walking 14th street (millionaires row) is one of my favorite things to do around Halloween, the fallings leaves, the stately homes, it just feels nice. Most of these houses have been up for sale over the past 2 years and fetch anywhere between $5 million and $8 million. The Shaffer-Baillie house is a B and B and you can stay there, totally worth it because the rooms are huge and you get the run of the house (the owners live on the top floor) so you can go downstairs in one of the great rooms and sit and feel the house in all its grandeur.
I grew up on Capital Hill in Seattle, on 18th and Aloha, so about 6 or so blocks from Millionaires Row. It’s crazy seeing these old pictures of the street without any huge trees! It’s a genuinely beautiful area, and I was incredibly lucky (and spoiled!) to have grow up in that area. Volunteer Park is just a wonderful park, and the houses around there are just amazing to look at. Makes me homesick!
I also grew up there in the 60 and 70s Cool area as a kid I could explore all the area and shortcuts lol We were near 13th and John I could remember all the fruit trees Cherry Apple Peach mmm
I was born and raised in Seattle and never heard of Millionaires Row, but it makes sense. I went to St. Joseph’s on 18th & Aloha in the 80’s and often went to my classmates homes in the area after school (I grew up in Madison Valley, a couple of miles east of Millionaires Row). None of them lived on Millionaires Row, but still lived in the many gorgeous homes in the area. I’m always in awe of the beautiful homes in that area even to this day.
@@ryandonahue8932 I'm not sure that you've been there lately. Sure, parts of the city have been ruined by the homeless encampment bullsh*t but the vast majority of the city is still beautiful. Especially the neighborhood featured in this video. Most of the violence and grime is centralized in small pockets of downtown. The greater Seattle area are some of the best suburbs in the United States.
@@mikeabel7577 I work in Seattle and live very close. Downtown is nasty. Ballard is nasty. Sodo is nasty. Most of capital hill is gross. There was a shooting in west Seattle barely two weeks ago. Last time I went to pike place my completely empty car had its window busted out.
North Capitol Hill is like a vast treasure trove of late 19th century/early twentieth century styles. Queen Anne, Gothic, Tudor, Craftsmans. Just hundreds and hundreds of intact stately homes on streets with mature trees. Very much worth visiting. Seattle did not experience urban renewal butchery to any extent as much as other cities and freeway revolts in the 60s and 70s were largely successful. For street after street of Tudor revivals head a few miles north to the Ravenna area (A designated historic district) and to Wallingford for Craftsman overload land. They're trying to designate about 25% of Wallingford as a historic district. Thats a long ongoing controversial story that probably justifies its own separate video. All of those areas are basically current millionaire's rows since there are no houses on sale for less than a million dollars.
@@pavelow235 The Alaskan Way viaduct interestingly enough unlike I-5 construction (Which was a classic plow through hundreds of buildings willy nilly freeway) did not displace very many buildings at all. It was in the late 1940s, a completely working waterfront and the viaduct right of way was mainly used as rail lines and other miscellaneous industrial stuff. It was not a residential or office area at all. It was quite narrow in fact and the part of it near downtown was only about a mile to a mile and half long. It's not that Seattle had zero urban renewal, there was just much less of it than places like Boston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit where entire large neighborhoods were erased.
@@GuantanamoBayBarbie2 And is also a designated historic district. For those unfamiliar with the area, achieving historic district designation is a long micro-detailed grueling process usually taking years. For volunteers and historians to make it happen is no small achievement.
Wallingford has a lot of very cheap and poorly made houses. A lot of them were renovated out of their charm. I'm sure there are a few worth saving but I'm not sure we need to save 25% of them.
I used to live on Queen Anne hill in a beautiful old 1910 house. Although they regraded (flattened) hills closer to downtown, Queen Anne was left alone, so some of the houses on top have fabulous views. I wish I still owned that house!
A bit to the west of the grand houses around Volunteer Park, overlooking Lake Union and the Olympics in the distance is the Sam Hill mansion. Hill was a railroad baron who built the Maryhill Museum of Art overlooking the Columbia River and the nearby Stonehenge replica.
I grew up right across the street from Volunteer Park where most of these homes are still standing. Thank goodness they haven’t been torn down unlike other cities.
Was born up near millionaire's row and now live a short walk away in a 112 year old wanna-be mansion. All the long-ago owners would be proud to see how well their old neighborhood has survived and flourished.
My family had moved to Seattle back in 1967 from No. Dakota, we ended up living in a beautiful home on 15 and Aloha...it was an incredibly beautiful neighborhood, lawns and shrubs well manicured and only 3 blocks from Volunteer Park, it was a family park then and an artists landscape...that was many years ago...although the homes remain, the beauty of it has been taken away..so sad. Thank you for posting this video, people can't understand how beautiful it once was.
Shout Out to a fellow Capital Hill kid. 18th Aloha. Of course dined out and shopped on 15th Ave as well as going to my friends house on 15th. It was a great place to be a kid. Do not like what Seattle has Become. Too crowded, violent and expensive.
Last time I drove through there was about 20 years ago. Has it been ruined? It was so lovely there when I was a kid. So sad that it’s not been protected.
It just makes me want to puke. Obviously you haven't been to 15th and Aloha in a very long time if at all. That corner and the entire stretch of 15th on up past Louisa Boren Lookout and Lakeview Cemetery is still beautiful, Breathtaking views, beautiful trees that line and shadow the road. I get so sick and tired of people who either just move to Seattle or haven't been here in a long while put it down.
3:04 This is a master class in good residential design, the homes honoring a harmonious set-back and scale, yet each distinct for neighborhood liveliness.
if you can find a copy, The Sons of the Profits is a fun read about Seattle's early days. It will tell you exactly why the railroad baron Charles Wright placed the terminus of the UP railroad in Tacoma but later effectively moved it to Seattle
Yes! Maybe a bit about the Denny regarde. It's a fascinating steam punk mega-project.. They actually moved massive! homes further up on Capitol Hill to make way for the project.
I’ve been in that second house for a wedding. It’s absolutely gorgeous, it’s a complete maze inside with large staircases. I remember feeling almost lost. It’s gorgeous and has an almost night club like room in the basement.
You channel is always improving. I am amazed that you put this information together so quickly. Yes Seattle has alot of old original homes, great neighborhoods .
