Thoughtfully Updated Historic Home
with Views and Privacy

Outdoor Improvements/Additions

Interior Improvements

This impressive Neo-Classic home was built in 1913 for local physician Owen Taylor and his second wife Anna Hamm. Taylor was born into an affluent farming family in Iowa in 1866. He moved west in the 1880s, first working on a relative’s farm in Pullman and then attending the University of Washington in Seattle. After graduating from the University of Washington, Taylor completed his physician’s training at Bellevue Medical School in New York. He returned to Washington with his medical degree, working first as an itinerant doctor in mining and logging camps and then settling in Kent in the 1890's.

Taylor married Roberta “Bertie” May Shinn in 1899 and began practicing medicine from his home in 1900. He also made house calls, first by bicycle, then by pony, then by horse and buggy and eventually by automobile with a chauffeur. Dr. Taylor and his first wife Bertie divorced while he was growing his practice, and Dr. Taylor married his second wife Anna Marion Hamm in 1910. Owen and Anna had three sons together: John Owen Taylor, Edward Overton Taylor and James Pershing Taylor.

Dr. Taylor served as a captain in the Medical Corps during World War I and partnered with Dr. Martin Lacey to open the first hospital in the Auburn area. They initially operated out of a house before having a 3-story medical facility built in 1921. Dr. Taylor is credited with performing the first successful cesarean section west of the Mississippi. He was a member of the Washington State Medical Association and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Taylor died in 1938 at the age of 72. His wife Anna continued to live in the house until her death in 1959. The Taylors’ son John, also a physician, assumed ownership of the Scenic Way house in 1962. John then sold the house to Charles Curran in 1969.

The Owen Taylor House is eligible for inclusion on the local and national registers of historic places given its intact architectural details and its association with Taylor.

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Located 16 miles southeast of downtown Seattle, the City of Kent is the 6^th largest municipality in the state of Washington with a population of approximately 137,000.  First settled by European Americans in the 1850s, the area became a thriving agricultural center in the 1860s and 1870s with the harvesting of grain, forage crops and hops.

The City of Kent grew rapidly in the years following WWII, increasing 12-fold in size between 1953 and 1960.  Boeing opened the Kent Space Center in 1964, establishing the area as a hub for industry and manufacture.  Aerospace and steel production have historically been dominant industries in Kent, and Amazon, Boeing, Whirlpool and General Electric currently operate sizeable facilities in the city.

The blocks surrounding Kent Station are home to a terrific assortment of shops and restaurants, including Iron Pot, Wild Wheat and Airways Brewing.  Kent Station also provides easy commuter access to Seattle by bus or by rail.  Kent’s robust park system includes 73 parks, mini parks, playfields, skate parks, greenbelts and other related facilities.  Riverbend Golf Complex features an 18-hole golf course that’s one of the busiest in the state.  Annual festivals in the area include Kent Cornucopia Days in July and Canterbury Faire (an arts festival) in mid-August.