This beautiful old home in Fremont is called the Victor Nelson house, and was constructed about 1890. Two years earlier the Swedish immigrant Victor C. Nelson and his wife arrived in Seattle and moved to the Belltown neighborhood. Nelson drove a horse drawn wagon delivering laundry for Cascade Steam Laundry, the largest laundry in Seattle. By the end of 1889, he mortgaged some property in Fremont to finance the construction of a house. By spring 1890 the Nelsons moved into the house. Nelson continued to work for Cascade Laundry until the Panic of 1893, one of the nation’s worst depressions, which, according to information from the City of Seattle, probably forced Nelson out of the laundry business. For the next four years Nelson tried operating a Belltown grocery on Front Street. According to City of Seattle historians:

It was an easy commute for Nelson. He caught the Fremont streetcar on Woodland Park Avenue just two blocks from his house and rode the streetcar through Fremont along the west side of Lake Union to Belltown. In 1897 Nelson caught gold dust fever and tried mining for a couple of years. The Nelsons moved from the house in 1900 and left town the following year. Later occupants. By 1905 sisters Inga (b. ca 1864) and Agnes (b. ca 1866) Knudsen purchased the house and would own it for about 25 years. They moved into the house just two years after they arrived into the United States from Norway. The sisters established a seamstress business which they ran out of the house until 1919. To supplement their income they rented out one or two rooms.

In 1975 Historic Seattle conducted a survey of the Fremont neighborhood and listed the residence as Significant to the City. A 1979 Seattle Historic Resources Survey described the house as a “very unusual two story frame Queen Anne dwelling.” The Nelson House was constructed during Seattle’s first residential building boom that lasted from 1888 to 1891. Very few intact buildings from this era exist in Seattle. A limited number of Italianate style houses exist in Seattle. Due to the building age, minimal alterations, and representation of vernacular Italianate style, the Nelson House appears to meet City of Seattle Landmark criteria. The home is not for sale at this time, but you can see from this webpage on Seattle Dream Homes, the house itself has been restored with a loving attention to detail, without sacrificing its 1890 Victorian style. The house still features quite a bit of the style that makes it unique, including tall 9′ ceilings, tall original windows and a vintage staircase leading to the bedrooms upstairs.