Thank you for covering this! I had passed those homes so many times on my way to & from Volunteer Park when I lived in the C.D. on 15th & Spring. I always admired them, but I didn't know the history of the neighborhood. Great video! :^)
Very beautiful houses, all of them and the community plan was brilliant and beautiful, I'd want to own one of these beautiful Homes in this beautiful community.
The Parker-Fersen house, which is the house in the lower left of the intro page, is one of my favorite houses on Capitol Hill. Many, many years ago I did a watercolor of it when I was in university. The house recently was resold again - for megabucks, naturally.
It`s so refreshing to see a city that actually kept some of it`s beautiful old homes and modernized them to meet present day needs instead of pulling them down and replacing them with ugly modern structures. A pity more cities didn`t see the value of this type of repurposing.
That’s my biggest gripe. You tear down a magnificent no longer available piece of architectural marvels. Replace it with a 10-15 year pole building maximum. When the devastating loss costs more than gutting and bringing a wonder back to it’s former glory.
The Parker-Fersen house (14th and Prospect, just South of Volunteer Park) that you began with was built with a spare no expense mentality. Inside it has parquet floors mirrored in faceted ceilings, beautiful exotic wood moldings everywhere, a grand staircase, and hidden rooms. In one of the pictures shown, there is a coach house that stands today, with a residence above the garage. The owners who were there from the mid-90's until about 3 years ago did a great job of bringing things back to the way they were, when it was built in 1909.
In 1973 I moved away from home and I lived at 615 14th Ave E in a 1920’s apartment house ... it’s the first apartment house on the street going south from Volunteer Park. The house next door I’d heard was owned by one of the Denny family members ... I never knew this street was labeled “Millionaires Row” ... but I thought the street and area so glorious, especially because I valued old stately homes. I talked with the person who lived in the Moore mansion and learned there had been a major fire in the house and they were just getting it back together ... someone told me Tolstoy’s daughter lived in the corner house across 14th Ave and the Parker mansion ... back in the 7O’s so many of the houses were so cheap b3cause of the cost to heat them ... that was the time too buy ... these old mansions are so fascinating...
Great idea! Back in 1985 I attended my father’s funeral in Peoria. My uncle took me for a drive on Moss Avenue and Grandview Drive. Moss Avenue was a living museum of every architectural style of the 19th century on one street. Some of the houses were “tired” looking. Have the houses been fixed up and restored to their former glory?
@@Gizathecat2 absolutely...they ALL seem to have life again. A lot of the younger generations has shown their appreciation fs. In 85 I was 17. Use to cruise both streets dreaming of living in 1 some day.
My grandparents moved to Seattle in the 1920’s and lived in a home on Aloha…close to Holy Names’ Academy. My mom went to St Nick’s back in the 1930’s. After her divorce in the 50’s, we moved in with my grandparents….and I went to Steven’s Elementary……on 19th I think. Went to Saturday matinees at a little theater on Aloha and 19th…and to a little library there where I learned about dinosaurs. Many many happy hours riding my bike with friends all over North Capitol Hill…..St. Joseph’s…and Volunteer Park…..climbing to the top of the tower in the park. Couldn’t have asked for a better place for kids to roam back in the day. Still my favorite part of the city.
I love all you content. Times gone by. I'm from Maine and during the Gilded Age and before, Bar Harbor Maine was where the Wealthy not so welcome in Newport Built Palatial Summer "Cottages". Theres a Book Called the Lost Bar Harbor. It All came to a Stop in the Fire of 47. which Burst 63 of the "Cottages" and most of Bar Harbor. I would love to see something about this. Thank for all your Great Work.
I passed these houses a few times a week when I would walk from school at St. Joseph’s on 18th to my grandmothers apartment on Harvard. Many are still there, but you’ll need several million dollars to buy one!
You learn something new every day. I’m from Seattle and knew about this stretch of houses but not the history of the planning and big ideas of the builders. Sustainability back then wasn’t exactly the power word it is today. One thing I didn’t hear in the video is that while the area was a suburb back when it was built, it’s in the Seattle city limits now. I have to say, though, that most of Seattle east and north of downtown is a gigantic millionaire’s row. It’s very hard to find a house under the 750,000-1,000,000 range. Thanks for an interesting and informative video.
I live within walking distance of these lovely homes... a friend visiting town in 2020 stayed in the Shafer-Baillie house (now a B&B)... since it was summer of 2020, they were the only guests. I went to hang out with them and we had free run of the beautiful house. Nicely preserved!
As Someone who grew up in and around Seattle it is a beautiful city…to visit. You could not pay me enough money to actually live in the city of Seattle
Seattle is so Amazing I was so impressed by the Downtown being so well kept. Utilized businesses in former businesses so European than so many blight, decayed Downtown, USA 🇺🇸 cities.
Loved Seattle and living about 30 minutes from it, I enjoyed visiting it...until homeless agenda took over. Didn't visited until recently and some parts are just a sad sight. Hate to be negative, but the liberal agenda ruined a beautiful place.
Some good friends of my folks inherited one of those houses, just down the street north of that big white one in your opening shots. I remember it well from my visits as a kid. The furnishings were fantastic and the place had servant's quarters on the second floor near the top of servant's staircase leading down to the kitchen. The "garage" was the old carriage house which had a high enough ceiling that we could play basketball inside during winter months. A grand entrance to the place with a great staircase and a large walnut dinner table in a formal dining room with the button underneath the table for summoning servants. It had a office-library with glass bookcases. Just a spectacular place that is etched in my memory.
My ex husband’s ex wife lived in the Parker mansion. I used to love to hike to that neighborhood to appreciate the fabulous architecture and landscaping, and to walk in Volunteer Park. I lived in Mt. Baker, a grand old neighborhood on the shores of Lake Washington, in a Colonial Revival home built in 1925. The original plaster walls and grand millwork were in pristine condition, having been lovingly cared for through the years by every owner. There was an original Batchelder tile fireplace. I also enjoyed hiking to Queen Anne. That’s what my friend and I called our long walks, urban hiking. I don’t know if there is any other city in the country with so many grand old homes as there are in Seattle. There are hundreds.
