718 No. K St, Tacoma
Historic William J. Fife Home
$517,000
4 Beds
1.25 Baths
2,600 Sq Ft
Modern comfort and historic character partner in this North Slope Victorian. Enjoy a freshly painted exterior, oak floors, high ceilings, and a hand-carved marble fireplace alongside Smart Home technology. Details like an ornate chandelier sparkle beside additions like the custom cocktail bar with maple and copper finishes. Maybe you love the elegance of the dining room with its granite topped wine bar, or you might be even more excited by the surround sound home theater on the third floor.
Image from Tacoma Public Library’s Tacoma-Pierce County Buildings Index circa 1977 - History lovers can read more about the Colonel William J. Fife Home at Tacoma Culture.
Bay windows sweep up toward high ceilings in the living room and dining room, inviting natural light. All throughout the home the high ceilings create a sense of spaciousness. French doors open from the kitchen to the deck and fully fenced back yard where there’s plenty of room for kids or dogs to run. Speaking of room, there’s definitely space to build a garage out there!
Back inside you’ll find the home is set with speakers in the living room, dining room, and kitchen (there are two out on the deck as well). Technological upgrades include a Google Nest x Yale lock; more than a keyless entry, it allows you to distribute entry codes as needed, and connects to the Nest Secure door sensors. Nest Protect smoke and CO2 alarms on every level of the home add to security and safety. Google Homes placed around the house allow for voice control of a range of features. You’ll also notice some Philips Hue motion-activated smart lights around the house to help guide you when it’s dark out.
Updates include plumbing, sewer, wiring, electrical panel, double-pane windows, and foundation pillars. The boiler is also newer and powers the radiators throughout the home.
Included in the Tacoma Register of Historic Places and officially known as the Colonel William J. Fife Home, you’ll find this 1890 Queen Anne Victorian in the North Slope Historic District near schools, parks, small local pubs, and a playground. You’ll learn a lot more about the neighborhood in our location section, so keep on exploring.
Find the video tour, photos, details, and travel time and distance to a list of Tacoma favorites all below.
Main Floor
Entry & Open Staircase
Living Room
Dining Room
Family Room & Bar
Kitchen & Laundry
Half Bath
Second Floor
Large Front Bedroom with Bay Windows
2 Additional Bedrooms
3/4 Bath
Landing
Third Floor
Custom Home Theater & Playroom
Or Optional 4th Bedroom
Walk-in Closet
Storage
Outside
Fully Fenced Back Yard
Deck off the Kitchen
Patio
Covered Front Porch
Ample Space for a Garage
A Historical Note
Image from the Washington State Historical Society - A glimpse of the Tacoma the Fife family knew. The Fife Hotel, owned by Colonel William J.’s father stands on the right with its turret at the corner of 9th and Pacific.
Image from the Washington State Historical Society - Col. William J. Fife was active in the Tacoma theater scene.
William J. Fife, for whom this house is named, moved to Tacoma with his father, William H. Fife, and their family. His father, William H., owned the Hotel Fife on the northwest corner of 9th and Pacific in Downtown Tacoma, and in 1874 served as the first Tacoma postmaster. The story goes that William H. sent son William J. out to deliver the first 6 letters for free.
William J. became a lawyer by profession, certified to practice law in New Tacoma, Washington Territory. A theater enthusiast, William J. managed and directed plays, such as the tragedy “Virginius” performed in 1894 at the Ninth Street Theatre downtown.
William J. Fife became one of the organizers of the Tacoma Guard, a territorial militia in the 1880s, and later was the Executive Officer for the Washington Regiment during the Spanish-American war. A father to daughters, he was a widower, and in 1901 married the widow of a friend from his time as a lieutenant colonel in the Philippines in 1898. The Los Angels Herald referred to his new union as a “Sequel of Romance in the Philippines.”
Image from the Washington State Historical Society - The Hotel Fife circa 1889, owned by William J.’s father.
Colonel William J. Fife was also a member of the National Association of Spanish American War Veterans. He eventually left Tacoma for California, but his legacy continues here in the North Slope Historic District where this home displays his portrait and bears his name.
