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An American Original

The Classic Box that James Booker built and made his own is alive again

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TOM REESE / THE SEATTLE TIMES John Hunt's choice of deep red complements the dark-stained fir box-beam ceiling and the honey-colored faux oak-grain paneling in the amply proportioned dining room. The oil portrait was bought at a local auction house. TOM REESE / THE SEATTLE TIMES The living room has an unobstructed territorial view to the east. Ornamental columns in the colonnade between the living and dining rooms feature unusual, delicate decorative caps. The furniture selection is purposely eclectic. Denise Hemus explains, "I'm not a matching kind of person." TOM REESE / THE SEATTLE TIMES The carved newel post and turned balusters of the entrance stairway offer an elegant welcome to visitors. TOM REESE / THE SEATTLE TIMES In remodeling the kitchen, Hunt worked with existing circulation. He reduced the size of the original bathroom to make way for more storage space. He used clear fir woodwork for the cabinets. TOM REESE / THE SEATTLE TIMES While this Central Area house has been shifted to accommodate a new foundation and ground floor, its façade is largely as it was built in 1905 by James H. Booker.

DENISE HEMUS LIVED in a small Craftsman house in the Central Area and regularly walked her dog around the neighborhood. She was fascinated by an old house that was so run down outside, she assumed it was equally awful inside. So she was impressed as, through many months, a new foundation and lower floor were built and the exterior façades were brought back to vibrancy with repairs and paint.

The man responsible for the transformation, architect/developer John Hunt of John Hunt Associates, had bought it and the adjoining lots with a view to fixing it up and building new townhouses. He appreciated how remarkably well the inside was preserved; the principal rooms had not been altered, and the woodwork was intact even after all these years and owners. Its most remarkable feature was the faux-painted paneling and trim that had transformed clear-grain fir into quarter-sawn white oak.

The genius behind the building had been the original owner, James H. Booker. According to Esther Mumford, in her ground-breaking study, "Seattle's Black Victorians, 1852-1901," Booker was an expert carpenter and woodworker. Clearly, his specialty became faux graining. In the years before the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, he was in partnership with Charles Harvey in the Handicap Co. After the fire, they appear to have gone their separate ways, but both continued in the building and contracting field.

The house Booker built is a variation on the American foursquare or Classic Box form and resembles a number of those pictured in brochures by local plan-company designers, such as Frank Fehren and Victor Voorhees. Booker may have built the house using these plans rather than designing it himself. But the interior finishes were clearly his own. Clear fir was inexpensive softwood; oak would have cost much more. Since he had a talent for faux graining, there was no sense in paying the high price of hardwood. As a result, a modest interior became a far more impressive one.

John Hunt renovated the house with a soft touch. Where rooms had not been disturbed — the stair hall, the living and dining room — he did as little as possible to disturb the original finishes. But upstairs and at the back of the house, he reconfigured the spaces to make the house more livable, adding bathrooms and closets, and improving circulation. On the first floor he reduced the size of the bathroom, and added a bay window to create a larger kitchen and more storage. To his credit, Hunt chose not to enlarge the footprint of the house so that, from the outside, it appears much as it did originally, despite the changes. Skylights and new windows are discreetly placed. A small balcony off the master bedroom is one of the few features that is readily noticeable.

The crew that made it happen

Structural Engineer: Gary Swenson, Swenson/Say/Faget

Landscape Architect: Keith Geller

Geotechnical Engineer: Glen Mann, CEO Inc.

House Mover: Richard Dent, Dent National

Framing and finish carpentry: Scott Dickerhoof, Portico Builders

Plumbing: Big Jim's Plumbing

Tile and Countertops: Miller's Interiors

Drywall Install and Finish: Lawrence Benson, GQ Future Taping

Heating System: K&D Mechanical

Interior and Exterior Painting: Dan Lieu

Cabinet Manufacturer: Tacoma Fixture

Landscape and Irrigation: Miller Brothers Landscape

By putting in a proper foundation and shifting the house slightly, Hunt was able to accommodate more living space in the basement, as well as a garage. He preserved nearly all the original Classical Revival trim and brackets that define the façades. And despite a century of weather, the bead board beneath the eaves was still in good shape and did not have to be replaced.

Hemus and her husband, Charlie Payne, were thrilled to buy the house from Hunt in May 2004. Payne loved the faux paneling, which reminded him of boarding-school days back in England. "I just love old houses," Hemus says in her proper English accent. She loves this neighborhood, too — all the activity, and the fact that people are out on the street rather than in their backyards so you get to know them. She uses the neighborhood well, from the YWCA to the Madison Valley shopping area. And yet, when she comes home, "It feels like I'm in a little country hideaway, not in the city."

Lawrence Kreisman is program director of Historic Seattle. Tom Reese is a Seattle Times staff photographer.