If you were to visit that area today you would not get a good look at the bare bones of the architecture, as the plantings have obscured a lot of what you can see from the street. On the other hand, the mature gardens and landscaping are really stunning. No expense was spared, the necessary maintenance was lovingly performed, and the plantings are all mature now. I find it even more beautiful now, but then I am a plant guy.
My friend used to live in a house on this street. It was a huge mansion that he shared with 7 people, of all races, ages and genders It had a crazy underground tunnels underneath it and portraits of the former owner at the top of the (velvet covered) stairs
We live about ten miles south of downtown Seattle. We paid $22,000.00 for our house, we could sell it for half a million today. It’s not a very big house, about 1700 sq ft. But we do live on half an acre and have a two car detached garage with a small workshop and a room above it. We don’t go to Seattle much, traffic is horrible for one thing. Graffiti, trash, tents everywhere. It looks like a civilization on the edge of destruction
Between the developers and the homeless,, Seattle is a fraction of what it once was. So sad to walk down streets where historic buildings once were and now there luxury apartments and dirty needles.
Interesting. Been living in Seattle since 1988. Never heard of Millionaire Row but will have to check it out. Queen Anne is somewhat the same. Glad to hear some parts of Seattle retained their history. Much of it hasn't unfortunately. Central District even lost its community due to gentrification. But, yes, some of the old homes are still there. I remember that white mansion on Queen Anne that looks like something from another time and place. That's still there.
I live in southern ohio close to wv and kentucky and theres a lot of homes like this that have survived in the smaller cities and towns esp the ones with mining money the company owners and execs lived in.
Lived here since 1992, grunge city, cheap rent, few corporate businesses, few homeless, plenty of small businesses and jobs and fun bars and music clubs. 20 years later all the old apartment blocks bulldozed for condo scrapers and fancy expensive corporate crap, $3000 rent and homeless tent towns disparity everywhere. Capitalism killed Seattle
I was born and raised on Capitol Hill and was 18 when “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released. In 1992 I moved into a gorgeous apartment in the Eastlake area that my friend’s parents owned (they gave me discounted rent……get ready for it…..$225 a month!) Talk about the being in the right place at the right time. Here’s to the golden age of Sea-town, the 1990’s! Cheers!
Are any of these places that you show, open to the public for tours, I would like to put them on my travel list to visit when on vacation in these areas
All the homes shown here are still private residences, with the exception of Shaffer Bailey mansion, which is a nice bed and breakfast. You can book a night there!
I would like to see more of these, that area is interesting, the houses that you showed seem subdued in comparison to the ones in the East, or Midwest.
I'd love to know more about the Loring Heights area where I-94 curves around downtown Minneapolis Duluth, Minn. has an amazing history of wealth and fine homes financed by the iron mines.
Happy ending for all those who spent their fortune, and left the legacy. It is a immortality for the designers, craftsmen , and caretakers that dedicated themselves even more than the millionaires.
Very interesting history and video. (Just a note that Olmsted Brothers is not spelled Olmstead)....My grandparents owned one of those homes, and it has been lovingly restored by the current owners with lots of historic references throughout the house. They were gracious to host an open house for our family to view the restoration. At the top of the Volunteer Park water tower there is an interesting and detailed history of the Olmsted contributions to Seattle.
Excellent video. I was in Seattle only once but did not see these homes. How about something a bit different like Commonwealth Ave. in Boston where the millionaires built "row houses?" Also how about Summit Ave in St. Paul, MN or Portland and Westmoreland Places in St. Louis?
We used to love walking around Capitol Hill, looking at all the amazing mansions. Too bad what’s happened to that city, you couldn’t pay me to live there now…. But living on Capital Hill in the 90’s was a lot of fun!
@@EricaGamet No one saying fun can’t be had there still, but it’s no where near the 90’s. Plus there wasn’t the current crime, homelessness, tents, garbage, and open drug use all over. I spent 37 years there, living and exploring every corner of that city. Road a bus downtown for work almost every day. I watched it slide into the current shithole.
@@billbored8277It probably has to do with your attitude as to why you’re so miserable in life. Richest country in the world and we worship billionaires while not raising minimum wage in over a decade, or providing healthcare to all. But go on and demonize the homeless. The wealth gap is becoming more and more horrifying by the year. It makes sense when politicians work for corporations (USA is an oligarchy), and not we the people.
@@loraldinp2624 I love the deep dive into my ‘attitude’ and ‘life’… 🤣 You put all that together from a couple sentences? Amazing. Sorry, Seattle is a soggy grey depressing dirty drug infested dystopian hell hole. Truth hurts. 🤷♂️ PS I just saw your other post, you live in New England? But lectured me on my experiences of living and working in Seattle for 37 years? LOL 😂 🤣 OMG 😆
My husband is a wood refinisher and just completed a job a bit east of Volunteer Park! He refinished all the cabinetry in the house! Parts of Volunteer Park are a bit sketchy these day as are most Seattle Parks.😢
Glad these houses were saved. A suggestion for a future video would be St. James Court and Belgravia Court in Louisville, KY. Still intact with a great collection of homes and a beautiful fountain from the turn of the century.
41 years ago I took my wife to the Seattle waterfront on dates. We would have dinner in the Space Needle and shop for eclectic rare first editions at Shorey’s book store at Pike St. Market. We we married and lived Near Bremerton and took the ferry over whenever we had time free. When prices soared we fled to the country over 400 miles away and as we have watched this once so beautiful city fall to ruin over the last decade to the dangerous homeless and criminal downtown and filthy pit that once was safe and fun places to walk and shop is now a place to person would want to find themselves unarmed. We no longer visit. It’s not fear but only deep disappointment at what the lazy and corrupt leaders of this state and Seattle itself have purposefully done…or not done. The epidemic is political corruption….not the flu
Theophilus Jedediah - I live in downtown Seattle, just a block from The Bon Marché/Macy's building. Your description is - to put it mildly - exaggerated and includes much prejudice. I have lived in the Seattle area since 1952 and in downtown neighborhoods since 1991. Your narrative bears little resemblance to reality. 1) Most homeless people are not dangerous. Many suffer from mental illnesses; many have addictions but that does not equate to being dangerous. There have always been a large number of homeless people, but they used to be in the Pioneer Square neighborhood, the Pike Place Market (before renovations), along the waterfront and in what is now called the stadium district. The homeless numbers began their steep increase when Reagen Republicans changed federal rules to close mental hospitals, decreased funds for treating mental illness and reneged on a promise to fund group homes (i.e., no place for former hospital residents to live). 2) "criminal downtown" I do not accept that assertion. Do you have specific examples of what makes downtown criminal? 3) "filthy pit" Beg to strongly disagree. It is cleaner now than 20-30 years ago, particularly the alleys. 4) "now a place [no] person would want to find themselves unarmed" is a bunch of hooey. I regularly walk and use public transportation without feeling fearful, at all times of the day and into the night. 5) "lazy and corrupt leaders of this state and Seattle itself" Who is corrupt? What have "they" corruptly done? Perhaps there is a clue as to your attitude because COVID is not "the flu." Note: It is the Pike Place - not Street - Market.
