Queen Anne historic homes:  Very close to home for my family

Yesterday we visited two sets of great grandparents on Bainbridge Island and I got the chance to talk to my husband's Grandfather about growing up on Queen Anne.  It is funny because the two houses he grew up in are on the historic registry and his gandfather's house is also on the historic registry.  Unfortunately,  his "Uncle Joe's" Queen Anne house hadn't gotten there yet before the disaster when it was knocked down a few years ago on a long holiday weekend to make way for the new buyer's "new home".  Now it is the the site of a planned townhome community (google the JC Black house sometime if you want to hear more about that one).

West Queen Anne Love:  I recently wrote a post on Betty Bowen Viewpoint and was completely drawn to a particular house right across the street.  That shouldn't be too surprising because West Queen Anne is full of gorgeous homes, but this one really brought me in and while I normally would take the time to take a picture of a house so that it looked good on my blog or website, I just snapped a quick photo of this house because I LOVED IT. 

I was completely taken in and drawn to this house. I will go ahead and show you the photo I took, but it really doesn't do the house justice:

It turns out that this very house was my husband's grandfather's house when he was 17 and his parents had it built especially for them!  I could not believe it!

The house is something like 6 beds and an unheard of 3 car garage in Queen Anne.  My husband's great grandfather had it custom built in 1939-1940 and they moved into it when his grandfather was 17 from their home a few blocks over on West Prospect which they had lived in for the first 17 years of his life.  The West Highland house was built for my husband's great grandfather and mother and the name on the historic registry is the Lyman H & Marion Black Home. 

This house on West Highland is only a couple blocks South of my husband's great great grandfather's house, the CH Black house on Lee Street which takes up an entire city block. It is also right across the street from Betty Bowen Viewpoint and the West Queen Anne Walls.  In listening to my husband's grandfather's stories yesterday, he said his dad used to have a light he would switch on in the 1940s whenever couples were hanging out at the Viewpoint for too long after dark.  He remembers that his parents would always know he came home safely because he would come in and play Moonlight Sonata at the Grand Piano after a fun night out.  He KNEW Betty Bowen!

I had heard the piano story before but it was so amazing to find out that this particular house that I obviously did not photograph for any purpose except that I loved it happened to be the house where all this happened. I also find it amazing that not one, but at least four of their family homes are on the historic registry in family names - even if one other is gone now. 

If you are interested in West Queen Anne real estate or other Queen Anne real estate, please feel free to get in touch with me.  Queen Anne has a rich history and I would love to share with you some of my favorite spots!