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I first talked about the Denny Hotel about a year ago and have been meaning to return to it. This old Victorian hotel has always intrigued me, mostly because it had a pretty rocky existence. It was built in 1889 by developers including Arthur Denny but in-fighting and market woes kept it unfinished until 1903. That year (renamed the Washington Hotel) it had a remarkable guest in Teddy Roosevelt and enjoyed brief success before being torn down for the Denny Regrade in 1907 (see that old post). The hotel stood roughly where the Moore Theater is today. It’s a shame that such a majestic hotel had such bad luck.

The Denny/Washington Hotel. Built 1889, demolished 1907. “The scenic hotel of the world, and without question the best hotel west of New York. Elegantly furnished rooms. Over one hundred private baths. European or American plan. Headquarters for everybody.”

Today’s Past Postcard is, well, I don’t know. It was redacted by someone after March 1944. Come on now, kind examiner! Private Hugh ——– was just trying to tell ——— about his time at ———– in Seattle during his leave. Can anyone make anything out? Give the thumbnails a click and let’s see who has the most elite Photoshop CSI skills.

Front: Aeroplane View Of Seattle, Washington.

Back: Postcard sent March, 1944. Censored by Army Examiner.

Planned obsolescence be damned! The Central District’s Fire Station No. 23 had stood for more than 81 years serving the city in one way or another. Since the 1960’s, it has housed CAMP (the Central Area Motivation Program). I’ve come up empty handed trying to find background on the fire station itself. Anyone who can help? Meanwhile, check out these 1927 Municipal Archives photos, followed by my modern day shots.

Front view of Eighteenth Avenue Fire Station No. 23 at Cherry Street, 1927. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, Engineering Department Photographic Negatives.	Side view of Eighteenth Avenue Fire Station No. 23 at Cherry Street, 1927. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, Engineering Department Photographic Negatives.
Corresponding modern day photo of the side view.	Looking along the front of the fire house reveals that some windows have been bricked-in.
The doors are still painted “fire red.”	Showing nice door trim stonework.
Stepping back to the intersection for a wide angle view.	Alternate angle along Cherry. The tower has lost its original hipped roof.

I’m serving up two early photos from the University of Washington campus. First up, you’ll find the Chimes and Observatory. The chimes from the tower were a gift from A.J. Blethen (see his house here) and rang until the tower burned down in the late 1940’s. The 1895 built Observatory is still in use (see photo). Next up is Denny Hall, built in 1895 and site of the University’s first administration building. It is also still in use today (see photo). Click on the images for high-res copies.

Chimes and Observatory — U of W Campus — 1112

Looking West To Denny Hall — U.W. Campus — Seattle — 1114

Just into year 2 here and Chainsaw Riggins, Vintage Seattle reader of superior name, requested more Reframes for the coming blog year. And really, how can you say no to someone named “Chainsaw Riggins”? So I loaded up my gear and headed down toward Alki in my new home, West Seattle. See the Reframe comparisons — Seattle Municipal Archives photos from 1933 and present day. We have these vintage photos because of a mud slide that year. If there are any other requests, just call it out like Chainsaw did.

Dec 22, 1933: Halleck Ave. SW and SW College St. slide. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, Water Department Photographic Negatives Collection.

May 4, 2008: Looking down Halleck at present day. You’ll notice that many of the structures from the 1933 photo still exist.

Dec 22, 1933: Halleck Ave. SW and SW College St. slide. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, Water Department Photographic Negatives Collection.

May 4, 2008: Looking up Halleck Ave toward SW College St at present day. The home at the intersection is still standing and now has a deck.

The Washington State History Museum’s Abigail Azote writes in to let us know about a KUOW feature on the second oldest photo of Seattle. It’s not quite as high-res as we’d like, but maybe that means you and I need to head to the museum to see it in person. Take it away, Abigail.

Robinson panorama photograph of Seattle, Wash., dated 1869. Courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society.

It’s hard for me to believe, but today marks the one year mark for Vintage Seattle. It opened up precisely one year ago. I’ll skip the year in review since a 2007 In Review was already posted. Instead, I’ll be celebrating. Big thanks to all of you who’ve been loyal visitors for this past year. This blog certainly wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without all of the reader involvement. Here’s to the next year, as Vintage Seattle itself becomes vintage!

