• Style: Tudor Revival / Craftsman
• Architect: Bebb & Mendel
• Builder: George W. Wilder

Description

Bebb & Mendel designed this 2 ½ story Craftsman / Tudor Revival house, which was built by George W. Wilder for Charles H. Cobb. Building permit #24507, dated December 11, 1903, called for a 62'x44' house to be built at a cost of $20,000. The first story of the house is stone. The house's main entrance is off of E Aloha Street, where a stairs lead under a wooden balcony supported by two stone pillars and the frame of the house. The wooden balcony is elaborately carved, as is the wooden frieze that visually separates the second floor from the top half floor. The massive wood beams are befitting a lumber baron's house. Above the stone first floor, the house is clad in half-timbering. Windows on the second and top floor are composed of small diamond-shaped panels. The roof consists of two gables, one facing Aloha and the other facing 14th, that intersect in the middle. Nyberg and Steinbreuck's 1975 survey judges this house to be significant to the community, and a 1979 Seattle Inventory by Mark L. Peckham of the Department of Urban Conservation gave this house grades of "A" for both individual merit and contribution to the historic district. The house still appears very true to its time.

History

Charles H. Cobb, the first owner of this house, was one of the Pacific Northwest's best-known lumbermen. In 1879 he founded and became president of the Port Susan Logging Company. Later, he also served as president of the Snohomish Logging Company, the Ebey Logging Company, and the International Timber Company of Seattle (which logged in British Columbia). Cobb was also vice-president of the Kerry Mill Company. His lumber interests led to his creation of the Marysville and Arlington Railway Company, where he also served as president.

As Cobb's wealth grew, he expanded into financial interests. Cobb became a director and stockholder of the Washington Securities Company, the Washington Trust Company, the Metropolitan Bank, and was a founder of the Cobb-Haley Investment Company.

Charles H. Cobb was also a director, stockholder, and one-time president of the Metropolitan Building Company, which constructed numerous buildings in downtown Seattle on land leased from the University of Washington. One of these is named The Cobb Building after Charles H. Cobb, but was sometimes called the "Doctors' Building", because it was the first medical-dental building west of the Mississippi. Interestingly a subsequent owner of the house in the 1920s, Elmer A. Nicholson, was a physician in the Cobb Building. The Cobb Building still exists, and is a Beaux Arts structure in the National Historic Register.