What Happened to Seattle's Millionaire's Row? 

walking 14th street (millionaires row) is one of my favorite things to do around Halloween, the fallings leaves, the stately homes, it just feels nice. Most of these houses have been up for sale over the past 2 years and fetch anywhere between $5 million and $8 million. The Shaffer-Baillie house is a B and B and you can stay there, totally worth it because the rooms are huge and you get the run of the house (the owners live on the top floor) so you can go downstairs in one of the great rooms and sit and feel the house in all its grandeur.

I grew up on Capital Hill in Seattle, on 18th and Aloha, so about 6 or so blocks from Millionaires Row. It’s crazy seeing these old pictures of the street without any huge trees! It’s a genuinely beautiful area, and I was incredibly lucky (and spoiled!) to have grow up in that area. Volunteer Park is just a wonderful park, and the houses around there are just amazing to look at. Makes me homesick!

Seattle is a gorgeous city. It's not just pretty but there is a "vibe" there. I can't explain it fully but fully felt it when I was there in 1983. You can sense the "eternal" there and I think this is what residents live with everyday.

So glad that so many of these houses still survive. Amazing how fast that city grew.

My family had moved to Seattle back in 1967 from No. Dakota, we ended up living in a beautiful home on 15 and Aloha...it was an incredibly beautiful neighborhood, lawns and shrubs well manicured and only 3 blocks from Volunteer Park, it was a family park then and an artists landscape...that was many years ago...although the homes remain, the beauty of it has been taken away..so sad. Thank you for posting this video, people can't understand how beautiful it once was.

A bit to the west of the grand houses around Volunteer Park, overlooking Lake Union and the Olympics in the distance is the Sam Hill mansion. Hill was a railroad baron who built the Maryhill Museum of Art overlooking the Columbia River and the nearby Stonehenge replica.

Seattle is such a beautiful city. So many amazing historical buildings there. So many people that built amazing homes. They are definitely beautiful.

I was born and raised in Seattle and never heard of Millionaires Row, but it makes sense. I went to St. Joseph’s on 18th & Aloha in the 80’s and often went to my classmates homes in the area after school (I grew up in Madison Valley, a couple of miles east of Millionaires Row). None of them lived on Millionaires Row, but still lived in the many gorgeous homes in the area. I’m always in awe of the beautiful homes in that area even to this day.

North Capitol Hill is like a vast treasure trove of late 19th century/early twentieth century styles. Queen Anne, Gothic, Tudor, Craftsmans. Just hundreds and hundreds of intact stately homes on streets with mature trees. Very much worth visiting. Seattle did not experience urban renewal butchery to any extent as much as other cities and freeway revolts in the 60s and 70s were largely successful. For street after street of Tudor revivals head a few miles north to the Ravenna area (A designated historic district) and to Wallingford for Craftsman overload land. They're trying to designate about 25% of Wallingford as a historic district. Thats a long ongoing controversial story that probably justifies its own separate video. All of those areas are basically current millionaire's rows since there are no houses on sale for less than a million dollars.

I used to live on Queen Anne hill in a beautiful old 1910 house. Although they regraded (flattened) hills closer to downtown, Queen Anne was left alone, so some of the houses on top have fabulous views. I wish I still owned that house!

I’ve been in that second house for a wedding. It’s absolutely gorgeous, it’s a complete maze inside with large staircases. I remember feeling almost lost. It’s gorgeous and has an almost night club like room in the basement.

Great to know that so many survived

seattle has a really fascinating history - definitely would like more videos!!

I grew up right across the street from Volunteer Park where most of these homes are still standing. Thank goodness they haven’t been torn down unlike other cities.

My sister lives in Seattle and I showed her this video. Now I'm going to visit and get to see the houses myself!

“The hedges of these houses have trust funds” said a friend as we strolled by lol

I grew up there, and attended University on Capitol Hill.....it's still a lovely neighborhood. Thank you for posting.

3:04 This is a master class in good residential design, the homes honoring a harmonious set-back and scale, yet each distinct for neighborhood liveliness.

I used to live on Capitol Hill and enjoyed walks around Volunteer Park, looking at all the gorgeous homes. And of course there is Madison Park too!

Thank you for covering this! I had passed those homes so many times on my way to & from Volunteer Park when I lived in the C.D. on 15th & Spring. I always admired them, but I didn't know the history of the neighborhood. Great video! :^)

You channel is always improving. I am amazed that you put this information together so quickly. Yes Seattle has alot of old original homes, great neighborhoods .

