Beach Drive = Memory Lane: Trying to trace a house

Over the weekend, Beach Drive Blog published a note from someone trying to find out what happened to a house they remember from decades ago. Maybe you can help – read the note here.

11 Replies to "Beach Drive = Memory Lane: Trying to trace a house"

  • wseye October 5, 2009 (12:57 pm)

    I would suggest using Google Earth to see if the house is still there, or a historical aerial view from the period if not. With an exact address, much can be found, including old photographs of the house used for tax purposes.

  • miws October 5, 2009 (3:30 pm)

    I’ll have to check West Side Story to see if I can come up with more info than what’s intertwined with the cobwebs in my memory ;) but my first thought when I read “stone fence” was the little stone house that was near the sewage treatment plant.

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    The house was demolished :mad: :( in the late ’70’s or ’80’s, to build an apartment or condo, but the fence remained. As far as I jnow, it’s still there.

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    I’m wondering if the house being described was adjacent to that, and I don’t recall from way back then what else was in the immediate area. I would think the person requesting the info would definitely remember the house being made of stone, and that there was an elevator in it, as the wife of the gentleman that built it, was wheelchair bound.

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    Also, the story as I recall, is he suffered a heart attack while building the fence, (he’d apparently brought all of the rocks up from the beach) and someone else finished it.

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    Will check “The Book” and report back!

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    Mike

  • Gina October 5, 2009 (3:39 pm)

    Schilling, Chas G (Elsie M.) ornamental bronze wrk: h 5637 Beach dr.

    Source: 1954 Polk’s Seattle City Directory.
    9th floor, Seattle Public Library, Central Branch, 1000 4th Ave.

  • miws October 5, 2009 (3:43 pm)

    Just checked, and there’s a picture of the little stone house, with caption, on page 156.

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    Skimmed that page, and the page or so preceding, but didn’t spot anymore info.

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    Forgot to mention above, that the person requesting the info also remembered a restaaurant nearby, with the word “Grill” in the name. Quesnel’s was nearby, I believe just south-ish of the condos that stick out on the water, but I believe it had “Broiler” in the name.

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    If I can get signed up okay, I’ll go ahead and cross-post this on BDB.

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    Mike

  • WSB October 5, 2009 (3:47 pm)

    Google Street View tends to be about a half-block off (I have to use it about half a dozen times daily) so I wonder if this might be the exact fence:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=5637+Beach+Dr+SW,+Seattle,+King,+Washington+98136&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=32.197599,54.404297&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FZSS1QIdolS0-A&split=0&layer=c&cbll=47.550834,-122.398028&panoid=TZ7NMY1WfPtoEhjZbugu5Q&cbp=12,282.57,,0,8.2&hq=&hnear=5637+Beach+Dr+SW,+Seattle,+King,+Washington+98136&ll=47.55093,-122.398038&spn=0.000849,0.002411&z=19&iwloc=A
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    (it’s a couple houses south of the one that actually comes up on GSV for the address)

  • miws October 5, 2009 (3:50 pm)

    Aw geeze Gina! I didn’t even think about the City Directories! I’ve done research through them many times over the years!

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    Is that info also available online, or did you make a quick trip tot he Central LIbray? ;)

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    Oh, and if I can get signed up over at BDB, I’ll just post a link to this thread since we’re getting more input.
    Mike

  • WSEvelyn October 5, 2009 (6:42 pm)

    I totally remember that house! (the 60’s+). Recently I had asked some (so called!)long time W Seattleites if they remembered that house (my grandparents loved it!). No they couldn’t and they thought I was nuts.

    It was a very cool looking place!

  • Living in West Seattle since 1985 October 6, 2009 (12:21 pm)

    There are at least two houses I can think of on beach drive with lovely stone fences. I think whom ever wants to find this house should try riding along Beach drive with someone else driving a car so that he/she can have their full attention on the houses. Maybe riding along will jog their memory too.

  • miws October 6, 2009 (8:37 pm)

    Ironically yesterday, before I actually read this story, I was considering taking a walk along that route today, and do so only occasionally. This story actually gave me more of an incentive to do so. :)

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    Anyway, nothing really to report that will help much. There’s a wooden fence in front, along the sidewalk, that’s maybe 5.5 feet tall, and some greenery, all of which obscures the house a little bit. I didn’t really want to dawdle around there, and even if I had a camera would not have felt comfortable taking pics.

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    It’s been really fascinating to read about this, and to think back. I don’t know if it’s a false memory, but some of what the person inquiring on BDB, sounds a bit familiar, the more I think about it. The rope ladder, the incident regarding the boat sinking. It sounds like that person is about the same age as I am, so I would have been very young at that time too. If my memories are real, I wonder if it’s my actual personal memories, or anecdotal from perhaps, my Dad talking about it a few years later.

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    Mike

  • Rhonda Porter October 8, 2009 (11:03 am)

    Thanks for your feedback, everybody! I’ll forward this to the person who emailed me…after I take a drive to snap a few photos. I love stories like this. :) BDB

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