• Style: Tudor Revival
• Architect: Bebb & Mendel
• Builder: J. N. Johnson

Description

On March 6, 1913, Samuel S. Loeb received permission (permit #120909) to have a $40,000, 99'x59'9" residence constructed by J.N. Johnson and designed by Bebb and Mendel. This 14,000 square feet Tudor Revival home is constructed of brick and half-timbering. The central entrance is through a rectangular brick portico with wood detailing. The dwelling's exterior is mostly brick, with a half-timbered gabled extrusion / wing to the south on the front of the house, and a brick gabled extrusion / wing to the north on the front as well. The brick gabled section has a grid of eight stained glassed windows, with four short panels above four long panels, and paneled decorations below. The eaves of the steep roof are ornamented with modillions. The house is of excellent historical integrity. Folke Nyberg's and Victor Steinbreuck's 1975 survey identifies this house as significant to the community.

History

The original owner of this house, Samuel S. Loeb, was a founder and president of Seattle's Independent Brewing Company. He was born in Indiana, son of a brewer. After working in several other businesses he came to Tacoma in 1889, and started a short-lived wholesale liquor business. Loeb then formed the Milwaukee Brewing Company of Tacoma (out of the assets of the earlier United States Brewery of Tacoma). He tripled the output, and sold his beer throughout the Puget Sound region. Around 1902 to 1903, he came to Seattle and formed the Independent Brewing Company, with operations in South Seattle. His company was well-known as the manufacturer of "Old German Lager". However, seeing the specter of Prohibition, he moved to San Francisco around 1917.

The next owner, Alexander Baillie, was a native of Scotland. Employed by the shipping company of Balfour, Guthrie & Co., he came to Portland in 1880, Tacoma in 1887, and later resided in Seattle for about 20 years. He became a partner of the shipping company in 1906, and then later its president. The Seattle Times called him "a man of world-wide influence and assuredly one of the great shipping powers in this country." He brought golf to the West Coast, establishing in Tacoma the first golf course on this side of the Mississippi. He was president of the Rainier National Park Company and also the Rainier Club.

Julius Shafer bought the property in 1928. Julius Shafer and his brother Issie came to Seattle around the year 1888, and with $700 in savings, opened a small clothing store. Through hard work, they grew their business, and they became prosperous in part by selling goods to the Klondike prospectors. They relocated from store to store as they needed more space, eventually asking James A. Moore and G. Henry Whitcomb to build the Arcade Building, extending a full block downtown. The Shafer Brothers invested their profits into Seattle real estate, forming the Shafer Brothers Land Company, and owning the Mutual Life Building (now owned by Historic Seattle), the Clemmer Theater (believed to be the first U.S. theater constructed especially for the showing of motion pictures), among other properties.

The building currently operates as a bed and breakfast.