Sources: Tacoma Culture, Tacoma Culture Register of Historic Places, California Digital Newspaper Collection, Tacoma Historical Society, Access Geneology
Entry & Open Staircase
A solid wood door with a transom window above welcomes you inside from the covered front porch into the entry area where an open staircase rises on the left, and the living room beckons on the right. Stop a moment to hang your jacket on a hook, slip off your shoes, and shake off the dust of the day. You’re home.
Living Room
Oak hardwood floors extend from the entry into the living room and throughout the dining room and adjacent family room as well. The hardwoods are a reminder of old times, of quality and durability. Natural light shines down onto these oak floors through tall bay windows; the shape and curve they bring to the living space is a strong reminder of the Victorian era in which this home was built. The centerpiece of the living room is the hand-carved marble fireplace with its elegant arch and black tile hearth. Equipped with a gas fireplace, you’ll find yourself cozying up to the flame as fall continues into winter.
Dining Room
Chair rail trim, oak hardwoods, and bay windows appear again in the dining room, connected to the living room by a wide cased entry. An ornate chandelier adorns the room, so all it takes is some linens, your best serving ware, and a candle or two to make the room look like a dinner party. But with its easy access to the kitchen and central location, the dining room doesn’t insist on being formal. Set out the Fiesta Ware, a jar of flowers, some grilled cheese sandwiches, and you’re doing fine! This home makes it easy to entertain if you choose, but it’s comfortable and happy for everyday living as well. When you’re ready to have a few friends over, you might enjoy the granite topped wine bar with its built-in wine fridge. It’s a nice spot from which to serve drinks, but this surface doubles excellently as a buffet. So lay out the pizza party or your Thanksgiving dinner.
The Skeleton Key aka The Tiny Tiki Room
Family Room & Custom Bar
The entertaining continues, or starts and stays, in the family room with its custom cocktail bar. This room might end up being your favorite part of the house. Enter through pocket doors from the dining room to a cozy high-ceilinged room with a window overlooking the back yard and another facing the street out front. This room is a nice place to tuck away the tv or set up your record player.
On your right you’ll see a serving window into the kitchen for easy snack access (always a priority), and on the left you’ll find the custom bar built by the homeowner. Named The Skeleton Key, in reference to the mortise key required to open the door lock, this miniature bar is inspired by Victorian and Japanese design. The bar is fitted with a hammered copper sink, decorative copper ceiling tiles, maple shelves, beadboard for that particular vintage look, and controllable lights. There’s even a grass skirt for the bar top tucked in the closet nearby for tiki nights when the bar transforms into The Tiny Tiki Room. You’ll feel like you went out for a drink without ever leaving home; go ahead, dress up if you want to.
Kitchen & Laundry
The laundry room with its cabinets matching the kitchen offers a small countertop and there’s space for additional shelving or hampers in the left corner.
The kitchen maintains a sense of old times while introducing high quality upgrades. A Viking Pro gas range sits below a matching hood vent in a unique, almost triangular counter arrangement. Pull a stool up to the breakfast bar for coffee in the morning and look out through the French doors to the deck and back yard beyond.
The dishwasher and refrigerator blend into the cabinetry. Granite tile countertops with a tall backsplash gleam beneath cabinets with glass doors for displaying your prettiest stemware and serving bowls. A big window over the sink lets in lots of light, and under cabinet lights offer a soft glow. Don’t forget about those speakers we mentioned. With two each in the living room, dining room, and kitchen, the music can follow wherever you go.
You don’t even need to leave the action behind to get the laundry going. Find the laundry room attached to the kitchen with room for some pantry shelving as well.
Half Bath
Upon entering the kitchen, turn immediately right for the convenient half bath. Anyone who’s used to a one bathroom house will appreciate the presence of a half bath on the first floor, one that’s not stocked with the family toothbrushes and bath towels. With its pedestal sink and light coming through the privacy glass in the window, this simple room is nice for guests and day to day family use alike.
