Preservation of Historic Landmarks in Squirepark
Three neighborhood buildings are in different stages of process with the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board. The exterior of the former Coca Cola bottling plant, at 14th Avenue and E. Columbia Street, has been declared a landmark. The building, formerly owned by Qwest, now owned by Seattle University, is being prepared by S.U. which will, at first, use the building for temporary library facilities while the Lemieux Library is renovated and expanded. From the exterior you will notice new windows, which will not be exact duplicates of the originals (mainly because of current energy code requirements), and a paint scheme that is close to the original.
At a meeting in November, the Landmarks Preservation Board accepted the nomination of Washington Hall, at 14th and E. Fir. The public hearing to decide whether or not Washington Hall should be declared a landmark will be held on January 7, 2009 at 3:30 P.M. in room 4060 of the Seattle Municipal Tower. At the November meeting, Dorothy Cordova of the Filipino-American Society spoke of the significance of the dances at Washington Hall to her personally and to many of her generation.
Also speaking in support of the nomination were Olav Kvamme of the Nordic Heritage Museum and Ken Steiner, a board member of the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund and jazz historian who noted the significance of Washington Hall in the history of jazz performance in Seattle. Other speakers supported the nomination on behalf of The Squire Park Community Council, the Central District Forum for Ideas, and the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.
Historic Seattle is working to arrange for the purchase of Washington Hall and securing organizations that would use and preserve the building. The Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas is one group interested in the building.
Finally, SPCC has submitted a nomination to the Landmarks Board for preservation of the George Washington Carmack house at 1522 E. Jefferson Street. The house is the last home of Carmack whose discovery of gold is credited with setting off the Klondike Gold Rush. When, in the near future, this nomination is placed on the Landmarks Board agenda, the nomination document, including a history of the building and of the neighborhood, along with photographs, will be accessible online at http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/landmarks_current_nom.htm. That Web site also will have notices of future meetings to consider this nomination.
The documents and photographs related to the Coca Cola building and Washington Hall are currently available at that Web site. Also, there are articles and pictures about both at www.CentralDistrictNews.com and at Jess Cliffe’s fascinating site www.vintageseattle.org.
—Bill Zosel