Prominent eastside builder George W. Rowley might be the most prolific builder of mid-century homes in the Seattle area that you have never heard of. His building and development business operated under a variety of names, spanning over 30 years, and left an indelible mark on the communities of Issaquah, Sea Tac, and Bellevue. His companies built thousands of homes and had over 1.5 million dollars in sales by 1954.

Builder George Waldo Rowley was born on September 20, 1908, in Magruder, Virginia. He came to Seattle at the age of 12, and attended Garfield High School. He was a business major at the University of Washington and later reportedly took a six-month class in Real Estate at the University of Illinois.

Rowley spent his early career as a salesman for a variety of businesses before forming “General Home Service Inc.”, a real estate investment firm, in 1937. With his partners, Raymond Dolan and Winnifred Biggs, they incorporated the business with $50,000 investment. Rowley served as manager for General Home Services of Seattle. It was there that he met his wife, Patricia, who was a branch manager. Together they had one child, George W. Rowley, Jr.

A variety of other business ventures followed. This included forming the “Home Investment Corporation of Seattle” in 1938 with M.A. Bonnefond, and Jerome K. Kukendall. The “Material Supply Corporation” followed in 1941 with Rowely, Jerome K. Kukendall, and H.M. Hansen.

His “Century Builders Inc.” company was formed in 1946 with D.M. McIntosh, and Leo A. Speck, and tackled every phase of building and developing. The business focused on volume, efficiency and affordability, boasting they could build an entire house in 100 days. With the use of a pegboard “control center,” they cut almost 20 days from average time to build a home in 1955. Focusing their sales to GI’s, their “Nothing-Down Payment Plan,” coupled with a “New House-Furnishing-Purchase Plan,” was an original concept. Such efforts were praised by both the business industry and the building industry. So impressed with their system, noted professor James T. Lendrum, from University of Illinois, chairman of Small Homes Council, called out their work at the National Home Builders conference in 1955. Fortune magazine reported on a unique partnership that Rowley had with G. John Doces of the Majestic Furniture Company, which helped both businesses thrive.

Projects by Century Builders included 20 homes at Ocean Beach Heights in Shorewood neighborhood of Burien (1953); 7 new “Century Ramblers” in the Tally-ho subdivision, Bellevue (1954); 52 homes in Glen Echo subdivision in SeaTac (1955); homes in Mansion Hills by Angle Lake (1955); homes in Holiday Hills and Glenwood in Bellevue (1955-56); 27 homes in Leilani Lane in Bellevue (1957); and 74 homes at West Seattle Fairway subdivision in West Seattle (1953). Many featured a modest ranch home which they called “Centuryettes,” built from a design by William H. Whiteley. Marketed as affordable GI Housing, 41 homes sold in 16 days in the Fairway subdivision when it opened.

Their joint development of the Eastgate neighborhood in Bellevue with builders Bell & Valdez helped put their company on the map. Together, the two builders constructed nearly 1,400 homes over a two-year period. Featured in the 1954, 1955, and 1956 Parade of Homes, their “Tri-level Centuryette” was their most popular model. Designed by Robert Ackle, Century Builders sold four-eight different versions of the model in 2 weeks.

Additional developments followed including over 1,500 homes in Issaquah’s Mountain Park Estates. Ripe for development, at the time when the first phase opened in 1958, the subdivision was the first major home development in Issaquah in over 40 years. Build out of the development continued on a 640 parcel of land for another 30+ years. By this time Rowley had formed additional businesses to handle different aspect of the project. He opened Design Inc. in 1955 to handle the large-scale infrastructure development; the Rowley Agency in 1957 to handle financing; and the homes were built under the name Banner Homes. Several of the homes were also featured in the Parade of Homes in 1958, 1959, and 1960.

Such efforts garnered Rowley the 1962 “Man of the Year” by the Association of general contractors, noting that he had built more than 2,000 homes and was known as “Mr. Eastsider.” In 1963 his son, George W. Rowley, Jr., joined the firm. Then a 22 year-old finance major at University of Washington, George Jr. slowly rose through the ranks of the business and eventually took over several of the various companies.

Outside of the Bellevue area, Rowley and his partners built 120 homes in Ephrata (1954), and built several apartments in Lynwood including the Glenwood Apartments (1969). They also built and developed the 100-acre Northwest Center shopping center in Issaquah (1963, designed by Mandeville & Berge), and went on to manage the various buildings at Point Hudson in Port Townsend (1970).

George Rowley, Sr. passed away in Bellevue on December 25, 1988.

– Michael C Houser