Seattle has few ties to America’s ultimate starchitect. But this 1918 home, on a corner lot at the crux of Eastlake, Montlake, and north Capitol Hill, represents one of our closest connections to Frank Lloyd Wright.

Our region has not been graced with many of Wright's homes, but a couple of his disciples made their careers in Seattle designing beautiful, functional dwellings. The closest to Wright's own style was Andrew Willatsen, who worked in Chicago with Wright as a draftsman for five years starting in 1902. He stayed within the same thriving Chicago architecture scene until he packed up and moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1907. (Seattle’s other primary Wright influence, Milton Stricker, came along much, much later.)

Willatsen’s time in Chicago coincided perfectly with the emergence of Prairie style, which is most commonly associated with Wright, and he got to work putting his own spin on the ethos out west. Prairie style homes tend to emphasize horizontal lines as a tribute to the wide, flat landscapes of the American Midwest, a topography much different than Seattle's. This home (officially known as the Elmer Vogue House) maintains the long, hipped roof commonly associated with the style, but plays more vertically. The windows are packed together into strong horizontal lines, but vertical motifs in the window panes match up as well, and give a sense of upward motion. Two banks of these windows come together in a large square casing. Later, when the basement was finished, a third window bank went in at the bottom to match.

From the front, the building is a little more typical of the style; while the vertical motif repeats throughout the home, a low hipped roof with wide eaves over the front porch brings it closer to the ground. 

Inside, the home is bright, airy, and open, with some serious Arts and Crafts heritage from some original millwork. It’s been remodeled very recently—2019—but for the most part, the details that make the home special are still around. One centerpiece is the fireplace, tiled in a simplified Batchelder style and framed in a carved-wood built-in, with shelves stretching to either side of the room and drawers beneath.

The layout is probably pretty close to what it was originally, with the living room, foyer, and dining room flowing into each other via cased openings. The kitchen maintains its own four walls, but has plenty of room for gathering, including a built-in breakfast nook in one corner.

Up a handsome staircase with a banister, the largest bedroom makes beautiful use of the windows, fitting a whole bank on each wall—a wide window bench sits beneath one, and the other has clear views of Lake Washington and the Cascades. An en suite bath has a walk-in shower and heated tile. Two smaller (but still well-lit) upstairs bedrooms share a jack-and-jill bathroom.

The finished basement works to complement the style of the home above, even matching the windows right down to the alignment. It contains a family room, an extra bedroom, and a utility room.

Heavy tree cover in the front yard provides some privacy from the street; the rest of the outdoor space emphasizes entertaining. A small but party-ready turf backyard is connected to the kitchen.

Listing Fast Facts

1016 East Lynn Street
Size: 3,240 square feet/.08 acres, 4 bedroom/4 bath
List Date: 5/18/2023
List Price: $2,295,950
Listing Agents: Amarpreet Ubbi, Century 21