trends on Queen Anne during the entire pre-war period.  The Queen Anne Historical Society also made available the early drafts of the book, which contained more detail, and their other archival information.  A particularly useful item was their index to the Queen Anne News, which began publication in 1920.

 

Newspaper articles and advertisements, particularly the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Queen Anne News, were very important sources.  They provide important details, such as rental rates and quotations indicating people's viewpoints and priorities, which are unavailable from any other source.  They are also useful in clarifying dates and similar details.  City directories and photographs indicated when and where businesses were in existence and what streetscapes looked like at particular periods.  The directories also were a guide to the oft-changing names of some apartment houses.  Magazines such as The Western Architect also gave valuable insights into changes in housing patterns and building forms, such as the development of efficiency apartments.  These periodicals and newspapers are very rich sources and much more could be done with them to explore Seattle's architectural and development history.   

 

Census data was used to provide details on housing and population characteristics.  This was the best way to answer the question "Who lived here?" and what their characteristics such as age and income were.  Comparisons of data from several different census years is always challenging because of variations in the questions and procedures from one year to the next.  For example, housing information was difficult to find before 1940, so that census was the primary source.  Information specific to Queen Anne was difficult to obtain for some years, since geographical divisions used in early censuses were not consistent.  Therefore, much of the earlier (pre-1940) demographic information was taken from the community history book.

Numerous books were consulted to develop a concise history of apartment construction and lifestyles in various cities in both Europe and the United States.  Much of this history is well documented, especially that of New York.  This information was used to demonstrate similarities and, more frequently, differences, in Seattle's experience.

 

Several general problems were encountered in locating and compiling relevant information.  The first challenge was identifying useful sources, since little has been written on this topic.  Once the multitude of primary sources was identified, an extraordinary amount of time was needed to review them.  As noted above, the best information is often from newspapers and magazines of the time.  Since these are often not indexed, they must be reviewed, often on microfilm, issue by issue, in libraries or archives.   

 

Another challenge was dealing with incomplete or contradictory information.  Thorough searches were made for additional sources and background data to minimize misinterpretation, but some inaccuracies probably remain, often due to missing information.  The last chapter contains several ideas for further studies to answer some of the questions that arose during this research.