Allen, a retired orthopedic surgeon, and Joan, a retired RN, first discovered the property along Evergreen Point Drive 46 years ago. They fell in love with the lot immediately, so much so that they made an offer that very day. Working with architect David Hewitt, they designed the home from the ground up, completing it in 1980. 

At the time, their two sons were eight and five, and the family was preparing to welcome their three-month-old daughter, whom they were adopting from Korea. All three children would grow up in the home, attending Medina Elementary and Chinook Middle School, and over the years filling the house with friends, neighbors, and family. “We always had a lot of kids in our house, and we always tried to make our home a magnet place for the kids in the community to feel welcome,” Allen recalls. That meant swimming, exploring, riding bikes, heading to the beach or Green Store, and, occasionally, jumping from the roof of the boathouse into Lake Washington. “They had a blast playing over here over the years,” he says.

The home evolved along with the family through three major remodels, although Allen says the original design was ahead of its time. An open kitchen and family room, expansive windows, and numerous skylights kept the home functional, open and bright as their family grew. Life here also provided a front-row seat to some quintessentially Northwest experiences. Allen and Joan reminisced about hosting Medina Days, Seafair and Blue Angels gatherings, Memorial and Labor Day weekends, family picnics, lawn games, and beach bonfires. Allen’s coworkers enjoyed the setting so much that his office parties often ended up at their house, too.

Even everyday life brought memorable moments, from watching UW crew teams row past for their practices, to witnessing the construction of the new 520 bridge and seeing the bridge uplighting change to support our sports teams with their colors. “Watching the 520 Bridge be built was pretty incredible!” Allen says. “Seeing these giant cranes go by on the barges was pretty impressive!”

Today their children are grown, with their sons still in Washington and their daughter living in Texas, and Allen and Joan are now grandparents to two grandsons and two granddaughters. With an empty nest, they’ve decided it’s time to downsize to a condo in Issaquah, currently being remodeled. In the meantime, they’re enjoying their cabin on Decatur Island in the San Juans.

Leaving, however, is bittersweet. “I hope a family gets our home, because it’s been such a wonderful family home,” Joan says. She hopes its next owners will fill it with the same kind of laughter, gatherings, and memories that have defined their years there. For Allen, it’s also difficult to leave the natural beauty that has surrounded their family for so long. “The Northwest has beauty to it that overshadows so much of the busy-ness of our world,” he says.

After 46 years, Allen and Joan may be closing one chapter, but the home they built for their young family has become so much more than they could have imagined that day they first fell in love with the property. Now, they’re ready for someone new to make it their own and begin filling it with a lifetime of memories, too.