Historic Seattle’s Annual Preservation Celebration is coming up on September 25, 2025. We’ll celebrate the projects and people that help amplify our mission. Today, we feature Bryce and Chris Seidl for the Burwell House, the 2025 Bech Chave Awardee for Outstanding Stewardship.
Congratulations Bryce and Chris Seidl!
Nestled on 14th Avenue East in Capitol Hill, the Burwell House (709 Fourteenth Avenue East) stands as one of Seattle’s earliest and finest examples of Arts and Crafts architecture. Built in 1904 for Anson and Gertrude Burwell, the home reflects the legacy of a man who helped shape Seattle’s early business and cultural landscape. Anson served as vice president and later president of the Seattle Hardware Company, which thrived outfitting prospectors during the Alaskan Gold Rush and as a major wholesale supplier across the Pacific Northwest. The home is often referred to as “Seattle’s House of Hardware”, showcasing the most beautiful hardware featured in the catalog that featured the rich array of doorknobs and locksets sold by the company. He also served as president of the YMCA and a long-time member of its executive board at a time of transformational change.
The Burwell House found devoted stewards in Bryce and Chris Seidl, who purchased the property in 1994. Over five years, they undertook an ambitious restoration to reverse decades of alterations. Their work was guided by meticulous research and executed with the help of skilled craftspeople committed to historical accuracy.
Key restoration efforts included:
- Reopening an enclosed segment of the sunporch
- Rebuilding the west walls of the library and dining room which had been removed to connect the rooms to the enclosed portion of the sunporch
- Reinstalling the cherry cove molding and picture rail in the parlor and living room using both original wood and new cherry milled to match the original patterns, finished in shellac
- Recreating the original oak fireplace mantle and surround in the dining room which had been covered with painted fir boards
- Recreating the parlor’s original west wall which held sliding pocket doors that had been moved elsewhere in the home, using custom-milled head, jamb, casing and wainscoting finished in period-accurate shellac
- Returning a bedroom and bathroom that had been merged to make a large primary bath to their original proportions and configurations
In 2024, determined to protect the home’s integrity for future generations, Chris and Bryce pursued landmark status. Their efforts culminated in April 2025, when the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board designated the Burwell House a city landmark. The designation protects the exterior, the main entry hall and staircase, the parlor, the living room, the second-floor hallway doors and of course, the beautiful door hardware.
Thanks to the Seidl’s’ extraordinary stewardship, Seattle’s “House of Hardware” will continue to stand as a timeless testament to Arts and Crafts architecture, doorknobs and all.
Photo courtesy of the Seidl’s