Hill-Crest

Hill-Crest (sometimes known as the "Walker-Ames Mansion" or "the 808 House") is the official residence of the president of the University of Washington. As of 2013 it was the single most valuable public university presidential residence in the United States.

Hill-Crest
2015
Hill-Crest
General information
Typeofficial residence
Address808 36th Avenue East
Town or citySeattle, Washington
CountryUnited States
Coordinates
Current tenantsAna Mari Cauce
Groundbreaking1907
OwnerUniversity of Washington
Technical details
Size12,800 square feet (1,190 m2)
Lifts/elevators1
Grounds1.4 acres (0.57 ha)
Other information
Number of rooms35

History

Built in 1907 by lumber baron Edwin Ames and his wife, the heiress Maud Walker Ames, Hill-Crest was in 1931 bequeathed to the University of Washington,[1] along with most of the rest of the substantial Walker-Ames fortune. The university took possession of the property in 1932 with president Lyle Spencer becoming the mansion's first university occupant. The conditions of the bequest require the president of the university maintain permanent residence in the home and a 2006 request by president Mark Emmert to maintain a separate residence was rejected by the university's board of regents‍—‌despite a flooded basement and other problems with the property‍—‌as it would have forced the university to sell the house.[2][3][1]

In the early 2000s the property underwent an $800,000 renovation, following which a $2 million endowment was established by former football player Jim Houston to guarantee its perpetual upkeep.[1]

University president Michael K. Young was married at Hill-Crest in 2011.[3]

Previous presidential residences

The University president's first residence was a wood frame structure located between Fourth Avenue and Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle. It was occupied from 1861 to 1895. The former New York Pavilion of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition was subsequently renovated to serve as the seat of the president, which it continued to do until 1927 when it was converted for use as academic space.[4]

An interior space at Hill-Crest pictured in 1912

Property

Hill-Crest has 35 rooms, as well as an elevator and a pipe organ, and sits on 1.4 acres (0.57 ha) overlooking Lake Washington.[2][3] The total interior footprint is 12,800 square feet (1,190 m2); interiors are decorated in wood paneling, principally Douglas fir and Honduran mahogany. There is a separate carriage house. [2][3][5]

Hill-Crest's approximate market value, in 2013, was $8.5 million making it then the single most expensive public university presidential residence in the United States and more valuable than the Washington Governor's Mansion.[3][1]

The facility is maintained by a full-time, non-residential staff which includes a major domo, chef, gardener, and housekeeper.[1][6]

gollark: I don't actually have any paint programs which work on Linux and aren't awful, irritatingly.
gollark: Stuff like heap allocations and time taken for operations are only observable side effects if you're *already* doing IO.
gollark: Just rewrite osmarkslisp™ in javascript.
gollark: And also the fact that lots of laws are terrible and efficient nonselective enforcement of them would break everything.
gollark: I mean, you could make some arguments for that along the lines of, what, the tradeoffs involved in making it more effective having some downsides in liberty, but sinthorion isn't.

See also
  • List of University of Washington Presidents

References
  1. Perry, Nick (30 April 2006). "Emmerts, reluctant tenants, now at home in UW mansion". Seattle Times. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  2. Grffin, Tom (December 2007). "Back Pages: Home Pride". Columns. Archived from the original on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  3. Newman, Jonah (12 May 2013). "For Many Public-College Presidents, Home Is an Uncalculated Benefit". Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  4. "President's residence living room, University of Washington, ca. 1920". washington.edu. University of Washington. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  5. Chan, Sharon (25 January 2005). "Endowment helps with $540,000 makeover of UW president's home". Seattle Times. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  6. Gracey, Celeste (18 February 2008). "Hill-Crest Mansion: A look inside the home of UW President Mark Emmert". Daily of the University of Washington. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.