Harvard-Belmont

The City of Seattle says the Harvard-Belmont Landmark District sits on the west slope of Capitol Hill, a well-preserved residential neighborhood of fine homes built by the city’s leading financiers, industrialists, merchants, and businessmen in the early twentieth century. A city historic-districts brochure calls it a 14-block area of tree-lined streets, well-maintained grounds, and distinctive natural features.

From the flatter eastern edges at Broadway East and Harvard Avenue East the land drops toward Lake Union and Queen Anne Hill. A wooded ravine marks the north edge, separating the Sam Hill House from properties around St. Mark’s Cathedral. East Roy Street is the south edge, where apartments, institutions, and Broadway’s commercial strip begin. The city says railroad builder H. C. Henry was the first man of influence to settle here, and that his presence drew others during the first decade of the twentieth century.

Residents initiated the preservation process. The district was approved for designation in 1980 and written into city code as SMC 25.22. The 1920s brought the Cornish School and the Woman’s Century Club along the southern and western edges. The sources below are City of Seattle historic-preservation pages.