MANSION’S SIGNIFICANCE
Designed by
Bebb and Mendel, Seattle’s most prominent
architectural firm at the time; also designed such buildings as the Frye
Hotel (Yesler & 3rd Ave. S.), the Hoge Building (705 2nd Ave.) and the
Corona Building (1st & Jackson) . Bebb helped found the Washington
chapter of the A.I.A. The home is a Spanish Revival style not commonly
found in the Northwest. Commissioned by Rolland Denny and his wife Alice
Kellogg they named their new home “Lochkelden”. Loch- (Scottish for
lake), -kel- (Kellogg) and –den (Denny). Originally on the outskirts of
town it was designed as a country estate. Unlike the mansions of Capital
Hill whose carriage houses where used for cars this one was built for a
carriage and horses that Rolland would ride on the gravel Windermere
Road.
Sitting prominently
on a hill just to the south of Magnuson Park the home can be seen from
across the lake in Kirkland. From there a tour boat makes scores of
trips every season showing tourists the homes of Seattle’s rich and
famous such as Kenny G and Bill Gates. The last home of the tour is this
1907 gem. The guide explains that while built for Rolland, son of the
city’s founder Arthur Denny and likely the only home remaining that any
of the original group lived in, the building has been owned since 1974
by the Unification Church and that over the years the Rev. Sun Myung
Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han have occasionally stayed there.
Rolland Denny
Rolland traveled far more comfortably than most pioneers on
the Oregon Trail, he traveled by womb. The year was 1851 and with the
promise of 320 acres of free land to be given to couples willing to
homestead, Rolland's father Arthur (29 years old) convinced his wife Mary (28)
brother David (19) and other family members to leave their homes in
Illinois and go west. The couple already had two young girls and Mary
was pregnant with their first son. They reached the end of the
trail, the town of Portland where on September 2nd he was born. By
September 28th construction of the first Seattle pioneer home was
started by Uncle David with the help of the yet to be displaced Duwamish
Indians. Although the natives had seen white people before, they had
never seen red hair until they saw the baby Rolland when he arrived
November 13th with the rest of the party. Judging by the odd color they
were quite certain this baby would not survive. With the tiny settlement
lacking a cow the three babies had only clam broth to supplement the
mother’s milk.
In time Rolland was part of the first graduating students of
the Territorial University, later to become the University of
Washington, class of 1869. He went on to work with Dexter Horton,
Seattle’s first banker (Dexter Horton Bank later SeaFirst Bank),
eventually becoming the banks director. In 1876 Dexter and Rolland
joined Catherine Maynard in her home for a meeting that was to create
Seattle’s 1st YMCA. He married in 1877, died June 13th 1939. His life
spanned the 1st log cabin to a city of 400,000.
Purchased as a Church
By 1974 Seattle’s economy was in the doldrums and the
American Unification Church was in its infancy. Americans weren’t used
to missionaries coming from the east to the west and the media, to put
it mildly, wasn’t interested in objectively understanding this new
faith. The public furor was yet to be fully realized. It was under these
circumstances that Rev. Moon asked a small group of young U.C. members
led by Rev. Reiner Vincenz and his wife Barbra to travel throughout the
country evangelizing and buying property to initiate the church in key
cities. The mansion was available for sale and at $175,000.was just
within financial reach. After purchase though an ad hoc committee was
formed to roll up the welcome mat for this new group in the name of
protecting property values. 33 years and skyrocketing property values
later our welcome mat is out for all to celebrate. By the way, during
the mansions purchase Rev. Vincenz stayed for a while at the Y.M.C.A.
that Rolland helped create.