10924 SW Cove Rd
Vashon, WA, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Helmer and Selma Steen House

Statement of Significant:

Located on rural Vashon Island and built in 1911 for a successful Norwegian immigrant and lumber mill owner, the Steen House is a particularly well-preserved example of Craftsman style architecture. Popular throughout the United States during the early decades of the 20th century, the Craftsman style is fully exhibited with the design and construction of this home for Helmer and Selma Steen. The design of the house incorporates an open first floor plan and characteristic roof form and details. It includes a wide range of highly distinctive construction materials and elaborate interior features to form one of the finest examples of Craftsman design in unincorporated King County.

Vashon Island Historic Context

The Steen House is located in a central upland valley of Vashon Island, near the north end of the Island. Once heavily forested, this area now contains a mixture of second and third-growth forest and pasture lands, and relatively limited physical development.
Most of Vashon Island is known to have been the aboriginal territory of predecessor bands of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, who established winter villages along the shores of Quartermaster Harbor, toward the Island's southern end. Ancestors of the Suquamish and Muckleshoot Tribes may have also inhabited northern and eastern portions of the Islands.
Euro-American settlement of Vashon Island began during the 1850s, primarily along the shores of Quartermaster Harbor, with logging and farming being the earliest vocations. Island pioneers purchasing, land through the Donation Land Act, established individual timber and homestead claims. Logging and milling companies including the Puget Mill Company purchased large tracts of timberland.
During the latter part of the 19th century, numerous communities were established along the Island's shoreline, serving a growing population with limited commercial establishments. It provided important maritime transportation connections to commercial markets in the growing cities of Tacoma and Seattle. Settlement of the inland areas of the Island occurred more slowly, due to the limited rugged roads that connected the uplands with well-established steamboat landings dotting the shorelines.
Early industrial activities included shipbuilding and brick-making operations which were typically located on waterfront sites, with easy access to maritime transportation, and took advantage of abundant natural resources; fir and cedar trees, clay, sand and gravel. Brick making became the second most prosperous industry on Vashon after logging, acquiring materials from the blue-clay bank beaches of the Island. Quartermaster Harbor served as the location of several brickyards, the largest one being the Bleeker yard on the Burton peninsula. By 1893, at least eight brickyards were in operation around Quartermaster Harbor, with additional yards located along the eastern shore of the Island. Major shipbuilding operations were developed at Dockton, at the outlet of Quartermaster

Harbor on Maury Island, with secondary activities at smaller waterfront communities on Vashon and Maury Islands. However, logging continued to dominate the local economy, as thousands of acres of timber were harvested and milled at both local and off-island mills.

Settlement patterns and the early industrial history of Vashon are clearly reflected in the development of the Island's built environment. The construction of late 19th century vernacular buildings reflects the rough living conditions with log cabins with shake roofs being prevalent. As lumber mills became more widespread, wood-frame construction with board and batten cladding became most common. By the late 1880s, when planed lumber became generally available, builders had greater ability to construct more elaborate Victorian residences.