@@wendyweaver8749 Yes! I have lived here 5 years (in Capitol Hill, actually) and I love it! I always felt very safe walking around downtown well into the night...always tons of folks, lively bars and theaters, and tourists. I'm not afraid to be down there. You have to be smart and not walk down alleys and know what areas to avoid (or at least be aware of), but that's how it is in any city. I don't hang out as late as I used to downtown, since the pandemic, for a few reasons. There were obviously far fewer people around and things were closing early. I don't know if that has changed in the last year... I have had some new mobility-related health issues arise and don't just wander around the city like I used to. I do love this city and can't wait to get back to my late-night wanderings.
@@wendyweaver8749 Wendy, I think you are the one not seeing reality. What they said is absolutely correct. It’s shocking you are denying what is happening to the city.
If I was rich, I might not mind living in millionaire's row, to blend in, but I'd hate it if it meant that I had to keep up with my neighbors, that's so not me! If they had pools, I'd want stables!
I wish I lived during the times when we could be open about not wanting to live by other peoples. We could be surrounded by likeminded individuals and not have to lie about our allegiance’s.
It became an entire third of the city, that's what. Seattle, a city full of people who claim to be progressive and liberal who religiously defend trickle down economics and denounce real liberalism as "right wing". As a former resident of Seattle, it was really depressing to see that city turn into one of the biggest threats to liberal values in the USA. Seattle makes Republicans look more liberal by comparison in the traditional sense of the term, it's amazing.
How about a this house Buffalo NY millionaire row? I don’t know if you researched about Buffalo who had many great architects working here around the turn of the century and a great housing stock?
I think I’ve seen the house in the thumbnail, off interstate 5 if I’m correct. It’s in extremely rough shape, those front columns and fences seem rotted out. It looks like someone was working on it, then abandoned it.
I enjoy your look at Millionair Rows of the past . May I suggest Rochester,NY for you next subject. East Avenue has not only the George Eastmans home but Watson/Sibley founder of Western Union. The homes of Basuch and Lomb of the optical giant, early Buggy whip founders. We were know for business in both flour and flowers( raising flowers for seeds/ plants for sale) . There are many more stories in the Pioneer s of science. George Eastman, unlike today inventers and business pioneers, had to go hat in hand, to these successful men to fund his ideas for photographic film and cameras. Check it out!
walking 14th street (millionaires row) is one of my favorite things to do around Halloween, the fallings leaves, the stately homes, it just feels nice. Most of these houses have been up for sale over the past 2 years and fetch anywhere between $5 million and $8 million. The Shaffer-Baillie house is a B and B and you can stay there, totally worth it because the rooms are huge and you get the run of the house (the owners live on the top floor) so you can go downstairs in one of the great rooms and sit and feel the house in all its grandeur.
I grew up on Capital Hill in Seattle, on 18th and Aloha, so about 6 or so blocks from Millionaires Row. It’s crazy seeing these old pictures of the street without any huge trees! It’s a genuinely beautiful area, and I was incredibly lucky (and spoiled!) to have grow up in that area. Volunteer Park is just a wonderful park, and the houses around there are just amazing to look at. Makes me homesick!
When did you live there? I was at 23rd and Aloha in the 50’s. GREAT place and time to be a kid!
lived ot the corner of 15th & aloha , nice neighborhood
I also grew up there in the 60 and 70s Cool area as a kid I could explore all the area and shortcuts lol We were near 13th and John I could remember all the fruit trees Cherry Apple Peach mmm
So glad that so many of these houses still survive. Amazing how fast that city grew.
The neighborhood is, if anything, more beautiful today than it was then.
@@dylangraver3516 What the heck is your idea of beauty?
I was born and raised in Seattle and never heard of Millionaires Row, but it makes sense. I went to St. Joseph’s on 18th & Aloha in the 80’s and often went to my classmates homes in the area after school (I grew up in Madison Valley, a couple of miles east of Millionaires Row). None of them lived on Millionaires Row, but still lived in the many gorgeous homes in the area. I’m always in awe of the beautiful homes in that area even to this day.
Seattle is such a beautiful city. So many amazing historical buildings there. So many people that built amazing homes. They are definitely beautiful.
lol you haven’t been there lately
@@ryandonahue8932 I'm not sure that you've been there lately. Sure, parts of the city have been ruined by the homeless encampment bullsh*t but the vast majority of the city is still beautiful. Especially the neighborhood featured in this video. Most of the violence and grime is centralized in small pockets of downtown. The greater Seattle area are some of the best suburbs in the United States.
@@mikeabel7577 - Homeless encampment bullsh*t? I think you mean the “greedy investors making housing unaffordable in the region”.
@@mikeabel7577 ya it's the entire city now, it's what you get for voting for liberals. They've ruined an entire city.
@@mikeabel7577 I work in Seattle and live very close. Downtown is nasty. Ballard is nasty. Sodo is nasty. Most of capital hill is gross. There was a shooting in west Seattle barely two weeks ago. Last time I went to pike place my completely empty car had its window busted out.
North Capitol Hill is like a vast treasure trove of late 19th century/early twentieth century styles. Queen Anne, Gothic, Tudor, Craftsmans. Just hundreds and hundreds of intact stately homes on streets with mature trees. Very much worth visiting. Seattle did not experience urban renewal butchery to any extent as much as other cities and freeway revolts in the 60s and 70s were largely successful. For street after street of Tudor revivals head a few miles north to the Ravenna area (A designated historic district) and to Wallingford for Craftsman overload land. They're trying to designate about 25% of Wallingford as a historic district. Thats a long ongoing controversial story that probably justifies its own separate video. All of those areas are basically current millionaire's rows since there are no houses on sale for less than a million dollars.