Bedrooms
Take the open staircase to find the bedrooms tucked peacefully up on the second floor. Soft, neutral carpet keeps this level of the home cozy and quiet. At the top of the landing take a right back to the front of the home to find a spacious north-facing bedroom set with 2 bay windows. The size and shape of this room allows for a home office, dressing room, or a small sitting room. Currently set up as a home office, this room attached to the front bedroom enjoys its own bay window overlooking the street. Add a wardrobe and mirrors for a dressing space, or get cozy with bookshelves and an easy chair.
The middle bedroom, just down the hall is perfect for kids or teens. Windows look south over the back yard, and west toward the neighbors. Set up bunk beds for siblings or sleepovers.
A back bedroom faces south with a large window overlooking the yard, Imagine the views to the maple tree when fall colors are brightest! Depending on your needs, set up this bedroom for family, or offer it to guests.
3/4 Bath
The bathroom is found off the second floor landing, not too far from any bedroom (a detail that’s especially nice at night). There’s storage in the drawers and cabinets of the vanity, as well as in the cupboard behind the mirrors. A corner shower and easy to clean vinyl floor complete the room.
Home Theater
From the landing, take a staircase up to the third floor where you’ll find a home theater and a big walk-in closet. First things first, let’s get into this theater. This is a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos Theater built as close to the exact specifications from Dolby as the homeowner could get. For those of us who don’t know our Dolby Atmos lingo, this is a theater designed to give movie goers the sensation of being surrounded in a bubble of sound. There are 7 surround speakers mounted at ear height, 1 subwoofer, and 4 speakers in the ceiling (hence the 7.1.4). The screen is a 120” acoustically transparent custom built screen. A 1080p high definition BenQ projector completes the theater.
There’s space to play up here too, so bring out the toys, but we’ve been advised that watching Game of Thrones up here is an experience!
This third floor is alternately used as a 4th bedroom for those who need it. So absolutely keep the flexibility of this space in mind. A large front window behind the projector screen opens up the room depending on how you choose to use it.
Walk-in Closet & Storage Nook
This walk-in closet feels more like a dressing room. With its window, custom shelf lighting, and shoe racks, it just makes you want to dress better. There’s room for a bit of exercise space, or maybe just additional storage. But if you’re really looking for storage space, open that enticing pointed door. It’s almost too quaint to fill up with odds and ends, especially considering the little window overlooking the back yard, but use this spot if you need it!
Outside
A glimpse of the fall color to look forward to next year.
With the bare branches this season brings, you might not realize a beautiful tree is waiting to welcome you to the front yard. People walking through the neighborhood often pause to take pictures of the colorful leaves in the fall as this tree is one of the first to brighten and turn. Think of it as something to look forward to.
Small beds for landscaping border the front porch you’ll find hydrangeas blooming there from summer into fall. A sprinkler system makes watering easy.
In back, a deck off the kitchen leads down to a spacious lawn beneath a big maple tree. The yard is fully fenced with access to an alley. There’s potential for a garage out here, and there’d still be garden space, and room to run and play. A paving stone patio borders the house along the east side with stairs leading down to the cellar stye basement. Overall, this is a low maintenance yard with lawn space, room to bbq and entertain, and plenty of potential for anyone looking to garden.
Location
A bird’s eye view of the North Slope over to Stadium High and Commencement Bay from 718 N. K St.
Image from Over Tacoma - Tacoma’s iconic Stadium High School stands just 0.8 miles away overlooking the Salish Sea.
Another North Slope Neighborhood view, this time out over Old Town to Browns Point and Vashon Island.
If you’ve only driven through Tacoma on I-5, it may be hard to imagine (or believe) that one of the largest historic districts in the country resides on the hillside overlooking Commencement Bay. It’s time to get off the freeway and explore the city! If you live in and already love Tacoma, you probably have a sense of the the North Slope Historic District, maybe you’ve walked the dog here or driven through just for the fun of looking at all the houses. The district is distinguished on maps by its triangular shape, a wedge of blocks between Division and North Steele, and is defined on the ground by its architectural variety, a pleasing mix of well-built homes from the Victorian era through the years prior to WWII. These were middle class homes in their day, not the grandest necessarily, but comfortable family homes set in a neighborly fashion not so very far from Downtown. Evening walks through the North Slope will reveal cats curled up in glowing living room windows, the occasional call from a train below, and the hum of voices coming from Hanks and the Parkway Tavern.
