Making Home at 1021 N 5th St, Tacoma, WA
“My favorite place in the house is the rounded area in the living room—the glass is even rounded. This is followed by the kitchen which has a commercial feel.”
A Complete Historic Home on One Level
This is the vision: someone—maybe you, maybe your sister and her best friend—with a deep enthusiasm for historic homes, and a dream to build equity and even generate income from rental support finds this 1905 multi-family home on a corner lot in Tacoma’s North Slope Historic District and knows they’ve met their match. Allow us to introduce you. Please say hello to oak hardwood floors, to tiled bathrooms, to pocket doors, to bay windows, to built-ins and box beams. What you’re greeting is 1905 beauty, the detail and grace of another era.
Don’t forget, the two apartments above are rented and creating income, while a studio apartment below is vacant with potential to join the party.
The living room requests that you bring books to read in the rounded nook and sometimes friends to sit by the fireplace. It’s okay to give the room compliments on the trim and floors and all the light from the windows too.
Give the dining room more than a moment. It’s a whole world in here. Take a pause by the built-in hutch with its curved top. Stop to imagine what you’d place behind the rounded glass of the floating cabinets between the windows—beach rocks, paperweights, vintage martini glasses, seashells from around the world. If you need more suggestions, we could go on. But don’t forget to look at the box beam ceilings and plate rail trim before going onward into the kitchen.
“A few things I have always enjoyed about this house are the materials selected—like the concrete countertops on the first floor, the Richlite countertops in the basement studio and the shower on the main floor. I know these are pretty small things, but I love all the details.”
Concrete countertops, stainless sinks, a commercial-style hood vent, and a SubZero fridge provide contrast to the turn-of-the-century elegance of the other rooms, while pendant lights and plenty of white bring light.
Do what you will with this additional room off the kitchen. Add a wardrobe to create a 3rd bedroom or a guest space. It’s an office or an art studio, a meditation room or exercise place. It’s a study full of books and framed art and cushions for the cat.
We never argue with a back door to take us from the kitchen straight out into the open air of a deck. You might like that too.
“I love sitting on the back deck or the front porch and watching people go by—so many great conversations have been had doing this”
This back deck is accessed from the kitchen or by stairs up from the yard below. If you move here, please plant flowers, herb, and tomatoes in giant pots and put them in every corner. Make it wild, make it a garden. Stretch out on a chaise lounge (or be devastatingly French and insist on calling it the chaise longue). Carry dinner through the doors and eat late in the summer evenings. The sky is wide open above for birds and stars and cloud spotting.
Two suites
The 1,650 square foot main floor apartment holds two bedrooms, each with a 3/4 bath attached. From the living room, a pocket door slides opens to a suite including a built-in for linens with a door into the 3/4 bath, and a 2nd door into the front bedroom with its bay window. Close the pocket door to make this suite private. Or leave the pocket door open to give more general access to the bath while keeping the bedroom door closed.
Down the hall you’ll find a 2nd bedroom and a 2nd 3/4 bath. This bedroom features a built-in dresser, and offers a laundry hook-up for a stackable washer-dryer set in the closet near the bath. The bath with its tiled shower is accessible both from the hall and from the bedroom.
Don’t leave this house lonely for long. The porch is meant for greetings, for conviviality, for chilled drinks and long afternoons, and it’s hard to muster that without someone to belong to. Come back soon.
More Information From the Listing Agent
Return to our main Historic North Slope Multi-Family page for more information about 1021 N 5th St.
And don’t forget you can take the full tour with all the photos and the floor plan here.
And feel free to call or text me, Michael Duggan, at 253-226-2787. I’ll be happy to answer your questions about this property, or talk with you about Tacoma and the local real estate market in general.
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