The Clise family's influence on the Seattle commercial real estate market began on June 7, 1889, when James W. (JW) Clise arrived in Seattle with his wife, Anna Herr Clise, and their daughter, Ruth, the day after the Great Seattle Fire destroyed much of the city's downtown. He soon began to acquire and manage properties in the city and started the Clise Investment Company, which developed rapidly. Clise's largest early sale came when JW sold land in Pioneer Square to Lyman C. Smith, who built the Smith Tower on that land.

JW's son Charlie ran the business with his father after he returned from serving as an engineering officer during World War I. During the Great Depression, Charlie Clise purchased a large tract of developable downtown land in Seattle's Denny Regrade area. Charlie's son Alfred joined the company in 1950 and assumed leadership of the company after Charlie's death in 1961. Alfred's son Al first worked for Clise while he was in high school before officially joining the business in 1980. He became responsible for the company's day-to-day operations in 1985 and formally assumed leadership after Alfred's death in 1993. During Al's tenure, Clise Properties, Inc. redeveloped the Westin Building into a telecommunications carrier hotel and, in 2012, sold much of the land that Charlie Clise had acquired in the Denny Regrade area to Amazon.

Rosalind Cornelia (Hammer) Clise was born on February 4, 1891 in New Haven, Connecticut. She married Charles Francis Clise in 1913. The couple had four children: Jocelyn, Sylvia, Alfred, and Charles. Rosalind Clise was involved with the Seattle Girl Scouts and donated funds and helped to acquire property for the Scout Camp Robinswood on the Hood Canal. She also donated money to purchase land for Camp Terrywood on Mercer Island and another camp near Carnation, Washington. Rosalind Clise died in December 1979.

Sylvia Clise Duryee was born on August 4, 1925 to Charles Francis and Rosalind Hammer Clise. She graduated from The Bush School in 1943 and then attended the University of Washington, where she studied art and received her Master of Arts in Ceramics. She was later the president of the Seattle Clay Club and sold her pottery through the Henry Art Gallery and Seattle Art Museum. Duryee met her husband, Philip Albert Duryee, while racing International 14 sailboats on Lake Washington. The couple married in 1955 and had two children, Cornelia and Schuyler. In addition to sailing and boat racing, Duryee's interests in the outdoors included her membership and support of the Girl Scouts and her membership in the Mountaineers. Like her mother Rosalind, she helped to found a Girl Scout camp, Camp Towhee in Sumas, Washington. She was also an avid gardener, and helped to found and administer the Hardy Fern Foundation and ran a Seed Exchange with her sister Jocelyn and friends from around the world. Sylvia also served on committees and boards of the Totem Girl Scout Council, the Northwest Horticultural Society, the Lake Washington Garden Club, the Seattle Garden Club, the Washington Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and the Arboretum Foundation. Sylvia Duryee died on December 20, 2014.