The Parker-Fersen house, which is the house in the lower left of the intro page, is one of my favorite houses on Capitol Hill. Many, many years ago I did a watercolor of it when I was in university. The house recently was resold again - for megabucks, naturally.

Very beautiful houses, all of them and the community plan was brilliant and beautiful, I'd want to own one of these beautiful Homes in this beautiful community.

It`s so refreshing to see a city that actually kept some of it`s beautiful old homes and modernized them to meet present day needs instead of pulling them down and replacing them with ugly modern structures. A pity more cities didn`t see the value of this type of repurposing.

O love driving throughout Seattle neighborhoods from the mansion to the smaller homes in west Seattle so fun to see them all

The Parker-Fersen house (14th and Prospect, just South of Volunteer Park) that you began with was built with a spare no expense mentality. Inside it has parquet floors mirrored in faceted ceilings, beautiful exotic wood moldings everywhere, a grand staircase, and hidden rooms. In one of the pictures shown, there is a coach house that stands today, with a residence above the garage. The owners who were there from the mid-90's until about 3 years ago did a great job of bringing things back to the way they were, when it was built in 1909.

I am addicted to your channel! I hope someday you do Grandview drive and Moss Avenue in Peoria Illinois. I'd love to learn the history of those homes.

Pretty much every house in Seattle is worth at least a million now

This explains a lot about contemporary Seattle. The NIMBYism is a century old.

These stately homes are simply beautiful!!! 👍👍🙂

Some of those have not changed since the day they were built. Took my mom there for a picnic. Very nice and peaceful.

As Someone who grew up in and around Seattle it is a beautiful city…to visit. You could not pay me enough money to actually live in the city of Seattle

I love all you content. Times gone by. I'm from Maine and during the Gilded Age and before, Bar Harbor Maine was where the Wealthy not so welcome in Newport Built Palatial Summer "Cottages". Theres a Book Called the Lost Bar Harbor. It All came to a Stop in the Fire of 47. which Burst 63 of the "Cottages" and most of Bar Harbor. I would love to see something about this. Thank for all your Great Work.

In 1973 I moved away from home and I lived at 615 14th Ave E in a 1920’s apartment house ... it’s the first apartment house on the street going south from Volunteer Park. The house next door I’d heard was owned by one of the Denny family members ... I never knew this street was labeled “Millionaires Row” ... but I thought the street and area so glorious, especially because I valued old stately homes. I talked with the person who lived in the Moore mansion and learned there had been a major fire in the house and they were just getting it back together ... someone told me Tolstoy’s daughter lived in the corner house across 14th Ave and the Parker mansion ... back in the 7O’s so many of the houses were so cheap b3cause of the cost to heat them ... that was the time too buy ... these old mansions are so fascinating...

My grandparents moved to Seattle in the 1920’s and lived in a home on Aloha…close to Holy Names’ Academy. My mom went to St Nick’s back in the 1930’s. After her divorce in the 50’s, we moved in with my grandparents….and I went to Steven’s Elementary……on 19th I think. Went to Saturday matinees at a little theater on Aloha and 19th…and to a little library there where I learned about dinosaurs. Many many happy hours riding my bike with friends all over North Capitol Hill…..St. Joseph’s…and Volunteer Park…..climbing to the top of the tower in the park. Couldn’t have asked for a better place for kids to roam back in the day. Still my favorite part of the city.

I'll share this with my Facebook group they love this stuff!

I passed these houses a few times a week when I would walk from school at St. Joseph’s on 18th to my grandmothers apartment on Harvard. Many are still there, but you’ll need several million dollars to buy one!

My ex husband’s ex wife lived in the Parker mansion. I used to love to hike to that neighborhood to appreciate the fabulous architecture and landscaping, and to walk in Volunteer Park. I lived in Mt. Baker, a grand old neighborhood on the shores of Lake Washington, in a Colonial Revival home built in 1925. The original plaster walls and grand millwork were in pristine condition, having been lovingly cared for through the years by every owner. There was an original Batchelder tile fireplace. I also enjoyed hiking to Queen Anne. That’s what my friend and I called our long walks, urban hiking. I don’t know if there is any other city in the country with so many grand old homes as there are in Seattle. There are hundreds.

This country is so fascinating, seeing pictures of these cities back then, it's amazing. I wish I could time travel to be there at that time

James A Moore is my great great great Grandfather. My Dad always mentions his Travesty with his Ferry business.

I love this series. Please come chronicle Buffalo's Millionaires' Row, a good amount of which is still intact.

