Perhaps the goal is to harmonize with nature. Or perhaps it’s to construct something that’s a bit different. Whatever the case, some houses get built in unusual locations: over creeks, near rivers, in trees, on tiny islands, into hillsides, and overlooking steep slopes. One such house—a house with a stream running under it—is located near me. Although you might not notice it when you drive by (see photo), I always stop to marvel at the stream house when I’m biking along Chico Way.
Like the house, the stream doesn’t have a name. Too steep for salmon runs and too small to be called a creek, it is one of several year-round streams that originate in the hills west of SR3 and flow east, jogging under Chico Way, before emptying into Dyes Inlet. The other streams have homes bordering them, some just a few feet away, but only this one has a house built over it.
I don’t have any special knowledge about the stream house—only what I can see from Chico Way and learn from the Kitsap County assessor’s web site. I think it’s a guest house and not a primary residence. That’s because it shares the same parcel as a larger, newer waterfront house that’s just to its east. Both houses have the same owners and are in the 6300 block of Chico Way.
Built in 1973, long before the shoreline management act was passed, the 700-square-foot house has two bedrooms and a single bath. The roof and siding are in good condition. A wood deck surrounds the house. The deck is accessible, via small footbridges, from either side of the ravine the house straddles. It’s difficult to see the underlying support structure from the road, but it looks to be solid and made from wood.
It would be fun to know the stream house’s history and what it’s like to live or stay there. Was it ever a primary residence? How many architects were consulted before finding one who was up to the challenge of building a house in such a difficult location? Is it cozy inside? And is it perhaps a bit scary when the stream volume increases during one of our rainy atmospheric rivers?
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