Former Elementary School Building in Seattle WA

Interlake Public School, Seattle Washington

Date added: September 20, 2024

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The design of Interlake School was the work of James Stephens, an architect who made a significant contribution to public school building programs throughout the State of Washington. This school is an essentially unaltered example of the "Model School Plan" adopted by the Seattle School Board as rapid expansion and increased school enrollments occurred in the city generally, and the Wallingford neighborhood specifically. The Interlake Public School, which is now located adjacent to an active commercial thoroughfare, has strong associations with the earliest establishment of the surrounding neighborhood.

During the February 8^th, 1904 meeting of the Seattle School Board, plans for the construction of Interlake School were presented by school architect James Stephens and approved by the Board. Board minutes do not reveal, as in the cases of several other schools constructed during this period, that an active community-based organization petitioned the Board to build the school. The School Board chose to construct the school in anticipation of the northward development that occurred during the first two decades of this century. The immediate vicinity of the school building site was heavily wooded with a few isolated areas of housing development beyond the previously established communities of Edgewater and Latona, along the Lake Union shoreline. Old Latona School, in operation since 1889, and B.F. Day School, constructed in 1892, served the school-age population of the area. School Board minutes indicate that due to overcrowding, eighth-grade Latona School students were attending University Heights School. In 1903 an active parent's organization had petitioned the School Board to improve Latona School, to construct a new school on a more centrally located lot purchased in 1902. Funds for the construction of Interlake School were available from a special election which allowed the School District to borrow money and issue and sell $400,000 worth of bonds. The proceeds were to be used for the purchasing of construction sites, building new schoolhouses, and procuring furniture and equipment. The name of the new school, Interlake Public School is an indication of its geographic location midway between Lake Union and Green Lake. "Interlake" was used in the names of neighborhood commercial enterprises, to name a neighborhood street, and as the name of an improvement club that lobbied for the construction of Lincoln High School. This designation for the community appears, like Latona and Edgewater, to have been generally abandoned as the entire district became known as Wallingford.

The rapid growth of the Latona, Edgewater, Interlake, and Wallingford neighborhoods from a population of 1,500 to 19,200 during the period of the first two decades of the century was due to several factors. The construction in 1900 of a wooden trestle bridge at the foot of Stoneway provided easy access to downtown Seattle. The relocation of the University of Washington and the close proximity of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition also generated interest and commerce in the area. Industrial activity and employment opportunities along the Lake Union shore were equally important factors in the expansion and rapid growth of residential areas north of Lake Union.

During this period of expansion three other schools were constructed within the neighborhood: Lincoln (1906), Latona (1908), and McDonald (1913). According to a historic photograph of Interlake School taken shortly after its construction, tree stumps are evident in the middle of Northeast 45^th Street. Virtually no commercial development had occurred in the vicinity of the school site. By 1910 the Wallingford Commercial Club existed; a streetcar line, which connected downtown with points north, passed by the school; and Northwest 45^th Street had begun to develop into an active commercial thoroughfare. Development and commercial activity continued and expanded with the use of the automobile. In 1946 an effort was made to relocate the school in order to further expand the commercial district and provide a safer location for school children. Despite these efforts, Interlake School continued to serve as an elementary school until 1971 and as an annex to Lincoln High School until 1975. The Seattle School District is presently entering into a long-term lease agreement with a private developer whose intentions are to rehabilitate the exterior of the school and adapt the interior for retail and residential uses.

The design of Interlake School is based on the "Model School Plan" developed by architect James Stephen and originally executed with the construction of Greenlake Public School in 1902-03. Original architectural detail drawings developed for the construction of Greenlake School were reused with the name changed, within the set of original construction drawings for Interlake School. The "Model School Plan" was a flexible and economical approach to school construction implemented during a period of rapidly expanding school enrollments. James Stephen's floor plan allowed a school to be built in sections, as the need for more space increased. Interlake, as originally constructed, was U-shaped. The wings on the north and south ends extended only to the west. The east sides of the wings were added in 1908, creating the symmetrical I-shaped structure seen today. Interlake and the numerous other model plan schools constructed during this period are characterized by good fenestration and natural lighting in the classrooms and corridors and by efficient and functional expandable floor plans. The great majority of schools constructed according to the model plan have been demolished, altered, or have had substantial additions added to or adjacent to the major facades. Interlake School is clearly the most intact and least altered example of the "Model School Plan" remaining in the School District. Stylistically, the structure is typical of the thousands of schools built in the United States between 1890 and 1930. Large and symmetrical with classical or Colonial Revival detailing, these handsome structures were often focal points of community life and pride. These schools are as powerfully evocative of turn-of-the-century life as those other prominent American images of the main street and county courthouse. Unfortunately, such schools have suffered frequent demolition as building methods and educational needs changed.

James Stephen (1858 - 1938)

Interlake School represents part of the career work of James Stephen, an architect who made a significant contribution to public school building programs throughout the State of Washington. He was a native of Woodstock, Ontario, and the son of an immigrant Scottish cabinetmaker who had earned his ocean passage working as a carpenter on the "Balmoral Castle." The Stephen family migrated to the United States, eventually settling in Detroit and then Chicago, where as a young man James Stephen would have witnessed the reconstruction of Chicago after the fire of 1871. He was a trained cabinetmaker and a professional organ maker who apparently received his architectural training through a course of study with the International Correspondence School of Chicago and began his practice in Hyde Park, Illinois.

