A Better Home & Garden, Bellevue Enatai style 1952

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Terry

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The year was 1952 and my father had graduated with his doctorate in law from the University of Washington. They had bought a lot in the Enatai neigborhood of Bellevue Washington, across the lake from Seattle and Mercer Island. You know where Mercer Island is, it has the high school that Ann Dunham went to, the mother of Barak Obama. Barak's grandfather had a furniture store in Seattle. Also in Seattle was where Frederick Trump of Bavarja came to live, the grandfather of Donald J. Trump. Yes, we were just across the water from them.

enatai-10431-01.jpg


Here is my father reading a Better Homes and Gardens, planning the next project I'm guessing.
Oh, and that's my mother with the shovel.

enatai-10431-02.jpg


Here is our lot being cleared before the home above was built. West is on the right side of the picture and further down the street is Enatai Elementary School.

enatai-10431-04.jpg


Here is the flooring in place before the walls went up.

enatai-10431-05.jpg


Looking down from the back of the lot.

enatai-10431-06.jpg


Before the interior walls are up.

enatai-10431-07.jpg


The home in the far right in the picture is still there. The home on the other side of it out of view is on the market for $4,600,000
Heck, I sold this home with the improvements we had made over the years for $1,620,000 just last year as an estate sale.

enatai-10431-08.jpg


The following year after it was built and we had moved in. I'm on my dad's lap here. Later my parents had two more kids.

What the home looks like now.
https://www.redfin.com/WA/Bellevue/10431-SE-23rd-St-98004/home/510774
 
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Mark.MPC

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Super cool pics. Sounds like a reno would have been worthwhile to up the estate sale value!
 

Terry

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10431-terry-plumbing-01.jpg


This might have been 1983 when we were doing some kitchen remodeling to the place. Changed out the sink to cast iron, the window got bigger so the horizontal vent was lowered in the wall. The trap to the right is the Johnson Tee dishwasher drain that is used in the Seattle area.
Water supplies to the kitchen sink got 3/4" air chambers. Old school stuff that we don't do anymore.
I guess that makes me 31 here.

This is the outer wall, the siding has been removed.

10431-enatai-2020-04.jpg


The 1983 kitchen

10431-enatai-2020-03.jpg


Front of the home.

The garage we did in 1986
The front addition in 1963.

10431-enatai-2020-02.jpg


Back of the home.

New paint in 2020.
You can see the back addition that I added in 1990.
 
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Tuttles Revenge

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I was like 12 in '83... was that Crown Custom days? or Phoenix Mechanical? Thats a pretty neat house!
 

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Wow thanks for the story and pictures of your families home and history. I have quit a bit I took over the course of the last 2 years that one picture of the foundation you show reminded me of one I took when wife had came out when framing was going up and my youngest was in her diaper. Is it cool to post a thread of my house building jouney?
 

Terry

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Wow thanks for the story and pictures of your families home and history. I have quit a bit I took over the course of the last 2 years that one picture of the foundation you show reminded me of one I took when wife had came out when framing was going up and my youngest was in her diaper. Is it cool to post a thread of my house building jouney?

I would love to see the home building pictures. Yes, please post them.
 

Terry

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I was like 12 in '83... was that Crown Custom days? or Phoenix Mechanical? Thats a pretty neat house!

Trying to remember, seems like Crown Custom ended in maybe 78/79, and then we started Phoenix Mechanical, rising from the ashes. I drove an old Crown Custom Ford van for a bit. I then bought a 1980 Toyota pickup with canopy for doing multi family jobs where we had a container on the site for material and tools. The pick up lasted a year or two as it was way too small to plumbing out of it. One of my projects was 164 units in Federal Way, a total of twenty buildings and 200 bathrooms. Then a five story condo in Seattle run in no-hub cast iron.
1983 I built my first home. I had bought a home on 2 acres and shot plotted it to four building lots. First thing I did was remove the home, and started on the first one.

sd-crossroads-02.jpg


1984
The first one in the distance, the second one being framed up here. And my blue Chevy that I still see driving around town.