No widespread urban renewal in Seattle????
Does the Alaskan Way Viaduct ring a bell?
@@pavelow235 The Alaskan Way viaduct interestingly enough unlike I-5 construction (Which was a classic plow through hundreds of buildings willy nilly freeway) did not displace very many buildings at all. It was in the late 1940s, a completely working waterfront and the viaduct right of way was mainly used as rail lines and other miscellaneous industrial stuff. It was not a residential or office area at all. It was quite narrow in fact and the part of it near downtown was only about a mile to a mile and half long. It's not that Seattle had zero urban renewal, there was just much less of it than places like Boston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit where entire large neighborhoods were erased.
Mount Baker neighborhood has some beautiful homes too; many craftsman.
@@GuantanamoBayBarbie2 And is also a designated historic district. For those unfamiliar with the area, achieving historic district designation is a long micro-detailed grueling process usually taking years. For volunteers and historians to make it happen is no small achievement.
Wallingford has a lot of very cheap and poorly made houses. A lot of them were renovated out of their charm. I'm sure there are a few worth saving but I'm not sure we need to save 25% of them.
My sister lives in Seattle and I showed her this video. Now I'm going to visit and get to see the houses myself!
I used to live on Queen Anne hill in a beautiful old 1910 house. Although they regraded (flattened) hills closer to downtown, Queen Anne was left alone, so some of the houses on top have fabulous views. I wish I still owned that house!
I love driving thru queen Anne I had a friend living there and would visit that area a couple times a yr
I did too! Mine was a 1909. I was on Nob Hill. Where were you?
My wife grew up on Queen Anne. 1916 Dutch Colonial style home. 811 W Bothwell.
I grew up there, and attended University on Capitol Hill.....it's still a lovely neighborhood. Thank you for posting.
A bit to the west of the grand houses around Volunteer Park, overlooking Lake Union and the Olympics in the distance is the Sam Hill mansion. Hill was a railroad baron who built the Maryhill Museum of Art overlooking the Columbia River and the nearby Stonehenge replica.
I also like the Tea Cup gas station and The American Hop Museum. Both are in the same area of Washington.
I grew up right across the street from Volunteer Park where most of these homes are still standing. Thank goodness they haven’t been torn down unlike other cities.
Was born up near millionaire's row and now live a short walk away in a 112 year old wanna-be mansion. All the long-ago owners would be proud to see how well their old neighborhood has survived and flourished.
My family had moved to Seattle back in 1967 from No. Dakota, we ended up living in a beautiful home on 15 and Aloha...it was an incredibly beautiful neighborhood, lawns and shrubs well manicured and only 3 blocks from Volunteer Park, it was a family park then and an artists landscape...that was many years ago...although the homes remain, the beauty of it has been taken away..so sad. Thank you for posting this video, people can't understand how beautiful it once was.
Shout Out to a fellow Capital Hill kid. 18th Aloha. Of course dined out and shopped on 15th Ave as well as going to my friends house on 15th. It was a great place to be a kid. Do not like what Seattle has Become. Too crowded, violent and expensive.
15th and Aloha! I lived on that corner too, for a year or two. It was the late 1970s. House is still there, on the southeast corner.
Seattle is looking down
Last time I drove through there was about 20 years ago. Has it been ruined? It was so lovely there when I was a kid. So sad that it’s not been protected.
It just makes me want to puke. Obviously you haven't been to 15th and Aloha in a very long time if at all. That corner and the entire stretch of 15th on up past Louisa Boren Lookout and Lakeview Cemetery is still beautiful, Breathtaking views, beautiful trees that line and shadow the road. I get so sick and tired of people who either just move to Seattle or haven't been here in a long while put it down.
I used to live on Capitol Hill and enjoyed walks around Volunteer Park, looking at all the gorgeous homes. And of course there is Madison Park too!
3:04 This is a master class in good residential design, the homes honoring a harmonious set-back and scale, yet each distinct for neighborhood liveliness.
I agree, they aren't cookie cutter homes and are each unique.
seattle has a really fascinating history - definitely would like more videos!!
if you can find a copy, The Sons of the Profits is a fun read about Seattle's early days. It will tell you exactly why the railroad baron Charles Wright placed the terminus of the UP railroad in Tacoma but later effectively moved it to Seattle
Yes!
Maybe a bit about the Denny regarde.
It's a fascinating steam punk mega-project..
They actually moved massive! homes further up on Capitol Hill to make way for the project.
O love driving throughout Seattle neighborhoods from the mansion to the smaller homes in west Seattle so fun to see them all
I’ve been in that second house for a wedding. It’s absolutely gorgeous, it’s a complete maze inside with large staircases. I remember feeling almost lost. It’s gorgeous and has an almost night club like room in the basement.
Great to know that so many survived
You channel is always improving. I am amazed that you put this information together so quickly. Yes Seattle has alot of old original homes, great neighborhoods .
Thank you for covering this! I had passed those homes so many times on my way to & from Volunteer Park when I lived in the C.D. on 15th & Spring. I always admired them, but I didn't know the history of the neighborhood.
Great video! :^)
Very beautiful houses, all of them and the community plan was brilliant and beautiful, I'd want to own one of these beautiful Homes in this beautiful community.
The Parker-Fersen house, which is the house in the lower left of the intro page, is one of my favorite houses on Capitol Hill. Many, many years ago I did a watercolor of it when I was in university. The house recently was resold again - for megabucks, naturally.
It`s so refreshing to see a city that actually kept some of it`s beautiful old homes and modernized them to meet present day needs instead of pulling them down and replacing them with ugly modern structures. A pity more cities didn`t see the value of this type of repurposing.
That’s my biggest gripe.
You tear down a magnificent no longer available piece of architectural marvels.
Replace it with a 10-15 year pole building maximum.
When the devastating loss costs more than gutting and bringing a wonder back to it’s former glory.
Upzone that home to a quadraplex.
