200 40th Avenue East
Seattle, WA, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Redelsheimer-Ostrander House

Statement of Significant:

Designed by Seattle architect Julian F. Everett and adapted for the second owner by Abraham H. Albertson, the Redelsheimer-Ostrander House located at 200 40th Avenue East, Seattle, is a significant example of an early 20th century Georgian Revival style residence. Sited on the west side of Lake Washington, the house was built in 1913-1914 for Seattle merchant Julius Redelsheimer as one of the earliest suburban estates in the newly platted Denny-Blaine Lake Park Addition. The house is complimented by a 1917 naturalistic landscape design by the Olmsted Brothers firm and retains its identity as one of the finest examples of the Georgian Revival style in Seattle.

Historical Background:
Sadly, Julius Redelsheimer suffered a fatal stroke and died on February 6, 1914, without ever having lived in his dream house. Newspaper articles following his death spoke of his financial success as a clothier on First Avenue at Columbia, his quiet philanthropies in the community and his new home that was nearing completion on Lake Washington.
Interviewed shortly before his death, Redelsheimer took journalist K.C. Beaton on a tour of the house which was apparently only weeks away from completion. "I don't know why I built so big a house," he told Beaton, “But now that I've drifted into it so far, I'm going to make it as complete as possible." "After it is finished," he continued, "I'm going to round up all of my friends and it is going to be as much theirs as it is mine." According to correspondence dated October 19, 1917, Redelsheimer's house was "planned by Mr. Everett, an architect" and had cost $50,000.00 to build."
Curiously, there is little said in contemporary publications about the construction of Redelsheimer's estate. Situated on a large corner lot adjacent to one of the parks that characterize the area, the mansion was one of the earliest houses built in the Denny-Blaine Land Company development. Contemporary newspapers described the house as "a model of comfort and convenience with its twenty-six rooms" and "one of the most beautiful residences in Seattle."

City directories indicate that Mrs. Redelsheimer lived in their new home for at least part of 1914 and 1915. However, heirs to Redelsheimer's estate advertised the closing of his clothing business in 1916 and correspondence in 1917 indicates that the house had by that time been sold to Harry F. Ostrander."
Shortly after the Ostranders purchased the house, they engaged noted Seattle architect, Abraham Horace Albertson. Albertson wrote to the Olmsted Brothers firm that his contract for $10,000.00 was to alter the house and grounds and that he wished to secure a landscape plan from the Olmsteds on behalf of Mr. Ostrander. Intermittent correspondence over the next three years and the existence of the garden plan documents the design origins of the house and grounds as well as Mr. Ostrander's propensity toward nonpayment for services! The correspondence file ends with the Olmsteds' bill being turned over to a local attorney for collection of payment.
The Olmsteds' involvement in landscape planning for this area of Seattle is not surprising. Elbert Blaine, one of the area's founding developers, had built his own home in the Denny- Blaine Park area about 1900. Blaine was President of the Seattle Park Commission from 1902 until 1908. In 1903, the Park Commission hired the Olmsted firm to design a comprehensive park plan for the city which would include recommended locations for boulevards, vistas, open spaces and parks. The Denny-Blaine Park area was an integral part of that plan. Ostrander, in fact, tried to get the Park Commission to pay for the landscaping improvements on the south side of his house, presumably because it was adjacent to the Denny-Blaine Park.' Harry Ostrander was president of Pioneer Sand and Gravel and was a director of the Centennial Mills Company and the Pacific National Bank. He and his wife owned the Lake Washington estate until about 1940. When Ostrander died in 1932, his obituary noted: "the family home and grounds at 200 40th Avenue North, overlooking Lake Washington, and in which Mr. Ostrander took great pride is one of the outstanding beauty spots of the city's residential districts."