FRIDAY HARBOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION REVIEW BOARD

Voluntarily preserving Friday Harbor's history

Series of articles on Historic Preservation efforts in Friday Harbor.

Stories and photos by Sharon Kivisto

posted 2/22/00
Walking down the streets of Friday Harbor, one sees picket fences, small square houses with pyramidal roofs, stores with false fronts and recessed doorways. What is the history behind the vernacular architecture that makes Friday Harbor, Friday Harbor? And what can be done to ensure the character of this waterfront town lives on?

Historic Preservation Guidelines are one way of preserving the town's history. Volunteer citizens have spent the past two years gathering information about the town's architecture and history. The Historic Preservation Review Board has been working on the guidelines for two years under the leadership of Nancy Larsen, town historic preservation coordinator.

The volunteer members, Mona Meeker, Nancy Jones, and David Waldron, were led by board chair Sam Pope. After Sam's death last year, Jones filled in as chair and Scott Zehner joined the group officially. (He had been participating as an unofficial member.) Debbie Sandwith served as recording secretary and lay person sounding board. Her enthusiasm for "seeing the town with new eyes" is apparent at the board's meetings.

The result of their work-- Historic Preservation Review Board Guidelines -- will be presented to the Friday Harbor Town Council at their March 2, 2000 meeting.

Nancy Larsen wrote the following historic overview which is included in the proposed guidelines document.

Historic Character of Friday Harbor

Friday Harbor's natural attributes -- a deep, sheltered bay and an ample supply of fresh water -- made it the logical site for the commercial and political center of the San Juan Islands.

Following the peaceful settlement of the Pig War in 1873, the islands had become a separate county. Friday Harbor was named the county seat largely through the efforts of Edward Warbass, the Town's first promoter. While serving in the territorial Legislature, Warbass took advantage of a little-known federal law and filed a homestead claim around Friday's Bay in the name of San Juan County. Warbass and the county's first officials planned to sell lots in the new townsite so as to fill the county's coffers without relying on taxes for revenue.

This scheme came to naught; the early settlers took advantage of the same Homestead Act to claim land elsewhere, certainly at a lower cost than the price of a town lot. It was another ten to fifteen years before Friday Harbor became a busy seaport with a thriving commercial center.

Friday Harbor developed in a pattern similar to that of other Puget Sound waterfront towns. The Town's first structure rested on pilings -- a wharf extending into the bay. The Town's first entrepreneurs built general stores and saloons first, gradually removing the forest to make room for a bona-fide town that began to stretch along the waterfront, and extend up the steep bank.

Buildings were erected quickly; they were simple frame structures devoid of ornamentation and frills.

Hotels and businesses lined the first block of Spring Street, while along the waterfront canneries, warehouses, a shipyard, lumber mill, and wharves to accommodate steamer traffic were built, all evidence of a busy working waterfront.

It wasn't until the early 1900s that Friday Harbor lost its raw frontier look. To support the population of three to four hundred people, there were five general stores, the foremost being Churchill's Store; one bank; the U.S. Customs office; three hotels; three saloons; two churches; a printing and stationery store; the newspaper's office; a drugstore; jewelry store; theatre; livery stable; a milliner; blacksmith; barbershop; a grade school; fraternal halls; a sawmill; creamery; and a large salmon cannery. Residential neighborhoods with neat, handsome houses ringed the downtown.

Farming, fishing, logging, and lime quarrying propelled Friday Harbor's growth. The Town prospered as San Juan County's agriculture flourished. Island orchards were enormously productive. Apples, pears, plums, and cherries were shipped out of Friday Harbor to both domestic and foreign markets.

Canneries for peas and salmon gave the town a boost, as did the Jensen Shipyard. Merchants and community leaders showed their confidence in both Friday Harbor and San Juan County by erecting a sturdy brick courthouse. It still sits high on a rise overlooking the town and the harbor. In 1907 the only banking institution in the islands, San Juan County Bank, replaced its wood-frame building with a more ornate masonry structure at the busiest intersection in town. The grandness of both the bank and the Courthouse reflected growing confidence and prosperity.

In 1909, at the height of the Town's prosperity, business and community leaders sought greater control of Friday Harbor's direction, separating from San Juan County and incorporating as a fourth-class municipality.

Friday Harbor did not fulfill its early promise. World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, shifts in the marketplace, and changes in American life -- all contributed to the decline of island agriculture, the economic mainstay of the county. Transcontinental railroads brought a surge in population to the entire state, opening heretofore undeveloped land to farming. The arid lands of Eastern Washington were eventually irrigated with a steady supply of water from the Columbia River and its tributaries.

Rail transportation, and later the automobile, gradually supplanted the "mosquito fleet," a large network of steamships that plied Puget Sound, and island farmers lost an efficient, reliable, and inexpensive form of transportation. As a consequence, farmers were no longer able to compete with large-scale agricultural enterprises in Eastern Washington.

Island farmers then turned to pea crops for canning and drying. The pea cannery on the waterfront operated at full-tilt, shipping peas, some under the A&P label, all over the country. But even this burgeoning industry could not survive an infestation of weevils. With the decline of the pea industry, farmers took up dairying, and the San Juan Creamery in Friday Harbor, later the San Juan County Dairyman's Association, produced high quality milk products for both export and local consumption. With the advent of supermarkets and sky-rocketing transporation costs, this industry suffered a gradual decline.

These severe setbacks to agriculture in the islands kept Friday Harbor an economic backwater, leaving it rooted in the past. Gradually a kind of cultural and economic stasis took hold. It wasn't until the 1970s and 1980s brought an influx of new residents and businesses that the Town began to revive.