Yes, a part of Seattle's unique beauty is the refurbished older homes.
Some of these homes have been on market recently. They go for 10-20million nowadays.
oh dont worry, theyre doing PLENTY of that too. its sad, but i love this neighborhood and that it is still intact and walkable to this day.
The Parker-Fersen house (14th and Prospect, just South of Volunteer Park) that you began with was built with a spare no expense mentality. Inside it has parquet floors mirrored in faceted ceilings, beautiful exotic wood moldings everywhere, a grand staircase, and hidden rooms. In one of the pictures shown, there is a coach house that stands today, with a residence above the garage. The owners who were there from the mid-90's until about 3 years ago did a great job of bringing things back to the way they were, when it was built in 1909.
“The hedges of these houses have trust funds” said a friend as we strolled by lol
In 1973 I moved away from home and I lived at 615 14th Ave E in a 1920’s apartment house ... it’s the first apartment house on the street going south from Volunteer Park. The house next door I’d heard was owned by one of the Denny family members ... I never knew this street was labeled “Millionaires Row” ... but I thought the street and area so glorious, especially because I valued old stately homes. I talked with the person who lived in the Moore mansion and learned there had been a major fire in the house and they were just getting it back together ... someone told me Tolstoy’s daughter lived in the corner house across 14th Ave and the Parker mansion ... back in the 7O’s so many of the houses were so cheap b3cause of the cost to heat them ... that was the time too buy ... these old mansions are so fascinating...
I live near Seattle, and have never seen these beautiful places! I need to!
The Parker Mansion has always been my favorite. Love driving around that entire area, so beautiful
I am addicted to your channel! I hope someday you do Grandview drive and Moss Avenue in Peoria Illinois. I'd love to learn the history of those homes.
Great idea! Back in 1985 I attended my father’s funeral in Peoria. My uncle took me for a drive on Moss Avenue and Grandview Drive. Moss Avenue was a living museum of every architectural style of the 19th century on one street. Some of the houses were “tired”
looking. Have the houses been fixed up and restored to their former glory?
@@Gizathecat2 absolutely...they ALL seem to have life again. A lot of the younger generations has shown their appreciation fs. In 85 I was 17. Use to cruise both streets dreaming of living in 1 some day.
So odd that the Seattle residents allowed this city to turn into a cesspool. I can't understand this
Some of those have not changed since the day they were built. Took my mom there for a picnic. Very nice and peaceful.
I'll share this with my Facebook group they love this stuff!
This country is so fascinating, seeing pictures of these cities back then, it's amazing. I wish I could time travel to be there at that time
My grandparents moved to Seattle in the 1920’s and lived in a home on Aloha…close to Holy Names’ Academy. My mom went to St Nick’s back in the 1930’s. After her divorce in the 50’s, we moved in with my grandparents….and I went to Steven’s Elementary……on 19th I think. Went to Saturday matinees at a little theater on Aloha and 19th…and to a little library there where I learned about dinosaurs. Many many happy hours riding my bike with friends all over North Capitol Hill…..St. Joseph’s…and Volunteer Park…..climbing to the top of the tower in the park. Couldn’t have asked for a better place for kids to roam back in the day. Still my favorite part of the city.
I love all you content. Times gone by. I'm from Maine and during the Gilded Age and before, Bar Harbor Maine was where the Wealthy not so welcome in Newport Built Palatial Summer "Cottages". Theres a Book Called the Lost Bar Harbor. It All came to a Stop in the Fire of 47. which Burst 63 of the "Cottages" and most of Bar Harbor. I would love to see something about this. Thank for all your Great Work.
I passed these houses a few times a week when I would walk from school at St. Joseph’s on 18th to my grandmothers apartment on Harvard. Many are still there, but you’ll need several million dollars to buy one!
This explains a lot about contemporary Seattle. The NIMBYism is a century old.
These stately homes are simply beautiful!!! 👍👍🙂
Yes, very nice house
Living in Seattle is also a good choice
You learn something new every day. I’m from Seattle and knew about this stretch of houses but not the history of the planning and big ideas of the builders. Sustainability back then wasn’t exactly the power word it is today. One thing I didn’t hear in the video is that while the area was a suburb back when it was built, it’s in the Seattle city limits now.
I have to say, though, that most of Seattle east and north of downtown is a gigantic millionaire’s row. It’s very hard to find a house under the 750,000-1,000,000 range.
Thanks for an interesting and informative video.
I live within walking distance of these lovely homes... a friend visiting town in 2020 stayed in the Shafer-Baillie house (now a B&B)... since it was summer of 2020, they were the only guests. I went to hang out with them and we had free run of the beautiful house. Nicely preserved!
James A Moore is my great great great Grandfather. My Dad always mentions his Travesty with his Ferry business.
It's a treasure to walk through the neighborhood. A bit overgrown in parts but charmingly warm.
As Someone who grew up in and around Seattle it is a beautiful city…to visit. You could not pay me enough money to actually live in the city of Seattle
I would say, Seattle “Used” to be a great city! The nature around there still is, you can’t beat the diverse geography.
Pretty much every house in Seattle is worth at least a million now
Seattle is so Amazing I was so impressed by the Downtown being so well kept.
Utilized businesses in former businesses so European than so many blight, decayed Downtown, USA 🇺🇸 cities.
You haven't seen downtown in a few years it would seem...
Loved Seattle and living about 30 minutes from it, I enjoyed visiting it...until homeless agenda took over. Didn't visited until recently and some parts are just a sad sight. Hate to be negative, but the liberal agenda ruined a beautiful place.
Some good friends of my folks inherited one of those houses, just down the street north of that big white one in your opening shots. I remember it well from my visits as a kid. The furnishings were fantastic and the place had servant's quarters on the second floor near the top of servant's staircase leading down to the kitchen. The "garage" was the old carriage house which had a high enough ceiling that we could play basketball inside during winter months. A grand entrance to the place with a great staircase and a large walnut dinner table in a formal dining room with the button underneath the table for summoning servants. It had a office-library with glass bookcases. Just a spectacular place that is etched in my memory.
You must be talking about the Cobb house 🏡
I love this series. Please come chronicle Buffalo's Millionaires' Row, a good amount of which is still intact.
