Rollin Ankeny House - 101 Prospect St

February, 2003

The original address was ascertained from Seattle Public Utilities side sewer card which listed an installation at 105 Prospect in 1920. The contractor for the installation was W. B. Mullin. The owner was R. V. Ankeny. In 1930, when the side sewer was repaired by contractor M. Patricelli, the owner was still listed as R. Ankeny.

A copy of the original building permit was obtained from the Seattle Dept. of Construction & Inspections microfilm library. It was issued on July 26, 1920 (although the property record card gives a date of 1919). The owner was Rollin V. Ankeny, address Seattle National Bank. The contractor was J. Nicholson and the architect was David J. Myers. A brief biography of David John Myers can be found in essay # 28 Schack, Young & Myers of the 2nd edition of Shaping Seattle Architecture.

The 1930 census report lists Ankeny as head of household, residing there with his wife Elinor, adult son Irvine, daughter-in-law Genevieve and granddaughter Florence. No domestic servants were listed. The house was valued at $40,000.

Rollin Valentine Ankeny was a prominent Seattle businessman and original owner of the City of Seattle designated landmark located at 912 2nd Ave. W. (the Ankeny-Gowey house). In 1892 he was appointed treasurer of the Vulcan Iron works. An ad in the 1924 Polk Seattle City directory lists him as the First Vice President of the Seattle National Bank.

Per Ankeny’s obituary published in the Seattle Daily Times in 1934, he was residing at 19 Prospect at the time of his death.

The most recent sale of the home was in June 2016 for $2,330,000.

Researched by: Leanne Olson & Alicia Arter