Harve Harrison served the City of Edmonds as mayor from 1967-1983, the longest consecutive-term mayor in Edmonds history. At the beginning of his term, the mayor’s position was only a part-time job. But Harrison had a vision for cleaning up the Edmonds downtown area. With the help of Al Kincaid, president of the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce, investor and builder J. Ward Phillips and other business leaders, Harrison was instrumental in rejuvenating Edmonds in the 1970s. A few years after the beginning of his tenure, his mayoral position was upgraded to a full-time job.
Harrison was described as a quiet but effective leader who was committed to the Edmonds community and the town’s quality of life. He was instrumental in the development of the Emerald Hills area, along with many of our city parks and the city’s waterfront. To learn more about Harve Harrison, you can read a tribute published by My Edmonds News in 2016.
A brief history of the Harrison Home at 210 Sunset Avenue
When Harve Harrison retired, he had just finished building a new home on Sunset Ave between Bell and Edmonds Streets. The house consisted of two stories and a full furnished basement for approximately 3,400 square feet of living space, plus a 600-square-foot detached garage.
Over the next three decades, this was the home of the Harrison family and according to longtime residents it was the site of numerous neighborhood gatherings, parties as well as meetings.
Author’s note: I have been told that there are numerous stories about the house and occurrences there, which might be the basis for a follow-on article in the future.
The residence was owned by Harrison and his wife until 2016, the year that Harve Harrison died. The ownership of the home was then transferred to their daughter Cornelia Birkland. In 2023, Birkland sold the home to Jerry Masters, who had lived next door since 2017.
Plans and initial preparation for the house’s future
Jerry Master plans to build a new home on the lot where the Harrison home sits, but he did not want to demolish the home and have tons of debris and refuse go to a landfill, nor did he want the demolition to cause major interruptions for his neighbors.
Over the past two years, Master investigated options for donating the house to a worthy cause. He discovered that moving the house across land would cause major interruptions and also be very expensive. In the end, he decided to work with the nonprofit House Donation Group and Nickel Brothers to raise the house up and transfer it by truck and then barge to a new site in Poulsbo. There, the building will serve as a new home for those in need.
Current status of move preparation
Nickel Brothers’ crew have been working for a couple of weeks preparing the house for its eventual transport. Here are a few photos of the progress to date.
On Wednesday June 18, as I understand it, two large motors will be positioned at the northwest and southeast corners of the house. The motors will then drive wheels, which will “spin” the structure. The house will be rotated 90 degrees so that the ends of the house will point east and west.
The planned move
To minimize disruption, Jerry Masters has coordinated with local authorities and the movers to move the house after all the trains and ferries have stopped running on the evening of Friday, June 27 and into the early morning of June 28. It’s my understanding that the house, which will have been rotated, will be carefully slid down from its current location onto a waiting truck and secured for transport to a barge near Beach Place on Puget Sound.
The next step will be to transport the Harrison house to Poulsbo via the barge, and then transported by truck to its new home.
In reflection: As a history writer I had heard of Harve Harrison and his many accomplishments as mayor, but I didn’t know much about his home or his life after he retired. After learning a little more about his and the house’s history, I am confident that he will be extremely pleased with his home’s future.
After talking with Jerry Masters and seeing the thoughtful and caring plans he and House Donation Group have put into place to save the home, eliminate the massive debris and refuse dump into a landfill and to provide much needed housing, how could Mayor Harrison not be pleased?
Such a great story about a man (and his family) who was such an influential part of Edmonds. Great to see a physical part of our town going to serve “goodness”!
Thanks Tina. I agree that the on-going legacy of Harve’s goodness continues through the efforts to preserve the home by the Masters family.
Jerry Masters is my new favorite human! In a town where the rich compete to out-build their mansions and where ego’s rule, it’s so refreshing to hear that decent, kind and philanthropic people still exist. Thank you Mr. Maters, for caring for others who may not have the resources to thrive in their own.
So happy to read it this house will go to those in need and not the landfill. Perfect solution!
My husband proposed to me right across the street from this house 14 years ago on the park bench.
It was mid July, and the folks at this house must have been having a party – the deck was filled with folks who witnessed our event, and began cheering… It was awesome. Nice to know the history of the house.
How interesting! Not looking forward to another ugly grey box to go there though. Those 2 new construction houses on Sunset completely ruin the street’s aesthetic and are eye sores. I hope whatever home they build will be tasteful and timeless instead of an ego swing. Those homes will not age well design wise…it’s really a shame.
Harve and Jody were lifetime friends of my late wife’s parents. Harve was an architect/designer and designed and built that house as a bed and breakfast that Jody managed for years. Harve was also a diver, and they had a business that my late wife worked at called Scuba Scoop – somewhere near where Rory’s is now. Harve was also instrumental in creating the dive park off Brackett’s Landing.
I had the good fortune to meet with Harve Harrison in his home in 2011 when I was running for Edmonds City Council. He was generous with supportive advice about my run for office. He shared interesting contrasts between Edmonds elected officials’ decision making processes when he was Mayor versus in 2011. I was delighted to be able to learn from this kind and gracious man whose leadership gave so much to Edmonds.
Harve’s daughter’s selection of a trusted neighbor to sell the home to, Jerry Masters’ sensitivity to his neighbors and to the environment, and his incredibly generous gift to House Donation Group add up to an amazing gift to all of Edmonds which honors Mayor Harrison’s legacy. Thank you.
Byron,
I look forward to a future article on Jerry Masters. Builder J. Ward Phillips was also mentioned in this article. I recall from a previous article of yours that Mr. Phillips’ contributions to Edmonds might also be featured. Did I miss that article?
Joan when I wrote the original article that mentioned J. Ward Phillips (i.e. Downtown Edmonds and the Fred Schneider Building – Part II) I had conversed with Ward regarding his early involvement.
When I later broached the subject of doing a secondary article on his contributions to the city he did not have the time to invest in that venture, so a follow-on article was never written. Despite that fact J. Ward Phillips in many ways was one of the key players that revitalized the city in the early 1970s. The trio of J.Ward Phillips, Al Kincaid and Harve Harrison along with several key business owners turned the city’s fortunes around.
Thank you, Mr. Masters, for going through so much effort to do the right thing here. This is the way.
Well done Jerry!
Sad to see yet another of the classic style homes of Sunset go, but if it must happen it sounds like this was a very well thought out and generous way to make sure it lives on elsewhere.
All I can say is wow! What a beautiful story. Harve and Jodie Harrison were our best friends. My ex-husband Mike Santopolo helped build the house with Harve. We spent many nights there having dinners and stories with the Harrison. My two girls Trina and Gina Santopolo were in grade school. After school and work we would go to the Harrison’s and the girls would draw pictures on the subfloor in the living room then put the date down. It was always so fun there. Harve was my boss at the city of Edmonds. he was the mayor
Harve and Jodie would be so happy to know that you purchased the house Jerry. That you moved it to a place where others could live. Something they would totally do.
Thank you. Gayle Anderson