My ex husband’s ex wife lived in the Parker mansion. I used to love to hike to that neighborhood to appreciate the fabulous architecture and landscaping, and to walk in Volunteer Park. I lived in Mt. Baker, a grand old neighborhood on the shores of Lake Washington, in a Colonial Revival home built in 1925. The original plaster walls and grand millwork were in pristine condition, having been lovingly cared for through the years by every owner. There was an original Batchelder tile fireplace. I also enjoyed hiking to Queen Anne. That’s what my friend and I called our long walks, urban hiking. I don’t know if there is any other city in the country with so many grand old homes as there are in Seattle. There are hundreds.
If you were to visit that area today you would not get a good look at the bare bones of the architecture, as the plantings have obscured a lot of what you can see from the street.
On the other hand, the mature gardens and landscaping are really stunning. No expense was spared, the necessary maintenance was lovingly performed, and the plantings are all mature now. I find it even more beautiful now, but then I am a plant guy.
I've lived in Seattle my entire life, born and raised and never knew about any of this. Crazy but so interesting
My friend used to live in a house on this street. It was a huge mansion that he shared with 7 people, of all races, ages and genders
It had a crazy underground tunnels underneath it and portraits of the former owner at the top of the (velvet covered) stairs
We live about ten miles south of downtown Seattle. We paid $22,000.00 for our house, we could sell it for half a million today. It’s not a very big house, about 1700 sq ft. But we do live on half an acre and have a two car detached garage with a small workshop and a room above it.
We don’t go to Seattle much, traffic is horrible for one thing. Graffiti, trash, tents everywhere. It looks like a civilization on the edge of destruction
Between the developers and the homeless,, Seattle is a fraction of what it once was. So sad to walk down streets where historic buildings once were and now there luxury apartments and dirty needles.
Interesting. Been living in Seattle since 1988. Never heard of Millionaire Row but will have to check it out. Queen Anne is somewhat the same. Glad to hear some parts of Seattle retained their history. Much of it hasn't unfortunately. Central District even lost its community due to gentrification. But, yes, some of the old homes are still there. I remember that white mansion on Queen Anne that looks like something from another time and place. That's still there.
Nice , millionaires row , lots of nostalgia , beautiful buildings frozen in time .
Tacoma's historic homes district is still utterly beautiful. It's just up the hill from the long waterfront walkway.
@ 1:47 anybody know where to find this map?
Maybe the historical society? I would love a print of it!
You should look into Bessemer Alabama. So many amazing historical houses both restord and abandoned.
Queen Anne hill. I love it here.
Seattle politicians now make money with homelessness
Pls do historical mansions of Milwaukee Wisconsin
In my opinion millionaires row today is on Highland Drive in Seattle. Insane rich!!
I live in southern ohio close to wv and kentucky and theres a lot of homes like this that have survived in the smaller cities and towns esp the ones with mining money the company owners and execs lived in.
I live in New England and most of our small/ large cities are loaded with antique homes. Very historic and beautiful!
Lived here since 1992, grunge city, cheap rent, few corporate businesses, few homeless, plenty of small businesses and jobs and fun bars and music clubs. 20 years later all the old apartment blocks bulldozed for condo scrapers and fancy expensive corporate crap, $3000 rent and homeless tent towns disparity everywhere. Capitalism killed Seattle
Capitalism also built it and very rich people from Europe etc. People made their fortunes in America and elsewhere.
I was born and raised on Capitol Hill and was 18 when “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released. In 1992 I moved into a gorgeous apartment in the Eastlake area that my friend’s parents owned (they gave me discounted rent……get ready for it…..$225 a month!) Talk about the being in the right place at the right time. Here’s to the golden age of Sea-town, the 1990’s! Cheers!
the area between NE65 & Ravenna Park has got my vote...so much so it's federally registered as an 'historic district'
Are any of these places that you show, open to the public for tours, I would like to put them on my travel list to visit when on vacation in these areas
All the homes shown here are still private residences, with the exception of Shaffer Bailey mansion, which is a nice bed and breakfast. You can book a night there!
I would like to see more of these, that area is interesting, the houses that you showed seem subdued in comparison to the ones in the East, or Midwest.
It would be fun to do one of these for the Twin Cities in Minnesota - Summit Avenue or Mount Curve Drive...
I'd love to know more about the Loring Heights area where I-94 curves around downtown Minneapolis
Duluth, Minn. has an amazing history of wealth and fine homes financed by the iron mines.
I hope renovate a house on Capital Hill, they added a underground section to the home that was quite large.
Happy ending for all those who spent their fortune, and left the legacy. It is a immortality for the designers, craftsmen , and caretakers that dedicated themselves even more than the millionaires.
And now every home in Seattle costs a small fortune and the city is over run by homelessness, crime, graffiti and more.
Best Halloween destination. Raised our daughter there trick to treating
One sad thing about Seattle and old houses is that the area where a lot of hospitals are was a residential neighborhood with equally nice homes
Very interesting history and video. (Just a note that Olmsted Brothers is not spelled Olmstead)....My grandparents owned one of those homes, and it has been lovingly restored by the current owners with lots of historic references throughout the house. They were gracious to host an open house for our family to view the restoration. At the top of the Volunteer Park water tower there is an interesting and detailed history of the Olmsted contributions to Seattle.
Excellent video. I was in Seattle only once but did not see these homes. How about something a bit different like Commonwealth Ave. in Boston where the millionaires built "row houses?" Also how about Summit Ave in St. Paul, MN or Portland and Westmoreland Places in St. Louis?
Makes me gonna go visit Seattle to go see those houses
We used to love walking around Capitol Hill, looking at all the amazing mansions.
Too bad what’s happened to that city, you couldn’t pay me to live there now….
But living on Capital Hill in the 90’s was a lot of fun!
It's still a lot of fun here!
@@EricaGamet No one saying fun can’t be had there still, but it’s no where near the 90’s.
Plus there wasn’t the current crime, homelessness, tents, garbage, and open drug use all over.
I spent 37 years there, living and exploring every corner of that city. Road a bus downtown for work almost every day. I watched it slide into the current shithole.
