1125 Harvard Avenue East

Updated: July 29, 2024

Summer 2024

Thank you to everyone who provided input on this project and joined us at our third public meeting on January 17, 2024. In case you were unable to attend or would like more information on the project, please click here to view the video presentation. 

The meeting and presentation provide a high-level walkthrough of the future buildout for the park site and the interim plan for opening a portion of the site to the public until additional funding becomes available. 

Based on Seattle Park District funding plans, 2029 is the earliest timeframe when funding may be allocated for the full design and development of the entire site at 1125 Harvard Ave E. In the interim, we want to provide meaningful access for the public to enjoy part of the park. 

The site, including the house, was designated a city landmark in July 2023. Currently, Seattle Parks & Recreation (SPR) is negotiating with the Landmarks Preservation Board to determine which site or house elements are specifically protected or exempted, also known as “Controls and Incentives”. The controls will directly affect how the site and house may be renovated for future uses. 

Community Engagement & Interim Plan Concept Design

SPR would like to acknowledge that this is a unique opportunity for the city as an agency and for the community. As we move forward with bringing this site into SPR’s inventory, we recognize that there are key factors in transitioning from being a private yard and garden to being under public ownership. 

SPR hired Karen Kiest Landscape Architecture to lead the community engagement, visioning and design process for the new park. Below is a rendering of the interim park plan that SPR will be working to construct and open a portion of the site by Fall 2025. This will allow the public to access the gardens and enjoy the expansive lawn for picnics and other family-friendly activities. The home will remain closed to the public while SPR continues with the full design and planning of the entire property, to be completed in the next MPD cycle. 

Rendering map of the interim plan

Site History

Horace Chapin (H. C.) Henry (1844-1928) was a prominent railroad builder, financier, and philanthropist. He was known for, among other things, constructing the Northern Pacific Railroad around Lake Washington, the Great Northern through the Cascade Mountains, and 450 miles of Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul. Henry and his wife Susan Elizabeth Johnson arrived in Seattle in 1890. In 1901, the couple built a grand Elizabethan mansion at today’s 1125 Harvard Avenue E., and with it, an impressive gallery for Henry’s art collection, which was opened to the public on weekends. Henry donated the collection, and $100,000 for the new Henry Art Gallery, to the University of Washington in 1926, and died in 1928. The gallery, along with the property’s extensively landscaped grounds, would serve as the Seattle Art Institute until a new museum was built at Volunteer Park in the 1930s. During that same time, Henry’s sons donated the house and grounds to the City of Seattle as the site for a public library. Since the City did not want a library at this location, the City demolished the original Henry house and sold the property to the Bloedel family who lived next door. In 1935, Mr. Bloedel sold the property to Stimson Bullitt. 

Horace Henry home

Stimson Bullitt (1919-2009) was an attorney, real estate developer, and the son of A. Scott Bullitt and media pioneer, Dorothy Stimson Bullitt. The parcel was not developed until Bullitt divorced and married his second wife, Katherine (Kay) Muller. The couple had local architect Fred Bassetti design a modern A-frame house for their growing family. The landscape architecture firm, Eckbo, Royston, and Williams, designed the large yard, with an elaborate staircase to Boylston Avenue. The modern house, contrasting with the older and grander homes on Capitol Hill, was completed in 1955 and included polycarbonate skylights along the ridgeline, canted windows to let in the light, and an open floor plan anchored by a massive stone fireplace. Over the years, Kay was known for inviting the community into her garden for Wednesday night picnics and hosted many day camps for children from all walks of life. In 1972, Stimson and Kay Bullitt generously gave the 1.6-acre property to the City of Seattle for a future park, and it was designated a life estate. 

1125 Harvard House in black and white

Although the Bullitts would later divorce, Kay Bullitt remained at 1125 Harvard Ave E until her death in August 2021, after which, the house and grounds passed to Seattle Parks and Recreation. 

Toward the end of Kay’s life, she and her daughters invited Plant Amnesty, a nonprofit group dedicated to proper vegetation pruning, to help maintain areas on the property. Plant Amnesty has been working on the property designing small garden spaces. 

Plant Amnesty became an official ‘Friends of Group’ with SPR for the care and maintenance of plant areas within the new park site. If you are interested in joining a volunteer work party or finding out more information, please go to SPR’s Volunteer website at: https://www.seattle.gov/parks/volunteer   

Community Participation

Public Meeting #3 - 1/17/24

Thank you to everyone who has provided input on this project and joined us at our third public meeting on January 17, 2024. In case you were unable to attend or would like more information on the project, please view the video presentation below. 

Online Meeting - May 2022

Public Meeting and Open House - 8/3/2022

Public Design Meeting #2 - 10/15/2022

Parks and Recreation

AP Diaz, Superintendent
Mailing Address: 100 Dexter Ave N, Seattle, WA, 98109
Phone: (206) 684-4075
Fax: (206) 615-1813
pks_info@seattle.gov

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