1924
- Alderwood
- Carlton Park
- Columbia
- Greenwood
- Juanita
- Lincoln
- Minnetonka
- Mt. Baker
- Olympic
- Rainier View
- Ravenna
- Richmond
- Seahurst
- Vashon
- Yellowstone
Bibliography
Homes from Forest to You
1924 by Stetson & Post Lumber, Seattle, Washington
To date, we're pretty sure the Stetson & Post catalog is relatively rare. The company is briefly mentioned in Swope's book on Classic Houses of Seattle, with a note on the collaboration between S&P and Edward L. Merritt, who was the architect at the bungalow company, Yoho & Merritt
There was a recession after WWI as evidenced by a relatively slow housing market. The country, like many parts of the world, was recovering from its action in WWI and the devastating Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. By 1924, anyone who was connected to the home building industry was looking for ways to extend their reach and sell their product.
At the same time, a progressive drive to help families buy their own homes was well underway. Concurrently, bankers and investors saw an opportunity to extend credit and make mortgages more palatable to a public long used to paying "cash on the barrelhead." A housing shortage and opportunism combined to create an active marketplace.
Manufacturers and materials brokers like Stetson & Post Lumber Company of Seattle contracted with architects to design plans. Other companies licensed plans like those designed by larger firms like C. L. Bowes or William A. Radford, which were two of the most prominent. The Stetson & Post idea was when they found "a floor plan that appeals to us we employ an architect to draw it up showing elevations, foundation and right and left floor plans. This usually costs us from $35.00 to $75.00, but we get the tracing. This tracing is used just like a kodak film, we print from it just as many plans as we require, and these plans usually cost us from 50¢ to $1.50 each."
Lumber dealers like Stetson & Post offered plans and materials at competitive prices in part to grab part of the market share though they didn't compete apples-to-apples with companies like Aladdin or Sears. They packaged their materials with plans to entice home builders with a little extra convenience.
History of Stetson & Post
George W. Stetson established his company in 1874 according to the cover of the plans book, however the History of Seattle gives a date of 1875. Initially a grist mill at Yesler's wharf, it wasn't long before equipment was adding for workwork milling also. J. J. Post joined the company in 1875. The company quickly outgrew its site and was relocated to a new plant at First Avenue South at King and Weller beginning its operations in 1882. Stetson & Post Mill Company was incorporated in 1885 with Post retiring before 1890. It became a substantial concern in South Seattle for some years, despite burning to the ground twice and moving several times. By 1915, it was relocated at a new plant at Hanford Street and Whatcom Avenue. It was located there when the 1924 house plans book was issued.
Sources
- --. Homes from Forest to You. Stetson & Post Lumber Co, Seattle, WA. 1924.
- Bagley, Clarence. History of Seattle from the earliest settlement to the present time, Vol. 1.
- Swope, Caroline T. Classic Houses of Seattle: High Style to Vernacular, 1870-1950.
- --. Edward L. Merritt (1881-1950). HistoryLink.org.
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