Ward House

Seattle, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Heritage registerNational Register of Historic Places↗

Built in 1882 on Capitol Hill, the Ward House is one of Seattle's oldest surviving residences, a Victorian-era home of residential carpenter Gothic design. Originally constructed at the southwest corner of Pike Street and Boren Avenue by carpenter and real estate speculator George W. Ward and his wife Louise Van Doren Ward, the house reflects the couple's rise from farming to prominence in the city's early business community. After the Wards vacated around 1897, the structure was converted to a boarding house and in 1906 was physically moved 60 feet south and rotated 90 degrees to make way for commercial development, eventually serving as an annex to the Crest Hotel. Architect Victor Steinbrueck praised it in 1962 as "a fanciful example of residential Victorian carpenter Gothic" and one of the most significant remaining buildings of its era. The house was subsequently recognized for its architectural importance and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.