Today Friday Harbor retains much of its original character and tangible history, in part because the town's faltering economy could not support growth and development that would surely have spelled doom for many of its historic structures. As a consequence, much of Friday Harbor's history is still visible through its historic buildings and landmarks, and fortunately it remains a pleasant and distinctive example of a Puget Sound waterfront town.

Preserving the history of Friday Harbor

posted 2/25/00

Second in a series

Good luck played a large role in the look of today's Friday Harbor. Most of the other pioneer waterfront towns in Puget Sound have been destroyed by fire. According to the Historic Preservation Review Board, Friday Harbor was fortunate and fire razed only one block in the commercial core -- the corner of First and Spring Streets -- during the town's history. Much of the architecture from the late 1800s and early 1900s remains standing today.

Preserving that heritage is a goal of the HPRB, a town advisory board. "We are not trying to create a Disneyland," said Nancy Jones, HPRB chair. "Friday Harbor is a real place, a real place going forward."

The HPRB divided the town's historic district into sections. The guidelines refer only to the historic district which includes the downtown core, the Harrison neighborhood and the Argyle neighborhood.

The volunteers spent hours walking the streets and identifying historical features. The written homework the members produced, became the foundation of the guidelines.

The document presents the history of Friday Harbor and covers the various types of vernacular architecture in the town.

Streetscapes -- how do buildings relate to the street and each other-- was one area of focus in the guidelines. The photo on the left, illustrates how a newer building built right up to the sidewalk breaks up this block's streetscape. All of the older buildings on this block of Guard Street were setback equally.

Scale and compatability: One of the ways to preserve the look of Friday Harbor is by being sensitive to both scale and the existing streetscape when building new buildings.

Architect David Waldron, a HPRB member, designed the office building on Caines Street (pictured below). He explained during a presentation to the Friday Harbor Planning Commission, "If I had done this building two years ago, it would have been a lot different. By being on this committee I've been educated. It made a really big difference to me."

While the building has five times the square footage of its neighbor, the scale and setback from the street make it compatible with the older home.

Friday Harbor's wealth of authenticity

Third in a series

Walking through Friday Harbor's residential neighborhoods, it is easy to view homes from the turn-of-the century. According to the members of the Historic Preservation Board, "Friday Harbor has an authenticity not found in many other small towns or tourist destinations in the Northwest."

In the proposed guidelines, seven examples of vernacular (common) residential architecture are listed. Architectural historican Boyd Pratt defines vernacular architecture as the type of structures common people build. It is not consciously high-styled.

"People say 'I want to build a house like Bob's'," Pratt said. "In vernacular architecture there is a lot of copying going on."

Examples of vernacular architecture abound in Friday Harbor.

Farmhouse style

According to the HPRB, this style is prevalent in Friday Harbor. These homes were rectangular and were added onto. They evolved into L or T shaped homes.

Gable Front and Wing

Homes of this style have a side-gabled wing added to the main part of the house. Often there is a shed-roofed porch in the L-shaped area between the wings.

I-House

This is a derivative of the traditional British country form. The houses are symmetrical with entrances in the center. The Post San Juan building on Spring Street is another example of this type of house.

Hipped Box

The hipped box style is also common in Friday Harbor. This style, the forerunner of early ranch homes, was common in mining, lumber and railroad towns in the west.

Four Square

Four Square homes are similar to the hipped box but are two stories high. The floor plans have four rooms on each floor.

Craftsman Style Bungalow

Queen Anne

According to the HPRB, there are few full-blown examples of this style in Friday Harbor, but many houses have element of this style.

The HPRB hopes the guidelines if adopted will help preserve the character of the historic districts in Friday Harbor without creating artificial themes or a false sense of history. The board says, "Historic vernacular homes reflect the life-styles, beliefs, and desires of the people who built them, living examples of the economic and social parameters that defined their lives. "

Guidelines for preserving Friday Harbor's history

Fourth in a series

It is one thing to discuss streetscapes, vernacular architecture, compatibility, but how would historic preservation guidelines play out in real life? Friday Harbor’s Historic Preservation Review Board does not need to speculate, they can point to real life examples.

Charla Brown and Rob Barnett are renovating a home next door to HPRB board chair Nancy Jones. The couple presented their plans to the board in a practice session in November of last year. "We want to do the right thing, we’re happy you’re here to help us," said Barnett.

Jones, Nancy Larsen, David Waldron, Mona Meeker, Scott Zehner and Debbie Sandwith listened to the couple as they shared their plans. The board members shared information about historic colors, window configuration and siding on historic homes in Friday Harbor.

In a friendly give-and-take discussion, the couple reconsidered their original idea to install French doors on the front of their home. The board suggested other ways for the couple to accomplish their goal of bringing more light in the home.

The design of the existing windows was problematic. Suggestions from the board gave the couple new ideas which would meet their needs and be compatible with the historic nature of the home.

Brown and Barnett planned to add more windows to the back of the home. The board stressed their interest is only in the front of the home, though they did suggest the couple might want to rethink the type of siding to be used.

The siding stayed, the French doors left and the collaboration on the windows resulted in happy owners. "This is a good example of the value of your committee," said Barnett. "Charlotte and I are glad to rethink the plans. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up and say 'that looks good'."

"I think you've got a great project here," said HPRB member Zehner.

HPRB will present proposed guidelines to the Friday Harbor Town Council tonight at their 7 p.m. meeting in Town Hall. If adopted the guidelines would be voluntary.

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