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The
three-story turreted residence known as “The Castle” was built in 1902
by Peter J. Gessner and has a colorful history. Its construction
was worthy of mention in the local newspaper (July 18, 1902): “Peter
Gessner commenced laying the concrete foundations on Monday of what
will be one of the finest residences in Georgetown. It will be a
two-story structure, located on Estella Street, and will cost about
$4,000.” Its original design featured iron cresting along the
roof ridge, wall dormers with wood half-timbering and decorative
panels, a prominent corner tower with decorative swags, Palladian
windows at the gabled ends, and a full-width front porch with an upper
deck and wood balustrade. |
Peter Gessner came to Seattle from Helena, Montana around 1888 and
quickly gained a reputation as a well-known gambler. He handled
poker games at the Standard Gambling House and, later, was a blackjack
dealer at The Seattle Bar (known as The Central Tavern).
Gessner appears in the 1901 city directory as a poultry breeder with
his residence shown as Georgetown. He also had a business
partnership with Patrick Burke (Gessner & Burke) as proprietors of
the “Club Room” at 207 1st Avenue South. However, by the
following year, the partnership had dissolved as indicated by the 1902
directory which no longer lists Gessner & Burke. In March,
Gessner was sued in Seattle for allowing a minor, John Metzger, to
gamble and forced him to move his gambling operations to Georgetown.
(The case was later dismissed.)
Gessner began construction of this grand Queen Anne residence for his
wife, Anna Elizabeth (Lizzie), and three young children.
Unfortunately, the Gessners separated before it was completed.
Peter moved into the unfurnished house with a servant, while Lizzie
stayed on the family farm near Sunnydale. Gessner did not live
here for long, committing suicide in the house in 1903. A July
30, 1903 Seattle Times article attributed his death to a “broken
heart.” His body was found covered up on his bed, with burns on
his lips and mouth. Local historian (and former owner) Tim
O’Brian retold the story to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter,
saying that Gessner had caught his wife having an affair with one of
his employees, Edward J. Ward (Ward was partner of Gessner’s poultry
and rabbit business and general manager of his farm). Devastated,
he killed himself by drinking carbolic acid in a rear bedroom of the
house.
Four months later, Gessner’s widow married Ward and moved into the
Georgetown mansion sometime around 1905. In August 1903, the
house was leased to Z.C. Miles and Piper Company, and Zatt Morrin’s
Business College was a tenant in 1904. Edward J. (house painter)
and Lizzie Ward lived at this address until 1911. The Census
records indicate that they lived here with her three stepsons (Edwin,
George, and Clay Gessner) and Horace and Elena Roane.
In September 1912, Lizzie sold the property to R.J. Beutel, who held
onto it until 1916. Dr. Willis H. Corson, superintendent of the
nearby King County Hospital, next acquired the property. Corson
invited the local baseball team, the Georgetown Nonpareil Club, to use
the residence as their social club and baseball team clubhouse.
The Club, which was established in 1913, previously met at 904 Bailey
Street. At the clubhouse they expanded their activities, playing
whist and auction bridge, as well as hosting social dances. They
held gatherings here between July 1916 and July 1918. When the
Castle was no longer available, they moved their meetings to the Horton
Hotel at 6026 14th Avenue South.
Between 1926 and 1931, the property was owned by Arthur and Emma
Myers. Following Arthur’s death in 1932, Emma (Mary E.) remained
at this address until 1935. George L. Pattimore is also shown
living here from 1933 to 1935. Alec C. and Mary D. Pattimore are
identified as residents from 1934 to 1937. Supposedly, at one
time, the house, which O’Brian refers to as “the old Gessner Gambling
House Brothel,” was also used as a brothel.
From 1937 to 1949, Mrs. Jennie S. Pugh, a nurse at the King County
Hospital, resided here. Several other occupants are listed during
this time, including Donald B. and Jessouita McWatters (1938), Emily M.
Dahl (1941), and Mrs. Anna West (1941-43). A tax assessor’s photo
dating from 1949 shows that it had undergone an extensive remodel
including the installation of imitation brick veneer (asphalt siding)
over the original wood siding, the enclosure of portions of the front
porch (northwest and southwest corners), removal of the upper
porch balustrade, and replacement the original flat-roofed balcony with
a shed roof.
Subsequent occupants include Ray and Lillian Lundquist (1951);
Kotalaris Hotel Apartments (1953); Carleton Inn/Castle Inn Lodgings,
owned by Hugh P. Robeson (1954-65); and Lois Fahey (1966-1969).
By the early 1970s, however, the once-elegant mansion had become badly
dilapidated after being unoccupied for several years. Many of its
windows were broken, the front porch was collapsing, and the yard was
overgrown with weeds. Transients were camping out in the house
and supposedly lit fires on the hardwood floors to keep warm; one fire
burned a hole from the bottom floor to the roof. Ray E. McWade
and Petter Petterson moved into the house in 1978 and, according to
McWade, it was in bad shape: “windows were missing, walls were scarred
and pocked with holes. Stairs were warped and creaky and without
handrails.” Only one small room on the ground floor was livable
and one working bathroom on the second floor. McWade and
Petterson, who operated the “Castle Inn Catering,” held onto the
property until 1988.
After remaining vacant for a year, Tim O’Brian bought the property in
1990 and lived here for the next seven years. One of the members
of the Cascade Bicycle Club rented one of the rooms in the early
1990s. The current owners purchased the property in 2004 with
plans of remodeling it and bringing it back to its former splendor.