Original May 2007 Vintage Seattle logo.

Just a quick follow-up on last week’s discussion of a 1914 Queen Anne High School playfield photo. I did some digging and it looks like my initial thought that the field was to the south of the school along 2nd/3rd and Highland is most likely wrong. Though the pictures are from more than a decade later, they give us a good idea of what this area looked like. The photos come from the 1928 Kuay Annual (QAHS yearbook) showing construction of the auditorium, which was just behind the original structure to the south (where the fountain is now). In addition, the yearbook these images were scanned from was owned by Custer Chappell (pictured below), who was a successful track star at the school. He was one of the only black American students at the school in 1928. Click on the images for more resolution.

Queen Anne High School, 1928.

Bird’s-eye view of new center of activities — the auditorium.

Skeleton of new auditorium.

Civic auditorium from new locker rooms.

“We be of sky aspiring, and ambitious thoughts.”

The 1928 Queen Anne High School yearbook these images were scanned from was owned by Custer Chappell (pictured), who was a track and football star at the school. He was one of the only black American students at the school in 1928.

With Amazon.com announcing their plans to move to South Lake Union, the future of the iconic headquarters atop Beacon Hill is uncertain. A number of potential future tenants have already been in talks with the company’s landlord. Will it be more biotech? Condos? Hard to say right now. The Art Deco Marine Hospital operated until it was closed in the late eighties. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and granted landmark status in 1992. Check out this postcard from the 50’s/60’s.

U.S. Public Health Service Hospital, Seattle, Washington. “This 323 bed hospital located at 1131 14th Avenue South was built on land donated by the City of Seattle and was opened in 1933. It is devoted to the care of certain classes of legal beneficiaries of the Federal Government. These include American Merchant Seamen, members of the U.S. Coast Guard, members of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Government employees when injured in line of duty, dependents of members of the uniformed services and others. It is staffed by Commissioned Officers and Civil Service Employees of the Public Health Service.”

Thanks for checking back in for Part 2 of my Marlborough House tour — now 83 condos from Live Historic with move-in expected this summer. If you missed Part 1, check it out for exterior photos. Onward! This Gothic revival style building was constructed in 1927 and was even once home to a member of the British royal family. Designed by architect Bertram Dudley Stuart, it was one of Seattle’s first high-rise apartment buildings. If you haven’t ever seen this towering piece of history, you do need to head to First Hill and have a look. The arched windows, elaborate terra cotta, golden brick, formal entry, and sheer size are worth taking in and appreciating. Oh, and if you end up buying the 2000+ square foot penthouse with the 900 square foot terrace — please invite Vintage Seattle to the first party up there. Please? Thanks to Kate Miller and Pat Foley of Live Historic for the tour.

Stepping into the formal entry, you’ll find original marble floors and detailed millwork.	The front windows bear the original Marlborough insignia.
Living room of a first floor studio.	Dining area of said studio.
Many parts of the building are still undergoing major renovations.	These photos give a glimpse of the various updates made through the years.
The top floor penthouse will keep this original mantle.	This ducting collects from all lower floors.
Another mantle and textured walls going through renovations.	This penthouse steps out onto a 900 square foot terrace.
The terrace has some pretty amazing city views.	Once the scaffolding goes away this area will surely host some high class dinner parties.
Down in the boiler room you can find a stove that was once used to power the steam radiators throughout the building. The radiators still work.	This ground level kitchen is a work in progress.
Just inside the entry are these original mailboxes.	The building elevators.
Another kitchen area being gutted.	Each door has an original piece.

A few months ago, while lamenting the loss of the Northcliffe Apartment Building, I spied construction equipment gathering around First Hill’s historic Marlborough House apartments. Come to find out, Live Historic purchased the property for a condo conversion. This was good news since my previous tours of the Queen’s Court and The Pittsburgh had revealed solid craftsmanship and sound preservation. Kate Miller and Pat Foley of Live Historic invited me out last week to walk through the current state of The Marlborough, which is now selling, and I jumped at the chance. Now for Part 1 of this feature I’ll concentrate on the condos for sale and the exterior while Part 2 has interior shots and building history. The Marlborough has now been converted into 83 condos (22 studio, 50 1BR, six 2BR, two 3BR, and two penthouses) ranging from 516 sq ft up to 2,184. You can expect to see pricing in the $225,000 to over 1 million — depending on square footage. Get a load of these exterior shots and look back tomorrow for interior shots and more on the building’s legacy. Click on the thumbnails for higher-res shots.

