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Now & Then By Paul Dorpat
Stripped And Saved
CHRIS AND MARY Troth moved into their "classic Seattle box" at the southeast corner of North 44th Street and Meridian Avenue (in Wallingford) as renters in 1993. In less than a year they persuaded their absentee landlord to sell it to them, and because the couple met in architecture school at the University of Oregon their new home was perhaps inevitably in store for more than a fixing-up. The first sensitive issue was the concrete asbestos shingles that were sold sometime after World War II to a former owner by some persuasive siding salesman. They appear in the 1957 tax photo printed here. An earlier tax photo from 1937 shows the home with its original clapboards. That Depression-era photo was a guide for the couple's restoration, and, like many homeowners, the Troths found that most of the old wood siding shown in the '37 photo was intact when masked men in white uniforms came to remove the asbestos. The "plantation effect" followed the couple's decision to add a second open floor while restoring the original front porch. In 1917 — when the 1908 residence was first converted into a multifamily dwelling — the steep, exposed stairway to the second floor (showing in the 1957 photograph) was attached to the building's south façade. As landlords, the Troths wanted to reach their second-and-third-floor apartment out of the rain and sought to get a variance that would allow them to build their inspiring two-story portico. Fortunately for the couple and Wallingford, they won. Their box is now a Wallingford landmark — the neighborhood's plantation. The colors are white, golden-orange and dark red, which Mary Troth explains acts like the home's "eyeliner." Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.
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