It can’t be too bad. I trust the cat.

Got a metal detector? You might find buried treasure!

I would probably lower it so that the entire floor is one level; it may be a step up from the adjacent room but it looks like there might be a doorway there so a natural transition??

Although if you have kids or dramatic/musical/artistic friends/family that would make a spectacular stage!

As to why it's there to begin with, all sorts of different building techniques have been used in the past 100 years. Lots of cellars and basements with dirt floors out there :)

I'm baffled.

I agree with spiritflower. More than likely there is a ledge there. The only way to know for sure is to open up the plywood.

We had a 19065 house in Calgary . The house had been raised to put in a basement in 1946 and one room was built over dirt not sure about the reason but it was one step up from the rest of the basement and it didn’t seem to be an issue so we left it and finished the space as our guest room it was cozy and our guests always commented on how nice it was. I am thinking that yours might cover something a little larger I would pull up the top and see what is there and post some pics

I have never seen anything like this before. Following - thanks.

Before you consider taking it down, stick a camera in there and have a look...

Are any of the paneled walls abutting the plywood structure outside walls? If so, given the age of your house, that space could have been either a coal bin or wood bin to stoke a furnace or boiler. I don’t know about Seattle, but here in the Midwest, most houses of that age had a coal/wood bin by a foundation wall with a window that was used as a chute. I remember my grandmothers bin had a dirt floor.

I agree it probably had a wall and was the coal or wood cellar.

Let us know what you find.

I appreciate the level of input (wow)! Great ideas. I really hope it's not a situation similar to the pic below (haha)...and if only it was that easy to open the heavy wood structure, which is multiple layers of plywood held together by 2x4s and alot of nails.

I will give you an update when we have one. Thank you!

It’s a tomb!

jk

It's not a tomb-ah!

Maybe it was a crawl space at one point that was turned into a basement? Instead of hauling the dirt out, they piled it up and enclosed it.

Inquiring minds want to know. Following!