You learn something new every day. I’m from Seattle and knew about this stretch of houses but not the history of the planning and big ideas of the builders. Sustainability back then wasn’t exactly the power word it is today. One thing I didn’t hear in the video is that while the area was a suburb back when it was built, it’s in the Seattle city limits now. I have to say, though, that most of Seattle east and north of downtown is a gigantic millionaire’s row. It’s very hard to find a house under the 750,000-1,000,000 range. Thanks for an interesting and informative video.

I live within walking distance of these lovely homes... a friend visiting town in 2020 stayed in the Shafer-Baillie house (now a B&B)... since it was summer of 2020, they were the only guests. I went to hang out with them and we had free run of the beautiful house. Nicely preserved!

My husband is a wood refinisher and just completed a job a bit east of Volunteer Park! He refinished all the cabinetry in the house! Parts of Volunteer Park are a bit sketchy these day as are most Seattle Parks.😢

I would like to see more of these, that area is interesting, the houses that you showed seem subdued in comparison to the ones in the East, or Midwest.

Some good friends of my folks inherited one of those houses, just down the street north of that big white one in your opening shots. I remember it well from my visits as a kid. The furnishings were fantastic and the place had servant's quarters on the second floor near the top of servant's staircase leading down to the kitchen. The "garage" was the old carriage house which had a high enough ceiling that we could play basketball inside during winter months. A grand entrance to the place with a great staircase and a large walnut dinner table in a formal dining room with the button underneath the table for summoning servants. It had a office-library with glass bookcases. Just a spectacular place that is etched in my memory.

Excellent video. I was in Seattle only once but did not see these homes. How about something a bit different like Commonwealth Ave. in Boston where the millionaires built "row houses?" Also how about Summit Ave in St. Paul, MN or Portland and Westmoreland Places in St. Louis?

It's a treasure to walk through the neighborhood. A bit overgrown in parts but charmingly warm.

You should look into Bessemer Alabama. So many amazing historical houses both restord and abandoned.

Queen Anne hill. I love it here.

Lovely video!

In my opinion millionaires row today is on Highland Drive in Seattle. Insane rich!!

I've lived in Seattle my entire life, born and raised and never knew about any of this. Crazy but so interesting

Interesting. Been living in Seattle since 1988. Never heard of Millionaire Row but will have to check it out. Queen Anne is somewhat the same. Glad to hear some parts of Seattle retained their history. Much of it hasn't unfortunately. Central District even lost its community due to gentrification. But, yes, some of the old homes are still there. I remember that white mansion on Queen Anne that looks like something from another time and place. That's still there.

My friend used to live in a house on this street. It was a huge mansion that he shared with 7 people, of all races, ages and genders It had a crazy underground tunnels underneath it and portraits of the former owner at the top of the (velvet covered) stairs

Seattle is so Amazing I was so impressed by the Downtown being so well kept. Utilized businesses in former businesses so European than so many blight, decayed Downtown, USA 🇺🇸 cities.

Tacoma's historic homes district is still utterly beautiful. It's just up the hill from the long waterfront walkway.

Nice , millionaires row , lots of nostalgia , beautiful buildings frozen in time .

It would be fun to do one of these for the Twin Cities in Minnesota - Summit Avenue or Mount Curve Drive...

I hope renovate a house on Capital Hill, they added a underground section to the home that was quite large.

Glad these houses were saved. A suggestion for a future video would be St. James Court and Belgravia Court in Louisville, KY. Still intact with a great collection of homes and a beautiful fountain from the turn of the century.

Makes me gonna go visit Seattle to go see those houses

Very interesting history and video. (Just a note that Olmsted Brothers is not spelled Olmstead)....My grandparents owned one of those homes, and it has been lovingly restored by the current owners with lots of historic references throughout the house. They were gracious to host an open house for our family to view the restoration. At the top of the Volunteer Park water tower there is an interesting and detailed history of the Olmsted contributions to Seattle.

the area between NE65 & Ravenna Park has got my vote...so much so it's federally registered as an 'historic district'

Hope you make more StL videos soon! ❤

So odd that the Seattle residents allowed this city to turn into a cesspool. I can't understand this

this comment for feeding the ever hungry algorithm it's favorites are comments, replies and likes to them

Lived here since 1992, grunge city, cheap rent, few corporate businesses, few homeless, plenty of small businesses and jobs and fun bars and music clubs. 20 years later all the old apartment blocks bulldozed for condo scrapers and fancy expensive corporate crap, $3000 rent and homeless tent towns disparity everywhere. Capitalism killed Seattle

Between the developers and the homeless,, Seattle is a fraction of what it once was. So sad to walk down streets where historic buildings once were and now there luxury apartments and dirty needles.

