This month marks two milestones for one of Ballard Avenue’s most recognizable historic properties: Italian restaurant San Fermo (5341 Ballard Ave NW) is celebrating its 10th anniversary on May 14, while the Pioneer Houses that it occupies have now spent 50 years in Ballard.
My Ballard first reported in April 2015 that the Pioneer Houses on Ballard Avenue NW were being restored and transformed into an Italian restaurant by Jeff Ofelt and Wade Weigel of Percy’s and Co., along with Tim Baker. At the time, the restoration project was already underway, with plans for a two-story, 50-seat restaurant featuring a spiral staircase, open kitchen, banquette seating, and a bar area in the back.
San Fermo opened its doors about a year after the renovations started, in May 2016.
According to information from Historic Seattle, the Pioneer Houses were originally built around 1880, making them roughly 170 years old. The carpenter-built wood frame houses were originally located in what is now Seattle’s International District and were considered among the city’s oldest intact residential properties due to their unusual vertical-plank construction.
Historic Seattle says the buildings were threatened with demolition in 1975 after the land they occupied was sought for a nearby bank expansion. The bank offered to donate the houses and help fund their relocation if Historic Seattle could move them.
After efforts to find a new site in the International District were unsuccessful, the houses were relocated to Ballard in 1976, where Historic Seattle said they were compatible with the character of the newly created Ballard Avenue Landmark District. The exteriors were restored and the interiors remodeled for adaptive reuse as professional offices.
Historic Seattle notes that the property was later sold with a preservation easement requiring the exterior appearance of the homes to be maintained. The buildings are now occupied by San Fermo.
San Fermo will be running specials from its farm @swanhousefarm all weekend to celebrate. They plan to serve complimentary bubbles on arrival.
“Come join us and raise a glass to all of the wonderful people on our team that make this little joint work!” they wrote in a post about the celebration.
Photo: San Fermo