The Bullitt Mansion
The Bullitt Mansion
Priceless opportunity to acquire the grand, historic longtime residence of Dorothy Stimson Bullitt (1892-1989), lumber and real-estate heiress and broadcasting entrepreneur whose philanthropy enduringly shaped many of Seattle’s civic institutions. The 1919 Tudor Revival home was dramatically restored, refreshed and re-imagined in 2023. The comprehensive redesign marries the strong architecture of the original with Art Deco-inspired glamour and updates systems for luxurious contemporary living and entertaining. Stone courtyards with perennial plantings and geometric hedges of holly, boxwood and laurel frame formal galas and intimate dinner parties at Old Seattle’s best address, the corner of Federal and Galer.
1014 East Galer Street, Seattle, WA
6600 SF
5 Bedrooms 6 Bathrooms
Built 1919, re-imagined 2023
Prestigious corner of Federal and Galer
Elevated Tudor Jacobethan architecture
Entertainer’s dream
Established landscaping
Indoor-outdoor connections
Storied residence, priceless history
Sophisticated contemporary redesign
Offered at
$4,980,000
Edward Krigsman · 206-387-6789 · ekreg.com
Grand Style on Bankers Row
Inherit the lore and aura of moneyed Old Seattle. Commissioned in 1919 by Perry B Truax Jr (18801960), a self-made banker from Toledo, Ohio who had risen to become VP of Seattle National Bank, and his amateur horticulturist wife Mabel P Truax (1884-1997), the mansion was designed by David J Myers (1872-1936), noted architect of large-scale English-style residences.
The Tudor Revival home boasted elaborate millwork, a fireplace of Italian marble, graceful casement windows, and a Tudor chimney crowned by four pots. The Truaxes entertained lavishly in their mansion neighboring the equally splendid homes of other members of Seattle’s rising business class, on a stretch of Federal Avenue known as Bankers Row. Their daughter, Jane, studied Eurhythmics in Switzerland. In 1925 she helped host a Junior League Christmas gala in the mansion’s ballroom. Perry and Mabel Truax were instrumental in establishing the Washington Park Arboretum and active in the Arboretum Society.
Dorothy Stimson Bullitt
Follow in the distinguished footsteps of a woman who single-handedly built an innovative media empire. Dorothy Bullitt purchased the mansion in 1948, years after the death of her Kentucky-born husband, A. Scott Bullitt (1877-1932), student of Woodrow Wilson and friend of Franklin D Roosevelt.
At a time when women were barred from the business world, the newly widowed Dorothy Bullitt taught herself to manage the downtown Seattle buildings she inherited from her father, CD Stimson, a lumber magnate originally from Michigan who had made a fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1947 she acquired a small radio station that became KING FM, Seattle’s beloved classical music station. In 1949 the farsighted Bullitt bought a TV station she renamed KING TV. KING Broadcasting grew to include 6 TV stations in 4 states and radio stations in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Bullitt continued to live in the mansion until her death in 1989, when it passed to her beneficiary the Junior League.
Dorothy Bullitt’s Legacy
Take pride in the tradition of unassuming benevolence nurtured in the mansion. A self-taught corporate leader guided by ideals of public service, Dorothy Bullitt served on the Board of Regents of the University of Washington.
Her philanthropy supported the Junior League, Children’s Orthopedic Hospital, the Seattle Symphony and many other organizations. She established the Bullitt Foundation in1952, with the mission of safeguarding the environment of the Pacific Northwest. Between 1991 and 2024 the Foundation made green grants totaling over $200 million. In 2009 the Foundation set out to construct the world’s greenest, net-zero office building. Designed by Robert Hull (1945-2014), the Bullitt Center, at 1501 E Madison St, opened in 2013; it serves as an example of and inspiration for environmental construction in the Cascadia region.
Bullitt Family Legacy
Generous, epoch-defining commitments have made the Bullitt name synonymous with altruism. Dorothy Bullitt’s publicity-shy daughter Priscilla (“Patsy”) Bullitt Collins (1920-2003) continued her mother’s tradition of community service, quietly giving away $100 million of inherited wealth to local environmental and global educational causes.
