Location: Seattle, King County

The Baroness, the Cassel Crag, the Chasselton and the Rhododendron comprise a cluster of historic apartment buildings along Boren Street near Madison Avenue significant for their architectural styles and their association with multi-family residential development in Seattle. Collectively, by their proximity to one another, their similar scale and building materials, and their varied ornamental vocabularies that reflect design trends in the 1920s and the 1930s, these buildings provide the historic context for understanding the development of apartments/hotels for the middle class on First Hill. Virginia Mason Medical Center, owner of all four buildings, is creating a new master plan for its campus and has been working with a Citizens Advisory Committee and the City of Seattle to gather input. Early proposals show the demolition of two buildings, while the retention of only two facades is planned for a third.