Vintage photograph of The Marlborough. Image courtesy Washington State Archives: Puget Sound Branch.	Similar framing today of the building. The ornate home on the right has become a parking lot.
“Marlborough House” etched in terra cotta above the main doorway.	The 1920’s Gothic revival building has many intricate architectural details.
Wide angle view of the building from across Boren.	Back of the building, with the original parking garage out of frame to the left.
Looking up at the side of this golden brick beauty.	Even the parking garage features these touches of terra cotta detail.
Trim around the front of the building.	Close-up of trim detail.
Back of the building, through the trees. Construction is expected to end in the summer.	Notice the difference in brick color due to the acid based power wash. Project managers think the brick had actually never been cleaned.

What a pleasant weekend — at least in between rain showers it was. For those of you lucky enough to spend it tooling around Green Lake, I’m offering up the latest in our “Panorama-o-rama” series featuring said lake circa 1907. Look for my photos of the recently unveiled Marlborough later this week. Until then, here’s the lake. Click on the photo for higher resolution.

Green Lake, c1907. Copyright deposit; Pillsbury Picture Co.; January 7, 1907; DLC/PP-1907:43104. Image courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

I was reading this UrbanAsh blog entry about 30 townhomes being proposed for the site of Queen Anne High School’s gym, and was reminded of a photo from my archives. After some digging, I found this 1914 photo showing the high school’s original playfield. If you locate QAHS on the map I had originally thought that this field might have stood to the south along 2nd/3rd and Highland. However, some VS readers in the comments think this area was too steep. The current theories are that the field was across Galer where Hay School now sits or to the east of the arrow toward 3rd/4th. Let us know in the comments if you have any more information.

Boys playing baseball on Queen Anne High School playfield, Seattle, ca. 1914. Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection 1983.10.8918.2

Anne Forestieri let me know about an upcoming lecture by Alan Hess on Googie architecture held on May 21 at the Swedish Club. Here are the details below and I’ve coupled two postcards of some modern Seattle buildings, Washington Plaza and the Norton Building. Thanks Anne, we’ll see you there.

Front: Washington Plaza Hotel Seattle Washington. This 40-story circular toward — 96 feet in diameter — is Seattle’s newest hotel. Combined with the Benjamin Franklin Hotel, the entire complex provides a total of 715 guest rooms; an adjacent seven-story garage accommodates 415 cars. The unusual building and beautifully landscaped plaza give an entirely new concept to the downtown section of Seattle.

Front: The Norton Building. 1st and Columbia, Seattle, Wash. The new, unique 21-story office building has 200,000 square feet of office space and a 300 car parking garage. This building has the appearance of being built completely of glass and aluminum. It has complete air conditioning throughout and was built at a cost of $12 million. It has the finest elevators in the country and all elevator cars go directly to the parking area. On the top floor is the Harbor Club, a membership men’s club.

Jonathan Hanlon wrote in today inquiring about the four early 20th century homes on Republican St in South Lake Union. It just so happens that I’ve had my eye on these for quite some time, having been a SLU resident before. These four homes are nearly all that is left of the original Cascade Neighborhood early dwellings (there are a few others peppered around the area, but not consecutive). The Department Of Neighborhoods has a very in-depth writeup on the houses, two of which date to 1900 and the other two to 1905. One of the most striking things you’ll notice about theses homes is their sunken lots, having been victims of the Denny Regrade. The DON article also mentions that Troy Laundry workers were once housed here (see my Troy Laundry feature here — see how everything is fitting together?). Read Jonathan’s note below and my photos even lower. I promise we’ll give SLU a rest for at least a little while — it’s off to First Hill tomorrow morning for a tour of the Marlborough.

1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union. Photographs by Jess Cliffe.	1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.
1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.	1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.
1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.	1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.
1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.	1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.
1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.	1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.
1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.	1114-1124 Republican St homes in South Lake Union.