Harvard-Radcliffe alumna Katharine (“Kay”) Muller Bullitt (1925-2021), married to Dorothy Bullitt’s son Charles Stimson (“Stim”) Bullitt (1919-2009), was an educational activist who helped desegregate Seattle public schools in the 1970s. The 1.5-acre property owned by Kay and Stim Bullitt at 1125 Harvard Ave E passed to Seattle Parks and Recreation. It will become a new park in North Capitol Hill’s historic Harvard-Belmont District. The Bullitts’ striking 1956 A-frame house, designed by Northwest
Contemporary Cool
Drawing on a wide visual vocabulary that includes Art Deco, midcentury modern, 1970s and postmodern decorating styles, award-winning Seattle designer Shannon Adamson’s ingenious design for the Bullitt Mansion respects the integrity of the original architecture and invites it into the twenty-first century.
A palette of brooding blues and grays references Seattle’s moody skies and creates an enveloping cocoon, especially where the paint is extended to wrap around the ornate millwork. Original quartersawn oak flooring lends caramel warmth. Cloud-like sculptural lamps share the stage with midcentury Italian crystal chandeliers. Texture dominates: grass cloth or metallic wallpapers; tactile velvet and tufted leather; veined marble and satiny brass. Soft furnishings, many available for sale, assert curvilinear silhouettes that span eras.
Approachable eclectic aesthetic
Mix of vintage and contemporary fixtures
Design by Shannon Adamson Interior Design
Home builder Martine Construction Northwest
Complete features list can be provided
Some furnishings available for sale
Luxurious Convenience
Start the day with a rigorous workout in your sleek, state-of-the art home gym. The trackless garage door hints at the space’s original function; design ensures the gym can be converted back to a garage.
Finish with a restorative sauna session and bracing cold plunge in your outdoor spa, discreetly sheltered by tall hedges. Run code, manage your company or, taking on the mantle of Dorothy Bullitt, seed your non-profit from the plush study attached to the owner’s suite or, for a change of scene, from the loftlike Level 3 tower activity room. Surprise your guests with cocktail hour in the romantic speakeasy. Level 1, with its private courtyard access, offers a sumptuous, self-contained retreat for guests, complete with a theatrically lit bathroom swathed in Nero Marquina marble, regional winner of the 2023 Luxe Excellence in Design award.
330 SF home gym
Outdoor spa with sauna and plunge pool
Opulent options for working from home
Thoughtful, flexible design choices
Privacy and sound dampening features
Level 1 can convert to sybaritic apartment
The Green Heart of Old Seattle
Live where legacy, nature, and culture intertwine in one of Seattle’s most treasured neighborhoods.
Steps from Volunteer Park, this storied enclave invites morning tennis under towering trees, meditative walks past cathedral spires and century-old tombstones, and afternoons among orchids at the Conservatory or brushstrokes at the Asian Art Museum. Around the corner, cafés, school gardens, and quiet, tree-lined streets offer a lifestyle both deeply rooted and gracefully evolving.
SeaTac Airport 16.7 miles
South Lake Union 1.6 miles
Lakeview Cemetery 0.2 miles
University of Washington 1.9 miles
Seattle Asian Art Museum 0.4 miles
Volunteer Park Tennis Courts 150 ft
Volunteer Park Conservatory 0.1 miles
Volunteer Park Café and Pantry 0.4 miles
Sustainability-focused Bertschi School 0.5 miles
St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral 0.2 miles
Entry/Living
Sleeping
Tower Suite
PODCAST
Edward Krigsman
EK Group
Windermere Real Estate Co.
206-387-6789 ekreg.com Exclusive Broker
Seasoned Real Estate Professional with 30+ years of experience
Educated at Brown University and Art Institute of Chicago
“Thoughtful, caring, thorough, reassuring and oh-so-knowledgeable”
(Zillow Review)
Tune in to Power of Place - Stories of the Pacific Northwest
Hosted by Edward Krigsman, Power of Place illuminates the region through conversations with the local people who shape, protect and celebrate it. Episode 59: A Carpenter’s Covenant foregrounds Scott Dolfay—faithful craftsman and quiet visonary— who is drawn into a century-old story of memory, myth, and chosen family. Guided by conviction and sacred attention to place, Scott’s life was transformed by Loch Kelden, a Mission revival mansion that briefly touched the world and, for a moment, came to embody the soul of a community.
SCAN ME