@@billbored8277It probably has to do with your attitude as to why you’re so miserable in life. Richest country in the world and we worship billionaires while not raising minimum wage in over a decade, or providing healthcare to all. But go on and demonize the homeless. The wealth gap is becoming more and more horrifying by the year. It makes sense when politicians work for corporations (USA is an oligarchy), and not we the people.
@@loraldinp2624 I love the deep dive into my ‘attitude’ and ‘life’… 🤣
You put all that together from a couple sentences? Amazing.
Sorry, Seattle is a soggy grey depressing dirty drug infested dystopian hell hole. Truth hurts. 🤷♂️
PS I just saw your other post, you live in New England? But lectured me on my experiences of living and working in Seattle for 37 years? LOL 😂 🤣 OMG 😆
My husband is a wood refinisher and just completed a job a bit east of Volunteer Park! He refinished all the cabinetry in the house! Parts of Volunteer Park are a bit sketchy these day as are most Seattle Parks.😢
What street is that now ? I don’t recognize it.
I was born and raised on Capitol Hill and never knew about millionaires row. But those houses are all familiar to me.
Glad these houses were saved.
A suggestion for a future video would be St. James Court and Belgravia Court in Louisville, KY. Still intact with a great collection of homes and a beautiful fountain from the turn of the century.
41 years ago I took my wife to the Seattle waterfront on dates. We would have dinner in the Space Needle and shop for eclectic rare first editions at Shorey’s book store at Pike St. Market. We we married and lived Near Bremerton and took the ferry over whenever we had time free. When prices soared we fled to the country over 400 miles away and as we have watched this once so beautiful city fall to ruin over the last decade to the dangerous homeless and criminal downtown and filthy pit that once was safe and fun places to walk and shop is now a place to person would want to find themselves unarmed. We no longer visit. It’s not fear but only deep disappointment at what the lazy and corrupt leaders of this state and Seattle itself have purposefully done…or not done. The epidemic is political corruption….not the flu
Theophilus Jedediah - I live in downtown Seattle, just a block from The Bon Marché/Macy's building. Your description is - to put it mildly - exaggerated and includes much prejudice. I have lived in the Seattle area since 1952 and in downtown neighborhoods since 1991. Your narrative bears little resemblance to reality.
1) Most homeless people are not dangerous. Many suffer from mental illnesses; many have addictions but that does not equate to being dangerous. There have always been a large number of homeless people, but they used to be in the Pioneer Square neighborhood, the Pike Place Market (before renovations), along the waterfront and in what is now called the stadium district. The homeless numbers began their steep increase when Reagen Republicans changed federal rules to close mental hospitals, decreased funds for treating mental illness and reneged on a promise to fund group homes (i.e., no place for former hospital residents to live).
2) "criminal downtown" I do not accept that assertion. Do you have specific examples of what makes downtown criminal?
3) "filthy pit" Beg to strongly disagree. It is cleaner now than 20-30 years ago, particularly the alleys.
4) "now a place [no] person would want to find themselves unarmed" is a bunch of hooey. I regularly walk and use public transportation without feeling fearful, at all times of the day and into the night.
5) "lazy and corrupt leaders of this state and Seattle itself" Who is corrupt? What have "they" corruptly done? Perhaps there is a clue as to your attitude because COVID is not "the flu."
Note: It is the Pike Place - not Street - Market.
@@wendyweaver8749 Yes! I have lived here 5 years (in Capitol Hill, actually) and I love it! I always felt very safe walking around downtown well into the night...always tons of folks, lively bars and theaters, and tourists. I'm not afraid to be down there. You have to be smart and not walk down alleys and know what areas to avoid (or at least be aware of), but that's how it is in any city. I don't hang out as late as I used to downtown, since the pandemic, for a few reasons. There were obviously far fewer people around and things were closing early. I don't know if that has changed in the last year... I have had some new mobility-related health issues arise and don't just wander around the city like I used to. I do love this city and can't wait to get back to my late-night wanderings.
@@wendyweaver8749 Wendy, I think you are the one not seeing reality. What they said is absolutely correct. It’s shocking you are denying what is happening to the city.
There are a few tiny parks in Boulder CO designed by F L Olmstead, very nice indeed
Glad they survived 😊
Lovely video!
It would be remiss to point out that this land was stolen from local tribes like Coast Salish and Duwamish.
The Duwamish Tribe is still seeking federal recognition. Tragic.
If I was rich, I might not mind living in millionaire's row, to blend in, but I'd hate it if it meant that I had to keep up with my neighbors, that's so not me! If they had pools, I'd want stables!
Just because it's Seattle. Grew up with AIC, Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone. Can't imagine not being there during those times.
Hope you make more StL videos soon! ❤
I wish I lived during the times when we could be open about not wanting to live by other peoples. We could be surrounded by likeminded individuals and not have to lie about our allegiance’s.
this comment for feeding the ever hungry algorithm
it's favorites are comments, replies and likes to them
It became an entire third of the city, that's what. Seattle, a city full of people who claim to be progressive and liberal who religiously defend trickle down economics and denounce real liberalism as "right wing". As a former resident of Seattle, it was really depressing to see that city turn into one of the biggest threats to liberal values in the USA. Seattle makes Republicans look more liberal by comparison in the traditional sense of the term, it's amazing.
How about a this house Buffalo NY millionaire row? I don’t know if you researched about Buffalo who had many great architects working here around the turn of the century and a great housing stock?
Proud to have lived in Villa Costella on Olympic, the S. Slope of Queen Anne, albeit briefly.
The first priority when starting a new utopia is to figure out ways to 'keep the riff-raff out' !
I love the Parker house!
I think I’ve seen the house in the thumbnail, off interstate 5 if I’m correct. It’s in extremely rough shape, those front columns and fences seem rotted out. It looks like someone was working on it, then abandoned it.
Dude you should check out Rochester, NY and its millionaire's row.
I enjoy your look at Millionair Rows of the past . May I suggest Rochester,NY for you next subject. East Avenue has not only the George Eastmans home but Watson/Sibley founder of Western Union. The homes of Basuch and Lomb of the optical giant, early Buggy whip founders. We were know for business in both flour and flowers( raising flowers for seeds/ plants for sale) . There are many more stories in the Pioneer s of science. George Eastman, unlike today inventers and business pioneers, had to go hat in hand, to these successful men to fund his ideas for photographic film and cameras. Check it out!