Historic Mount Baker Victorian listed for $1.9M

It’s almost Halloween, and it’s the perfect season for deep Seattle history, imposing Victorian houses, and former sanitariums. This listing incorporates all three.

Built in the 1890s, this Victorian home at the midpoint between Mount Baker and Leschi is close to as old as they get in Seattle, and it’s remarkably pristine for a place with more than 120 years of history.

While the original resident was a prominent attorney, it spent some time as the Mount Baker Sanitarium, and then as a rooming house for young women. By the time it was purchased by a couple in the 1970s, it had been altered to have 11 bedrooms—but after some restoration work, that count is down to seven.

Still, some features remain from its time as a sanitarium, including additional dormers.

The house is a classic Victorian shape, with bay windows running up one corner into a turret. On the ground level, this creates a conversation nook near a small fireplace. A second fireplace anchors a second sitting area across the entryway, looping around into a kitchen and formal dining area.

The original details start to show at the front door. Stained glass is dispersed throughout the home—and antique glass in the more conventional windows.

Up a winding staircase, find three bedrooms—including a couple you’d be tempted to call the master. One takes full advantage of the turret shape for a bay window and opens up to a large balcony.

Another features a private, full bath and one of the home’s smaller walk-in closets.

Also on this floor: a clawfoot tub, which is connected to a smaller bathroom, but is in a room that can completely shut off from the rest of the house for undisturbed baths.

Go up one more level to find a more clear master suite, with a walk-in closet larger as big as a bedroom would be in a different house. The master bath features yet another clawfoot tub, and the master bedroom, again, features a sitting area nestled in the top of that turret.

Two more bedrooms on this main floor make six in the main house alone.

Climb even higher up a ladder to a finished loft for another half-bathroom, plus a bonus room with views of both the water and the Downtown skyline. A little nook off to one side would make a cozy spot for reading or a small bed, and enjoys similar views.

Back downstairs—all the way downstairs to the basement—a seventh bedroom is in the corner of a mother-in-law apartment, which includes both a living area and a turret-shaped wet bar (which could possibly become a fuller kitchen, appliances pending). The basement also contains a workshop space, a large utility room with a double sink, and a large, den-like area in the middle.

A separate entrance to the basement leads down from the brick patio out back, which also connects to the back of the main house and a garage painted to match.

The size, views, and bedroom count alone could add up to the listing price of $1.88 million without the history thrown in.

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