Whenever you buy and older house it is always a wonderful surprise when you can find the original plans. It helps inform of original intent as well as acts as a nice starting point for dimensions. This is the first time we were also able to find a landscape plan as well.
One thing to note as you view the plans is that the main house was built first. Then there were two options for the carport or garage. It was built a few years later to the east of the main house with a breezeway added at some point. The existing breezeway isn’t on any of the plans and the door into the workshop was listed as a window on the plans. Another thing of interest is that there is a “future addition” listed to the west of the house. It was larger than the main house but set-back as to not block any views. This will be important later as the neighborhood’s architectural committee is quite protective of the neighborhood’s character.
There was also a very large outdoor deck to the south for what I can only assume is an active dance community – because it is quite large. It was positioned to take advantage of the Mt. Rainier views to the south beyond the trees.
Thanks to my brother-in-law Duane Dietz (a fairly well know landscape architect in the PNW and architecture history buff) we found out quite a bit about the architect and landscape architect. The architect, John C. Lindahl of Bellevue, isn’t well known now but was talented enough to have multiple Seattle Times Home of the Week during his career. The theme of the homes he worked on was his unique use of the new materials of the time including Roman and Mediterranean brick from Mutual Materials.
The landscape architect, William Teufel was actually quite well known. He designed many golf courses in the area including Bellevue Golf Course and also designed the landscaping for the 1962 Worlds Fair in Seattle. The timing of the house plans and the Worlds Fair is very close. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bit of overlap of the work. Here is his obituary: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/william-teufel-82-was-known-as-master-with-greens-and-greenery/
Our next post we’ll share the pictures of the interior and exterior of the house. There are some interesting quirks to explore.
HilltopMidMod 