Iconic Stadium District Home
with Commencement Bay Views

The Franke Tobey Jones House is an impressive Colonial Revival designed by architects Pickles and Sutton for local financier Frederick Watson and his wife Elizabeth in 1893. The Watsons sold the house to Charles and Franke Tobey Jones in 1907.

Charles Jones was born in Vermont in 1845 and served as a colonel for the Union Army during the Civil War. He met and married Frances (Franke) Tobey in Jay, New York in 1872. In 1877, Jones and his brother-in-law Henry Hewitt traveled to the Pacific Northwest, purchased 80,000 acres of timber land and formed the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company. They built a sawmill on the tide flats in 1889, and Jones supervised the lumber, milling and mining operations for the company. Immediately after purchasing this house in 1907, the Joneses acquired two adjacent city lots and hired renowned architect Ambrose Russell to expand the library, modify the front entrance and two-story porte-cochere and add a garage to the enlarged property.

Though Charles Jones was undeniably successful as a businessman and early civic leader in Tacoma, it was the couple’s philanthropic work that was most notable. The Joneses were key supporters of the University of Puget Sound, donating $200,000 for its initial construction. The school's Jones Hall was named in honor of Charles.

Franke’s most notable legacy was her work on behalf of the elderly. In the early 1900s, senility could lead to incarceration, neglect and/or a lonely death for those without means. With other members of the P.E.O. C Chapter, including Virginia Mason, Franke formed an organization called The Old People’s Home of Tacoma. They leased the Danaher house at 424 North D Street - just across from Franke and Charles' house - and opened a small nursing home in 1923 with capacity for 14 elderly residents. In July of that same year, Franke donated a building site near Point Defiance Park and $150,000 in seed money to develop a permanent retirement home for the elderly. The cornerstone for the Franke Tobey Jones Home for the Elderly was laid on July 16, 1924.

The Frank Tobey Jones House is listed on the local and national registers of historic places, affording a significant property tax abatement. The house is also a contributing structure in Tacoma's Stadium-Seminary District.

• Northwest Vernacular completed all research and presentation necessary to secure Tacoma Register of Historic Places nomination as well as tax valuation
• Installed ceiling fan in master bedroom as well as new light fixtures in the entry, bedroom/dressing room, dining room, and upper hallway.
• Painted exterior of home (two coats body and trim)
• Painted three upstairs bedrooms and library which included extensive plaster repairs and removal of wallpaper in two rooms
• North chimney repair and south chimney rebuild
• Installation of two coal baskets (dining room and living room) which included running gas lines to each location
• Installation of gas log set in family room which included running a gas line to this location
• Legacy Renovations disassembled and reassembled balustrade as part of hardwood floor refinishing of stairs
• Legacy Renovations cut paint, freed sashes, and restored operation of 8-10 windows on first and second floors
• Legacy Renovations worked on door leading from deck to kitchen as well as door on landing
• Larson Plumbing replaced metal with plastic plumbing in upper floor closet sink
• Henderson refinished hardwood floors in living room, dining room, first and second floor hallways, library, stairs, three bedrooms. They installed new hardwood flooring in family room, kitchen, and butler’s pantry
• Replaced carpet on staircase
• Custom area rugs for two bedrooms (Wild Asia)
• Removed old tile on family room fireplace and replaced with custom hand made tile (Mission Tile West)
• Custom draperies and rods in two upstairs bedrooms
• Hunter Douglas Vignette shades in living room and two upstairs bedrooms
• Installed Miele dishwasher
• Shoe closet installed master closet California Closets
• Redecorated powder room to include marble hexagon tile, Scalamadre wall paper, new toilet, new wall sconces, Brizo faucet, mirror
• Electrical upgrades include replacing numerous GFIs, rewiring new lines from switches and installation of various light fixtures, addition of numerous electrical receptacles in three bedrooms and library, replacement of bathroom exhaust fan, new 100 amp subpanel in basement, wired and installed 30/240 V car charging station
• Screenman fabricated and installed screens for all third floor windows
• Removal of two diseased city trees (Chestnut tree and Dutch elm), stump grinding
• Installed new Kohler faucet in bar area (butler’s pantry)

click to enlarge

Tacoma’s historic Stadium District is anchored by Stadium High School, an iconic Hewitt and Hewitt designed French Renaissance structure that was originally slated to be a hotel. Construction of the hotel began in 1891 but was halted by an economic downturn before completion in 1893. When a fire burned much of the existing structure in 1898, the city of Tacoma decided to re-purpose the building. Stadium High School opened in 1906. The district that bears its name is located in close proximity to downtown Tacoma, Wright Park, the medical center and the waterfront.

As one of Tacoma’s oldest “suburbs”, the Stadium District features some of the city’s grandest residential architecture. The neighborhood is also home to the Annie Wright Schools, the Tacoma Lawn and Tennis Club and a wide variety of shops and restaurants including Shake, Shake, Shake, Indo and Art House Cafe. Annual neighborhood events include the Dickens Festival and the Art & Wine Walk.