A 3 minute hop, skip, and a jump down the street. You may find yourself stopping by for pizza and a pint at Hanks on the regular.
This 1890s Queen Anne Victorian is also pleasantly near the Stadium and Proctor Districts, and its not at all far down to Old Town and the waterfront. You can learn more about this neighborhood on the Tacoma North Slope Historic District Facebook Group page and read about this and Tacoma’s other Historic Districts on the City of Tacoma’s site.
Image from Over Tacoma - Visit the botanical conservatory less than a mile from the door of 718 N. K St.
Walk out for coffee on a misty morning. You’ll land at Bluebeard on 6th Ave. or Lander on N. 21st in about 15 minutes if you’e on foot. If you had something more like a wander through a tropical wonderland on a chilly afternoon in mind, then head for the WW Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Wright Park. You won’t go far in any direction before ending up somewhere good!
From Home on Foot
North Slope
North Slope Historic District Park: 203 feet/1 minute
Hanks Bar & Pizza: 0.1 miles/3 minutes
Parkway Tavern: 0.4 miles/9 minutes
Annie Wright Schools: 0.5 miles/9 minutes
Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club: 0.5 miles/10 minutes
King’s Books, one of Tacoma’s favorite new and used book stores, is just 0.8 miles from your door.
Stadium District
The Tacoma Little Theater: 0.5 miles/10 minutes
Wright Park: 0.5 miles/10 min
Stadium Thriftway: 0.7 miles/13 minutes
Indo Street Eatery & Moshi Moshi: 0.8 miles/14 minutes
WW Seymour Botanical Conservatory: 0.8 miles/14 minutes
Stadium High School: 0.8 miles/15 minutes
King’s Books: 0.8 mile/17 minutes
3 Bridges District
Dave’s Meat & Produce: 0.5 miles/10 minutes
Evolve Home & Apparel: 0.7 miles/13 minutes
Lander Coffee: 0.7 miles/14 minutes
Image from Indo Asian Street Eatery - Get here by car in 4 minutes!
6th Ave
Bluebeard Coffee Roasters: 0.7 miles/14 minutes
State Street Beer: 0.7 miles/14 minutes
MSM Deli: 0.7 miles/14 minutes
Primo Grill: 0.9 miles/19 minutes
Old Town
The Spar Tavern: 1.1 miles/20 minutes
Anthem Coffee & Tea: 1.1 miles/22 minutes
& More
MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital: 0.5 miles/10 minutes
University of Puget Sound: 0.9 mile/18 minutes
Grand Cinema & Corina Bakery: 1 mile/20 minutes
From Home by Car - Within 2 Miles
Image from Stadium Thriftway - It’s nice to have a local grocery just 4 minutes away by car.
McMenamins Elks Temple: 1.3 miles/6 minutes
Over the Moon Cafe: 1.3 miles/6 minutes
Cocobolo (boutique): 1.2 miles/6 minutes
Tacoma Public Library Wheelock Branch: 1.6 miles/5 minutes
Metropolitan Market: 1.7 miles/5 minutes
Pantages Theater: 1.4 miles/6 minutes
Wooden City: 1.6 miles/7 minutes
St. Joseph Medical Center: 1.6 miles/9 minutes
Pacific Grill: 1.9 miles/8 minutes
En Rama: 2 miles/9 minutes
Open House & More Information
Come see this Historic North Slope Victorian in person! The Open House is a perfect time to get a feel for the layout, personality, and location of the home, or to ask me questions you may have about the property. All are welcome:
Saturday, December 14th: 12 - 2 pm
In the meantime, call or text me, Michael Duggan, at 253-226-2787. I’ll be happy to answer your questions, or talk to you about Tacoma and the local real estate market in general.
Recent Duggan Homes Listings