The Castle has long captivated imaginations for its many stories about
being haunted by a female ghost. Variations of the story describe
“a tall, slender, severe-looking woman with eyes like burning coal, her
hair done up in a Victorian bun, wearing a floor-length white
dress.” The ghost would appear with her hands clasping her
throat. Supposedly, during its early history as a brothel, a
young prostitute named Mary Christian was murdered by her lover, a
“prestidigitator” (magician) named Manny. Others believe that it
is the ghost of Sarah (Willers), a “tall, thin, harsh-looking woman”
who married one of Gessner’s sons (George P. Gessner) and became
pregnant by another man (local legend says that he killed the baby and
buried it under the porch).
PHYSICAL
DESCRIPTION
The Castle stands out as a distinctive example of a Queen Anne
residence that has withstood the test of time and decades of benign
neglect. The three-story exterior exhibits a number of
characteristic features: a prominent corner turret, wrap-around front
porch, projecting wall dormers and bays, and broad side-gabled roof
with bracketed eaves. An early tax assessor’s photo provides
additional clues to its original appearance, which featured a front
porch supported by round wood columns and surmounted by a wood
balustrade along the upper flat roof deck. The columns and
balustrade have since been removed and replaced with temporary posts at
the main floor. The crenellated ironwork, which originally graced
the roof ridge, is no longer intact. Fortunately, changes made in
the 1940s helped preserve some of the historic fabric such as the wood
siding, wood swags at the turret, paneled woodwork at the windows, and
decorative woodwork at the gable peaks.
The one-story wrap-around porch and corner turret dominate the front
(west) façade. The porch, which is temporarily shored and
in a dilapidated condition, extends around to incorporate the house’s
northwest and southwest ends. At the southeast end, the round
turret rises from the upper two stories and is capped by a conical
roof. A wood entablature delineates the floor levels, and
portions of the decorative wood swags are intact above. The main
entrance, positioned off-center, contains a wood-paneled door and upper
sash with small square surround, a typical Queen Anne treatment.
A gabled wall dormer is located above the entrance and contains paired,
double-hung wood-sash windows with wood paneling above and decorative
woodwork at the peak.
The north elevation contains a two-story projecting bay at its
midsection. The second-floor window retains the original
decorative wood panel at its base, which had been covered over and was
recently discovered by the owners. An arched door at the second
floor leads to the upper balcony; the balcony currently is not in
use. Three small, rectangular wood-sash windows occupy the west
end at the first-floor level and double-hung wood-sash windows are
centered above, marking the interior stair hall. A
Palladian-style window originally was centered on the main north gable;
the opening contains triple wood-sash windows.
The south elevation features a similar bay projection as the north
façade, and contains a door on the west wall that leads to the
wrap-around porch at the southwest corner. Triple wood-sash
windows with a central wood fanlight occupy the south gable end.
A recessed porch at the rear (southeast corner) elevation provides
access to the kitchen. Single double-hung wood-sash windows
occupy both the first and second-floor levels. The third floor
contains a large replacement sash window.
The interior contains three floors: the first-floor contained the main
living space and the second and third floors housed bedrooms. An
attic is located above the third-floor space and is accessed from an
opening in the ceiling. The main entrance on the west
façade leads to a grand entry hall with an open staircase
occupying the north wall. The staircase features paneled woodwork
along the lower wall, a carved wood banister and square, turned
balusters. Triple fixed-sash window are positioned on the north
wall’s lower landing. Pocket doors on the hall’s south and east
walls lead to the living room (southwest corner) and parlor. A
formal dining room, situated adjacent (east) of the living room and
opposite (south) the parlor, is accessed through pocket-door
openings. Projecting bays occupy the outside walls of both the
dining room and parlor. A rear bedroom (northeast corner) and
kitchen (southeast corner) are also located on this floor. Much
of the original woodwork is intact throughout the first floor; the
flooring has been covered with linoleum tiles in a checkerboard pattern.
The stairs lead to a wide front hall and balcony on the second
floor. The upper railing has been replaced using recycled paneled
doors (with the panels removed and doors placed on their side).
The stair hall’s west wall contains paired, double-hung windows and the
north wall contains triple, double-hung windows and an arched
door. The south wall originally contained a large door opening,
which has since been infilled. Bedrooms are located to each side
of a central hallway. The southwest bedroom has a turreted window
on the west wall and an angled bay on the south wall. Two other
bedrooms and a bathroom are located on this floor.
The third floor is occupied by a small bedroom and bathroom at the rear
(east) end, and a large room with angled walls (containing storage
areas) at the front portion. This large space was previously
divided into smaller rooms. An enclosed turret at the southeast
corner features an interior curved wall with a board-n-batten
treatment. Three curved windows occupy the turret space.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC
REFERENCES
WSA, PSB, Bellevue Community College, King County Tax Assessor’s Real
Property Records; Department of Neighborhoods, Office of Urban
Conservation, 1997 Architectural Survey (Site No GT068); Barbara Smith,
Ghost Stories of Washington (Lone Pine Publishing, 2000); Jessica
Amanda Salmonson, The Mysterious Doom and Other Ghostly Tales of the
Pacific Northwest (Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1992); Tim O’Brian
Collection; Seattle City Directories; Baist’s Real Estate Atlases;
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps; Kroll’s Atlases of Seattle.
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