Pre-registration is required. Address and directions will be sent to registrants prior to tour.

In February 2000, Historic Seattle members were invited to tour the Perry Polson house, an elegant home with magnificent city views. It was designed by Josenhans and Allen and completed in 1906 for Perry Polson, a prosperous businessman with interests in mining equipment, lumber, and real estate. The home combines a three-sided verandah a tower, and broad hipped and gabled roofs. The entertaining rooms showcase white oak, with particularly fine box beams in the dining room, which were graced with a handsome slag glass chandelier. Canvas hung ceilings are decorated by an Austrian painter who later went on to work for B. Marcus Priteca in the decoration of the Pantages and Coliseum theaters. There were traditional English and French florals in the drawing room and library and Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts borders and trim in rear parlor, dining room, and stair hall that remain intact.

The house sits on three prime lots. At the time of our 2000 tour, the owners were concerned that a buyer might tear it down and subdivide the lot for three homes. They wished to find a buyer who would respect its origins, history, and architectural significance. They sold the house in 2005 to a couple who made some improvements before selling to the current owners who since buying the house in September 2011 have done extensive work. This includes rebuilding the majority of the windows, replacing others that could not be rebuilt, updating the kitchen, adding new terraces and garden areas, repainting the house in historically appropriate colors and accent schemes and repairing over 200 rafter tails to make the house shine once again!

Photo: Polson House / Source: Marvin Anderson

Cost:
$45 general public / $35 members / $20 students