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A preserved and revitalized Union Station (above with detail inset) - thanks to $250 million from Paul Allen - is H.Q. to Sound Tansit and the site of Historic Seattle's silver anniversary gala on October 16, 1999.
"Seattle has a sentimental interest in preservation,
but not a genuine one."
David Brewster
The Dearborn House on Minor Avenue, sandwiched by "progress," proves an appropriately stately domicile for Historic Seattle. Inset: The conference room inside.
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Story by Christine Felton
Photos by Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
There was a time when historic preservation was synonymous with white-haired old ladies and the enshrining of relics behind velvet ropes, but according to John Chaney, executive director of the nonprofit Historic Seattle, preservation is no longer simply about saving buildings. It's about what insiders term "the built environment," and its effect on communities. Historic Seattle has spent the last quarter century promoting that idea.
"The preservation movement corresponds to the general raising of consciousness in 1960s," says Seattle historian Paul Dorpat. "By the 1970s, you have a fairly established interest in preservation, and groups to advocate." Dorpat points to the destruction of the Occidental Hotel in 1961 as the galvanizing incident behind the preservation movement in the city. Although residents rallied to save the hotel, it was replaced by a parking garage.
"What we were finding," says Chaney, "was a desire on the part of the community to preserve these special places, which had really fallen into pretty strong economic disuse. But there was no vehicle for doing that."
In 1974, one year after the City Council created the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, it established Historic Seattle as a public development authority. Unlike the city's Landmarks Preservation Board, Historic Seattle has no power to bestow landmark status. Its function is to educate the public, advocate for significant buildings and aid in restoring utility to properties that have fallen into disuse. The concept is known as adaptive reuse.
Some examples are the transformation of Queen Anne High School into apartments, and Capitol Hill's Belmont-Boylston homes, now low-income housing. Historic Seattle can acquire and manage properties, or work with developers and community volunteers to find alternatives to demolition. The Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford was slated to be razed but is now a community hub for non-profits. Had adaptive reuse been practiced earlier in the century, Seattle might still have its original and stately downtown post office & library.
Historic Seattle's other success stories include the Pioneer Building, Pioneer Place and its pergola, and the Ward House, which was moved from its original location on Boren Street to Denny Way and adapted to house a local law firm.
Though not all buildings are so significant that they must be saved, many important properties remain unprotected because no one has bothered to nominate them. The city's Landmarks Ordinance criteria favors structures associated with an important event, person, architectural style or designer, or structures that contribute to the visual identity of a community. Anyone can nominate a historic site.
Former Seattle Weekly editor and publisher David Brewster believes the coming years will test residents' commitment to preservation. (Brewster recently headed the project to convert the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist on Eighth and Seneca into a Town Hall center for the arts.) "In boom times like this," he says, "with rapidly rising real estate prices and pressures on old districts such as Pioneer Square from the stadiums and development, we will need to do a lot better. Seattle has a sentimental interest in preservation, but not a genuine one. The key need is for a large revolving fund so Historic Seattle can step in and purchase temporarily endangered buildings."
Jo Anne Seel, founder of the citywide preservation group Urban Balance, agrees. "There needs to be some way to direct developers to properties that really require development. If the public is serious about maintaining historic properties, we need to have more tools at our disposal than what the Landmarks Preservation Board offers."
In answer to that need, Historic Seattle is launching a Save the Buildings Fund and plans to establish the Northwest Center for Architectural Preservation for those interested in researching and pursuing preservation.
Seattle residents are eager to learn about and preserve the city's heritage, especially at the neighborhood level, says Beth Chave, coordinator of the Landmarks Preservation Board. "Right now we are concentrating on the neighborhood planning process and weaving historic preservation into those efforts."
As the Growth Management Act and the Urban Village concept push for density in Seattle's neighborhoods, one- and two-story buildings will be the first to go. Other cities around the country have a much better record of establishing protected historic districts that share architectural characterstics. For example, Denver has 30 to 35 historic districts. Seattle has seven.
Says Chaney, "I'm sometimes concerned that people will say, 'We've preserved the Market, we've preserved Pioneer Square Isn't that enough?' My feeling is it's not enough. Every day, the stewardship of Seattle is in the hands of every citizen who makes a decision about change.
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