sun-design-15243-3.jpg


1983
The NE 6th St view of the home of the first home. The sun room is in the back facing South.
 

Andre Martinez

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Trying to remember, seems like Crown Custom ended in maybe 78/79, and then we started Phoenix Mechanical, rising from the ashes. I drove an old Crown Custom Ford van for a bit. I then bought a 1980 Toyota pickup with canopy for doing multi family jobs where we had a container on the site for material and tools. The pick up lasted a year or two as it was way too small to plumbing out of it. One of my projects was 164 units in Federal Way, a total of twenty buildings and 200 bathrooms. Then a five story condo in Seattle run in no-hub cast iron.
1983 I built my first home. I had bought a home on 2 acres and shot plotted it to four building lots. First thing I did was remove the home, and started on the first one.

sd-crossroads-02.jpg


1984
The first one in the distance, the second one being framed up here. And my blue Chevy that I still see driving around town.

sun-design-15243-3.jpg


1983
The NE 6th St view of the home of the first home. The sun room is in the back facing South.

Are you a homebuilder? Those are some works of art. Was it your design? Very impressive work nonetheless. Do you still live in one of the houses or was it your first venture of homebuilding?
 

Andre Martinez

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I would love to see the home building pictures. Yes, please post them.

20190730_173117.jpg


Broke ground and foundation framing ready

20190909_155942.jpg
Poured post tension slab
20190912_183904.jpg
Dug the and installed the service line to meter
20190920_181835.jpg
This is the one I mentioned she and momma in the water boots came to check it out and she didn't want to get her outfit dirty.
20191007_141057.jpg
20191007_141029.jpg

Framing up
20191120_140622.jpg 20191231_150844.jpg 20200108_091607.jpg

This was the liquid applied weather barrier
Joint and seam filler and window fast flashing was applied then the weather barrier over all windows and then windows installed and caulked
I had been behind schedule because of the weather barrier cause it was just my brother in law and I having to get every seam and joint and then flash every window but in the end I am sure it was worth it. At that point I began the cabinets which I will do any another reply with just final completion of the interior and all.
 

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Terry

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bellevue-map-1947-1000.jpg


A framed placemat put out by the Overlake Service League in 1947. The Star on the map is the 1927 Swenson home location. That home was sold in 1997 and now there are four homes on what was a one acre lot.
The I-90 floating bridge from Seattle to Bellevue was completed in 1940.
 
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DimonD

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The year was 1952 and my father had graduated with his doctorate in law from the University of Washington. They had bought a lot in the Enatai neigborhood of Bellevue Washington, across the lake from Seattle and Mercer Island. You know where Mercer Island is, it has the high school that Ann Dunham went to, the mother of Barak Obama. Barak's grandfather had a furniture store in Seattle. Also in Seattle was where Frederick Trump of Bavarja came to live, the grandfather of Donald J. Trump. Yes, we were just across the water from them.

enatai-10431-01.jpg


Here is my father reading a Better Homes and Gardens, planning the next project I'm guessing.
Oh, and that's my mother with the shovel.

enatai-10431-02.jpg


Here is our lot being cleared before the home above was built. West is on the right side of the picture and further down the street is Enatai Elementary School.

enatai-10431-04.jpg


Here is the flooring in place before the walls went up.

enatai-10431-05.jpg


Looking down from the back of the lot.

enatai-10431-06.jpg


Before the interior walls are up.

enatai-10431-07.jpg


The home in the far right in the picture is still there. The home on the other side of it out of view is on the market for $4,600,000
Heck, I sold this home with the improvements we had made over the years for $1,620,000 just last year as an estate sale.

enatai-10431-08.jpg


The following year after it was built and we had moved in. I'm on my dad's lap here. Later my parents had two more kids.

What the home looks like now. I remember my father, after receiving his doctorate in law, worked extensively on immigration programs especially for the state of Washington. Studying various immigration essays samples https://papersowl.com/examples/immigration/ I often found his works and illustrations. I am glad that today part of the politicians. Despite the fact that America is considered a strange place for migrants, in reality there are not so many migration programs and I am glad that my father tried to make a legal basis for new programs.
Cool photos! They are already part of history, it seems like 1952 was so long ago.
 
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CindyFrench

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Your family's journey from the University of Washington to the Enatai neighborhood paints a vivid picture of the times. It reminds me of when I started planting creeping thyme in my backyard, each tiny plant carrying its own piece of history and connection to the earth.
 
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amandawil

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Wow, what a charming glimpse into the past! Reading about your family's journey to Enatai brought back memories of my own gardening adventures. It's amazing how each plant holds its own story, isn't it? Makes me want to explore more about Enatai style living on your website!
 
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