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Surrey Downs Main Street south to SE 3rd,
The Surrey Downs subdivision is important as an example of an early subdivision in the Bellevue area. The most significant feature is the houses designed by the architectural firm of this Mithun & Nesland. The developer, Roxbury Homes, originally purchased about 80 acres of property for Surrey Downs in 1952. The property had been a filbert farm and included an early log cabin, allegedly one of the oldest houses in Bellevue. The log cabin was demolished when the subdivision was developed. Another point of interest about the farm was that Native American sculptor Dudley Carter lived in one of the houses on the property. These homes were built between 1954 and 1956. An open house in Surrey Downs was held in June 1955 to show off one of the Mithun & Nesland designs The other houses in the Surrey Downs subdivision are more typical suburban homes of the 1950s and 1960s and lack the architectural unity and quality of the early Mithun & Nesland designs. The Surrey Downs subdivision is included in the survey because of its early representative, high quality suburban house designs. It relates to the study unit themes of architecture and community planning/development. The designs, locations, and the orientation of houses were intended to be harmonious, not repetitious, as found in many of the standard ranch-style subdivision of its day. |