Harvard - Belmont Historic District
The Harvard-Belmont District encompasses an exclusive residential area on the western slope of Capitol Hill. Seattle was the departure point for the Yukon gold rush, and an event which created a new class of wealthy people. These individuals attempted to indicate their prominence in various ways: they joined elite social organizations like the Arctic Club or paid for the construction of skyscrapers such as the Hoge Building. In 1901 Seattle railroad builder H. C. Henry established another method for indicating new-found status when he decided to locate his home in the Harvard-Belmont neighborhood rather than on the traditionally important, but increasingly middle-class First Hill. Claiming that "no money will be spared in making this residence as handsome as any on the West Coast," Henry kicked off a decade-long building frenzy.
Seattle citizens of similar social and economic means hired both local and Eastern architects, who by 1910 had designed more than 45 large Victorian, Neo-classical, Colonial Revival, and Tudor Revival Houses in the Harvard-Belmont neighborhood. Although a streetcar line passed through Capitol Hill, this area did not become a "streetcar suburb." Its wealthy inhabitants instead used the newly developed automobile for transportation. H. C. Henry became a founding member of the area's automobile club, and erected a five-car garage with an upstairs apartment for his chauffeur well before automobiles were widely used. In the following decades Prairie Style houses, apartment buildings, the Cornish School, and the Century Women's Club were added to the neighborhood. Throughout the years, the Harvard-Belmont Historic District has remained a prestigious neighborhood of carefully tended gardens, tree-shaded streets and picturesque, elegant homes.
The Harvard-Belmont Historic District is located just west of Volunteer Park, and is roughly bounded by Bellevue Pl., and Broadway, Boylston and Harvard aves. The buildings within the district are private and not open to the public.
Information and photos courtesy of the National Register for Historic Places Seattle, WA Travel Itinerary, a subsidiary of the National Park Service.
