Some of you may have heard of the architect, Arthur Loveless. He was a significant early Seattle Architect who had a long and productive career that spanned from 1906- 1940. He also happened to be my great-great Uncle. He designed distinguished homes located on exceptional properties for early notable residents in the Seattle neighborhoods of Laurelhurst, Windermere, Washington Park, Mt. Baker, Magnolia, Broadmoor and West Seattle.
In 2016. My cousin Tina and I started out on a journey to learn more about his work. Growing up, we were aware of some of his more significant buildings, yet we did not know the full extent of his work. There had been articles and book chapters written about his work over the years yet but we discovered that a complete body of work that documented his legacy does not exist. So we made it our mission to build just such a list.
What we have discovered in the last 18 months is a list of nearly 75 properties that Loveless designed or contributed to. During this period of discovery, we decided to create a coffee table book themed Then and Now. We enlisted the help of my go-to photographer, and the services of a professional journalist that is a friend from college to help us put the stories about each home, the architectural details and the history of some of the first owners who commissioned Loveless to design their homes.
To date, we have photographed over 35 personal residences, 7 UW fraternities and sororities and other significant buildings such as the Loveless Building on Capitol Hill. We have discovered that this year alone, four Loveless properties have been or will be torn down so our timing and our message of legacy could not be more timely.
Read my blog posts as we photographed many of his homes. It was a thrill and an absolute pleasure to be invited into their homes and to get to know many of the current owners. Their stories of what they knew about the houses, some of the previous owners and what updates they have done to keep the homes relevant for today’s world has been a wonderful journey.