Shumway Condominiums

Much of Shumway’s nearly five acres remains like it was in 1908 when the Shumway family first constructed their incredible home... open for gardens and park land, a haven for the residents. Though near downtown Kirkland, Shumway’s atmosphere transports you beyond the daily bustle to a place of tranquility. Shumway is like a park within itself, embellished by fresh lake breezes, a waterfall cascading over granite boulders and the evolving natural colors of the landscape. Shumway features memorable collections of homes within eight remarkable buildings. Each collection is unique, distinguished by its particular residential features and enticing views.

In 1881 three Shumway brothers – George, Edward and John – left their family’s declining farm implement factory in Belchertown, Massachusetts. They looked for opportunities in the west, and homesteaded near Bow on the Skagit River in Washington Territory. Two years later their mother, Mary, and five sisters – Elizabeth, Emily, (Emma), Harriet (Hattie), Carrie and Mary – joined the brothers. In 1888 the entire family moved to Seattle.

Miss Carrie and Miss Emma were hired as the seventeenth and eighteenth teachers in the Seattle Public School system. Carrie had previously taught second grade in the Edison and Blanchard community schools prior to moving to Seattle. Sisters Carrie, Mary, and Emma were all teaching school at Seattle’s Central Grade School in 1889 during the city’s great fire.

Hattie Shumway, the only sister to marry, was married to Fred Parker, but they did not have any children. John was the only brother to marry; living with his wife and two daughters – Antoinette and Ruth - on Waverly Way in Kirkland, WA. Antoinette married Edgar Stanton in the Shumway Mansion. Her sister Ruth was a Tacoma school teacher.

Carrie Shumway and her sisters were considered thoroughly modern women, founding members of the Seattle Bicycle Club and the Seattle Camera Club. Carrie Shumway was a charter member of the Kirkland Women’s Club and was active in both the Community Congregational Church in Kirkland and the Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle. In 1911, Kirkland had been incorporated for only six years and the Washington women had just regained the right to vote in local elections. Kirkland voters elected Carrie Shumway as the city’s first Councilwomen, the first to be so honored in the State.

At the close of an exceptional life, Carrie Shumway died at the age of 97, January 1, 1956, in Tacoma at the home of her niece, Ruth Shumway. She was laid to rest in the family plot in the Kirkland Cemetery on Rose Hill. Eleven members of the Shumway family are buried in the Kirkland Cemetery in one of the larger family plots.

Shumway Mansion History

In 1905 Elizabeth Shumway purchased seven acres on Lake Washington shore from the Kirkland Land and Improvement Company. Each brother and sister (except John) contributed $5,000 toward the construction of a home they would share. Construction on the home was begun in 1909, supervised by J. G. Bartsch, contractor for Kirkland’s Central School and for both of Peter Kirk’s homes (founder of Kirkland). Bartsch agreed to construct the Shumway home for $35,000 – a very large sum for the time – however it cost him $40,000 before it was complete.

When the Shumway home was first built the Lake Washington Ship Canal had not been completed and the lake level was about 9 feet higher than it is today.

The Family entertained their friends often on the porch and lawn of the large waterfront home with its sweeping view of the lake. Overlooking the wood-planked Lake Washington Boulevard, the Shumway home was surrounded by beautiful plantings, including the wisteria that adorned the west façade of the house. Carrie Shumway had brought the wisteria seeds home with her from Japan, a reminder of her years abroad.

The home was built for seven grown brothers and sisters to offer comfortable living and gracious entertaining. The main entrance was on the east side of the home and featured two Doric columns, the adjacent octagonal turret enclosed the main stairway. The home boasted five large main rooms on the first floor and the north porch and the southern portico, which were enclosed later. Open beam ceilings graced both the living room - as large as a ballroom – and the formal dining room. Each of the seven brothers and sisters occupied one of the bedrooms on the second floor.

In 1944 an elderly Carrie Shumway made the momentous decision to sell the family home. Within two years, three different owners bought and sold this extraordinary home. Through these sales the upper three archers were lost to one buyer and another had to build a new entrance road from Lake Washington Boulevard. In 1946, Fred Hall and Dr. Ruth Hayer-Hall purchased the Shumway. They ran a rest home and Dr. Ruth Hayer had her chiropractor’s office on the lower level. It became known as the Heyer Clinic.

In 1982, lake shore developments threatened the Shumway with demolition, and local preservationist organized an effort to relocate the venerable historic home. The first weekend in March, 1985, the community turned out to watch as the Shumway home was moved. It was jacked up and crawled through the streets of Kirkland, along Market Street and over the hill to its new site in Juanita. Salli and Richard Harris, who saved and moved the mansion, restored it as a reception center and bed-and–breakfast. It recently changed hands (2004) and returned to a private residence.

The building has been designated a Community Landmark by the Kirkland Heritage Society, located at Market and Central in Kirkland, where you can find a variety of pictures including the Mansion’s move to Juanita in 1985. The Shumway Homeowner's Association would like to thank the Kirkland Heritage Society for providing this historical account and the Shumway Mansion Bed& Breakfast (now closed) for the interior photo's.

Shumway Condominium Re-construction History

The Shumway Condominium complex was constructed in 1997-98 on what used to be the site of the original Shumway family residence. As a part of the RCW (legally) required warranty inspection process, several issues were discovered concerning the stucco application during construction. With concurrence of the original construction firm, the entire outside surface of all eight Shumway buildings was replaced and re-constructed beginning in August, 2003. For a week-by-week summary of the 15 month reconstruction process you can clicking here. By November of 2004 The Shumway had became a brand-new facility, where the owners of all 74 units would tell you it was ..." even better than the original."

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