When we usually see properties hit the market in the range of $2.4 million, we're looking at places in Laurelhurst or Madison Park or Downtown. We're not usually looking in Maple Leaf. So when you tell us that a two-residence estate recently hit the market asking $2.4M in the North Seattle neighborhood, we're intrigued. And that's before we even learned the history of the place.
So what's, exactly, for sale here? We're talking about a renovated Tudor Revival and a shingled coach house sitting on five lots with a total of 26,000 square feet of property. That includes 70 feet of green belt park frontage, a circular drive, and zoning potential to add another 5-10 structures if you should so choose to.
To know where the residence came from, you have to know Edmond Meany, considered one of the most distinguished professors and conservationists in Washington history. Meany's daughter Elizabeth married her UW classmate J. Arthur Younger in 1915 and they acquired the estate and lived there until 1937 when they moved to California and he became a Congressman. From there, the ownership story of the estate is well documented.
The Youngers sold Maple Leaf Estate to Mr. and Mrs. E.T. Clark, owners of a well-know stationery and office supply store in nearby Lake City. The Clarks’ son, a World War II veteran, later occupied the coach house. In 1961 Mr. and Mrs. R. Dennis Ward acquired the Estate, converting the coach house into a business office before passing the estate to the present-day owners in 1980. The current sellers raised their daughters in the 1926 Tudor, while reinventing the shingled coach house for a progression of uses to suit the changing needs of their family: a retirement residence for the children’s grandmother, nanny quarters, guest suite, rental apartment and most recently a home office.
The 1926 residence still exudes the class that it meant to when it was first built. Features such as the coved ceilings with picture rails, lath and plaster walls, and original leaded glass windows on the main floor maintain the home's historical charm. That's not to say it hasn't been modernized where needed. Some of the remodeling and renovation work has included double-paned Cherry Creek windows, remodeled master bath with heated floors and attached dressing room, and an updated kitchen with gas cooktop, Corian countertops and Sub-Zero refrigerator.
As for the coach house, it now offers you an opportunity to remake it into whatever you need it to be. It can be a studio space or home office. Short-term guests can use it to stay in. Long-term guests or a caretaker could easily call it home.
Outside, everyone can enjoy the grounds, which combine manicured lawns and gardens with a natural woodland forest that has been named a Certified Wildlife Habitat.
· 1233 NE 88th Street [Windermere]
· Maple Leaf Parkfront Estate [MLE]
· Edmond Meany [HL]