Frederick W. Winters House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
Frederick W. Winters House
|
|
 |
|
 Location in Washington (state)
Location in the United States
|
|
| Location | 2102 Bellevue Way SE Bellevue, Washington |
|---|---|
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1929 |
| Architectural style | Mission Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 92000367 |
| Added to NRHP | April 21, 1992 |
The Frederick W. Winters House is a special historic home located in Bellevue, Washington, in the United States. It was built in 1929 and has a unique style called Mission Revival. This house is so important that it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. It's actually the only building in Bellevue with this national honor! The City of Bellevue owns the house. It was closed in 2016 because of construction for a new light rail train line nearby.
Contents
History of the Winters House
Early Days and Farming
Frederick and Cecilia Winters moved to the Bellevue area in 1916. They first bought a small farm where they grew holly plants. Later, they purchased a larger farm, about 10-acre (4.0 ha) in size, located in an area called Mercer Slough.
The Winters family were expert farmers. They grew beautiful azalea flowers in several greenhouses on their property. They sold these flowers to people in the Midwest and on the East Coast. In the early 1920s, they bought another 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land to grow more plants, especially flower bulbs.
Frederick Winters focused on growing narcissus, Dutch irises, and Spanish irises. He did very well financially because of a special rule. From 1926 to 1938, the United States had a "national quarantine" on imported bulbs. This meant it was hard to bring bulbs into the country, so Frederick's locally grown bulbs were in high demand!
Building the Winters House
In 1929, the Winters family built their third home. It was located about 1.6 km north of their bulb farm. The house cost $32,000 to build, which was a lot of money back then!
Cecilia's brother, Elmer H. Roedel, was the architect who designed the house. He used a mix of popular styles: Spanish Eclectic and Mission Revival. He based the design on his own home in Portland, Oregon. The house has two stories and many interesting details.
By the early 1930s, the Winters farm was quite large. It included several buildings for storing bulbs, private homes for guests, places for workers to live, and eight greenhouses. However, the family couldn't expand their farm much more because the ground in the slough was very wet and boggy. Because of this, they slowly sold off parts of their land in the late 1930s.
New Owners and Renovations
The Winters family moved to Kent in 1943. They sold the house and the bulb storage building to Anna and Frank Riepl, who were immigrants from Austria. The Riepls paid $40,000 for the property. They built a few new structures on the land but didn't change the main house much. They rented out the house to different people. Anna Riepl sold the house in 1980 for $330,000. She continued to live there until 1983 when she was moved out by a court-appointed guardian.
The City of Bellevue bought the 14-acre (5.7 ha) property in 1988 for $1.7 million. They used money from a county ballot measure meant for open spaces. The Bellevue Historical Society really wanted to save the house, so the city began a big renovation project in 1990.
The renovations cost $335,623. They added an interpretive center and a starting point for the Mercer Slough trail. The Winters House was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. It reopened to visitors in June 1994. The Bellevue Historical Society, which later joined with the Eastside Heritage Center, moved into the beautiful, renovated mansion. Many old pieces of furniture from the 1930s were donated by people and businesses in Bellevue. One cool item is an old 1930s telephone. If you pick it up, you can hear a recorded conversation between Cecilia Winters and her neighbor, which is part of the museum's programs!
The House and the Light Rail
The Winters House was closed in 2016. This was because of a large construction project called the East Link Extension light rail. This new train line is being built along Bellevue Way, right in front of the house. The light rail trains will pass about 9 feet (2.7 m) in front of the Winters House. The train tracks will be in a trench, and there will be a cover over part of it to help keep the noise down.