Seattle now home to poo and syringes on the sidewalks!

Glad they survived 😊

I love the Parker house!

Are any of these places that you show, open to the public for tours, I would like to put them on my travel list to visit when on vacation in these areas

Seattle politicians now make money with homelessness

I live in southern ohio close to wv and kentucky and theres a lot of homes like this that have survived in the smaller cities and towns esp the ones with mining money the company owners and execs lived in.

Seattle's history is unique among America's cities. The only decent history is 'Seattle, Past and Present'. What I find interesting is, among the millionaire row, there are many different styles of architecture. There are no two houses alike. And this is true throughout the city (until recently). The reason, I believe, is that little of the city homes were built by one developer (one exception is the Wedgwood neighborhood). There was much infilling; homes would be built, then someone would come in, decades later and build new homes in-between the existing homes, in a new style. Another thing that makes Seattle different is its geography. There are 123 miles of shoreline, and six hills over 500 ft tall: the rich used to live on top of the hill, the poor lower, and the very rich along the shoreline. The very rich lived within blocks of the poor.

I would love to visit.

There are a few tiny parks in Boulder CO designed by F L Olmstead, very nice indeed

Best Halloween destination. Raised our daughter there trick to treating

How about a this house Buffalo NY millionaire row? I don’t know if you researched about Buffalo who had many great architects working here around the turn of the century and a great housing stock?

Dude you should check out Rochester, NY and its millionaire's row.

I enjoy your look at Millionair Rows of the past . May I suggest Rochester,NY for you next subject. East Avenue has not only the George Eastmans home but Watson/Sibley founder of Western Union. The homes of Basuch and Lomb of the optical giant, early Buggy whip founders. We were know for business in both flour and flowers( raising flowers for seeds/ plants for sale) . There are many more stories in the Pioneer s of science. George Eastman, unlike today inventers and business pioneers, had to go hat in hand, to these successful men to fund his ideas for photographic film and cameras. Check it out!

If I was rich, I might not mind living in millionaire's row, to blend in, but I'd hate it if it meant that I had to keep up with my neighbors, that's so not me! If they had pools, I'd want stables!

Please do Historic OLD LOUISVILLE in louisville Kentucky, I am a realtor there and it would make a fabulous video!!

Wow! All of those are pretty much still there. That area is still one of the most expensive and elite places to live in Seattle. Interesting to hear that it’s one of the country’s only surviving rows.

Pls do historical mansions of Milwaukee Wisconsin

Just because it's Seattle. Grew up with AIC, Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone. Can't imagine not being there during those times.

Such a chipper retrospective.

Please do Los Angeles’ lost Bunker Hill. Crocker mansion and Bradbury mansion

I think I’ve seen the house in the thumbnail, off interstate 5 if I’m correct. It’s in extremely rough shape, those front columns and fences seem rotted out. It looks like someone was working on it, then abandoned it.

The first priority when starting a new utopia is to figure out ways to 'keep the riff-raff out' !

We live about ten miles south of downtown Seattle. We paid $22,000.00 for our house, we could sell it for half a million today. It’s not a very big house, about 1700 sq ft. But we do live on half an acre and have a two car detached garage with a small workshop and a room above it. We don’t go to Seattle much, traffic is horrible for one thing. Graffiti, trash, tents everywhere. It looks like a civilization on the edge of destruction

I really like the Parker mansion and the beautifully designed streets to keep the riffraff out.

What a beautiful neighbourhood. You can’t beat flawless design.

It became an entire third of the city, that's what. Seattle, a city full of people who claim to be progressive and liberal who religiously defend trickle down economics and denounce real liberalism as "right wing". As a former resident of Seattle, it was really depressing to see that city turn into one of the biggest threats to liberal values in the USA. Seattle makes Republicans look more liberal by comparison in the traditional sense of the term, it's amazing.

Could you do Walter Chrysler’s mansion on Long Island? It’s now the administration building for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and a well preserved incredible house.

Proud to have lived in Villa Costella on Olympic, the S. Slope of Queen Anne, albeit briefly.

What street is that now ? I don’t recognize it.

Could you do a video on Paterson nj?

We used to love walking around Capitol Hill, looking at all the amazing mansions. Too bad what’s happened to that city, you couldn’t pay me to live there now…. But living on Capital Hill in the 90’s was a lot of fun!