Seattle Landmarks: McFee/Klockzien House (1909)

  • By Dave Wilma
  • Posted 4/18/2001
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 3210
See Additional Media
Address: 524 W Highland Drive, Seattle. John G. McFee (b. 1863) came to Seattle in 1890 and became a successful railroad contractor and businessman. In 1909, the firm of Spalding and Umbrecht designed for McFee a home sited on Highland Drive on Queen Anne Hill with a view of Seattle and Mount Rainier. It combined brick and stucco with the half-timbering of the Tudor style. One brick retaining wall and one brick terrace provided a dual base that matches the lower lines of the house.

"The interiors reflect and carry through the formality and balance of the exterior, with excellent woodwork and trim and a number of Art Nouveau fixtures" (Kriesheim). The house was featured in Homes and Gardens of the Pacific Coast published in 1913 by the Beaux Arts Society.

The residence was designated a Seattle Landmark on September 2, 1980, because of its prominence in the area and its contributions to the identity and distinctive quality of the neighborhood.


Sources: Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Landmarks Preservation Board, 700 Third Avenue, 4th Floor, Seattle, Washington; Lawrence Kreisman, Made to Last: Historic Preservation in Seattle and King County, (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999), 56.

Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like You