James Stephen arrived in Seattle from Pasadena, California, in June 1889, very shortly after the Great Fire, and became immediately involved in the reconstruction program. In 1891 he entered into partnership with Timotheus Josenhans, an Engineer/Architect who was experienced in the design of educational facilities. Stephen and Josenhans' most distinctive projects were the commissions for the design of the Administration Building (1895) and Stevens Hall (1896) on the Washington State University campus. These two structures, as well as James Stephen's Summit School in Seattle. Due to the effects of the economic depression, James Stephen left this partnership and worked for a short while building pre-fabricated ships in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for the Yukon River trade during the Alaskan Gold Rush.

School Board records indicate that in early 1898 the Board received an application from James Stephen for appointment as school architect. The following year, he was hired to prepare plans and specifications for Randall School and for an addition to Denny Furhman (Seward) School. In 1901 the plans he designed for Greenlake School were adopted as the "Model School Plan" for the numerous schools the School Board intended to erect during the following decade. Shortly after the implementation of the model plan, James Stephen was elected by the School Board to serve as Official School Architect, a position which he held for the following eight years. Although other architects periodically designed schools for the District, James Stephen was the primary architect for numerous new schools and school additions built during this period of dramatic urban development. James Stephen's agreement with the School District allowed him to maintain a large enough office to work on residential, commercial, and public projects in addition to his school contracts. After the annexation of Ballard in 1908, he left his position with the School District in order to further broaden his practice. He continued to design schools within the District, however; the most notable of these school projects being Queen Anne High School (1909).

During the following twenty years of his career, he continued, in partnership with his son Frederick, and also William Brust, to design residences, public, commercial, and school buildings throughout the State of Washington. These projects included schools in the communities of Edmonds, Meadowdale, Mt. Vernon, Olympia, Wenatchee, Woodinville, Leavenworth, Ellensburg, and Hoquiam. He was active in the formation of the Washington State Chapter of the AIA in 1894 and remained active throughout his life. In addition to many professional and civic activities, James Stephen was a devoted family man, an avid outdoorsman, skilled photographer and an accomplished furniture maker.

Building Description

Interlake Public School is located on an entire city block in the southeast quadrant of the intersection of Wallingford Avenue North and Northeast 45^th Street in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. Northeast 45^th Street, an active commercial thoroughfare, and Wallingford Avenue North, a minor city arterial, are each fronted by neighborhood commercial and retail businesses. To the east and south are quiet streets lined with small single-family residences, primarily bungalows and Craftsman-style houses built during the first two decades of this century.

The plan of Interlake Public School closely follows the "Model School Plan" developed by James Stephen and originally used for Greenlake Public School. It is essentially I-shaped with a central entrance porch on the west facade. The wood frame structure stands a full two stories above the daylight basement and brick and stone foundation. Cast iron columns and beams are used in portions of the structure. Original and intact exterior finish materials include clapboard siding, bands of large double-hung multiple-light windows, wooden window trim and exposed foundation masonry. The building is covered by hipped and gabled roofs penetrated by several hipped roof ventilators and corbelled masonry chimneys.

The primary facade of the school is oriented westward toward Wallingford Avenue North. This facade is dominated by symmetrically projecting north and south classroom wings and bands of windows which clearly express the internal arrangement of the classroom space. The facade is richly ornamented by classically derived detailing, particularly at the entrance porch which includes a single-story portico with Ionic columns that have anthemion moldings in a band beneath the capitals. Above the columns is a dentillated cornice upon which is the name of the school in metal letters. An original balustrade above the entrance porch is no longer in place. A central keystone arch flanked by decorated pilasters leads to the main entry vestibule. The gable end pediment above the entry includes a classically detailed lunette and cornice moldings. Continuous around the building at the eave line is a detailed cornice with dentils. Sheet metal ornament, originally located in the spandrel areas between the window bands, is no longer evident.

The north and south facades are basically identical in form and detailing. Each elevation is dominated by an entrance porch with dentillated cornice above which are a set of large stairwell windows surmounted by a circular-headed fan light. Two typical double hung windows are located to each side of the stairwell windows and a lunette is located in the gable end pediment.

The east elevation is dominated by symmetrically projecting north and south classroom wings and a narrow central wing surmounted by a pedimented gable end. Typical bands of double-hung windows are located in the north and south wings while the remainder of the windows are arranged less symmetrically in order to service a variety of interior spaces.

The interior of the school is finished with fir flooring and hard plaster walls and ceilings. The upper two stories have unaltered original fir millwork which includes paneled doors, wainscoting, and door and window surrounds. The central halls on the upper floors run the length of the building from north to south. These corridors are quite wide and create a dramatic interior space. The brightly lit stairwells at the ends of the halls have squared newels and balusters. The cloakrooms adjacent to the main corridors are distinguished by plaster arches that spring from fluted wooden piers. In the basement is a boy's lavatory which has a bank of porcelain urinals and marble partitions between the toilet stalls.