VintageSeattle.org

What if the Kingdome never existed? I was recently routing through some old city archives and found a few rather interesting documents. Being a big Seattle Mariners fan, these seem even more interesting. It’s a 1963 proposal from the Cheney Construction Company (and associates) to the Central Association (who is now the Downtown Seattle Association) regarding a new 70,000 seat stadium to literally be built in Puget Sound. The stadium was to have a forward thinking retractable roof. Remember, this wasn’t realized in Seattle until 1999 with Safeco Field. For those keeping score at home, this was also 13 years before the Kingdome was built. Check out the old propsal documents, schematic, map, and pencil sketch. Click on the images for a larger view:

Page one of the proposal from Cheney Construction Company for the stadium to be located on Seattle’s central waterfront. This pages lists 75,000 seats while the overhead schematic shows 70,000.	Page two of the proposal discussing cost and financing. Interestingly, the cost analysis seems to be coming *after* the proposal, nice! But a budget of $15 million is given as a, um, ballpark.
Overhead schematic showing baseball diamond and football field areas as well as seating levels.	Map showing the location of the proposed stadium in relation to Seattle Center. The planners also wanted to connect the monorail to this facility.
Pencil sketch of the stadium. Imagine getting directly to a Mariners game by boat! Seattle Center and the Needle can be seen in the background.

The theme this week seems to be buildings turning 100. We’ve got St. James Cathedral, Good Shepherd, and Pike Place Market. Here are this week’s Links To The Past.

• Sodo Needs Shades Of Blue Jerry Large of The Seattle Times reacts to the recent article about Henry Liebman wanting to turn Sodo into one giant condo.
• Is Seattle A ‘Two-Dollar Whore’? Mossback is, err, back and taking a look at how we want it both ways when it comes to historic preservation. As usual, very insightful.
• St. James Celebrates 100 Years We may not all be able to agree on the merits of religion, but you can’t deny that this Seattle landmark is something to behold. I’m going to check into getting on one of Julie Impett’s tours.
• After Rehab, Fixer Is Now Half-Million-Dollar Baby 1911 Craftsman sold for $315,000, flipped and now selling for $549,000. This one should interest all you real estate junkies as well. Think they’ll make much money on it given the current Seattle housing market?
• Party To Celebrate As Good Shepherd Building Turns 100 I’d posted on the Good Shepherd Building celebration a little while ago. Give a report in the comments if you attended.
• Pike Place Market At 100 The Seattle Times has this page dedicated to Pike Place Market and their 100 year old mark.

So how many of you went to Bite Of Seattle this past weekend at Seattle Center? *raises hand* Just made it out on Sunday and was lucky enough to have missed the rain. Turnout, vendor-wise and traffic-wise, seemed to be down from last year — but that may be since I went on Sunday this year… and the rain. That’s OK though, because I remember last year being utterly packed. As always, though, the food was tasty. Though I do wish Bite was more sample-y. You know, actually introduce you to more places rather than a “buy a meal from us” type of thing. Well anyway, let’s take a trip back to the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair for this Past Postcard of the World’s Largest Birthday Cake! 25,000 pounds! See, celebrating wastefulness and consumerism isn’t just a new fad. So sad for Seattle though, as it looks like the record now rests with Las Vegas (130,000 pounds). Let’s try for 200,000 pounds next time. I’ll help with the scarfing. Have a closer look at the vintage postcard:

Front: The World’s Largest Birthday Cake, 25,000 Pounds, Food Circus, Seattle World’s Fair 1962.

Back: Celebrating Paul Bunyan’s 128th birthday. “A site and a taste to remember.” Indeed.

Shoppers downtown on Pike and Pine will often look up, vexed, seeing a building that just doesn’t quite fit in with the ultra modern surroundings. This anachronism is the Coliseum Theatre on 500 Pike St. Built in 1916 by famed Seattle architect B. Marcus Priteca for real estate mogul Joseph Gottstein, this beautiful building served as a movie theatre along with retail at street level. You may already know Priteca’s work, having designed a number of famous theaters such as Seattle’s Orpheum and many Pantages Theaters. The Coliseum’s white glazed terra-cotta really has to be seen in person to fully appreciate. Check it out next time you’re across the street at the Diesel store paying $200 for a pair of jeans. Oh my. I digress; anyway, the building was shut down in 1990 and today houses a Banana Republic store. Check out this page that has some 16mm shots taken before it was closed and converted. And now for the hi-res images of what remains today. Click on the images for a better look:

Coliseum Theater perspective drawing by B. Marcus Priteca. Notice the original version of the grand entrance. Courtesy Richard F. McCann Collection.	The building today, in the same view as the sketch was done. The site now houses a Banana Republic store.
The entrance to the building. Though the original canopy entry is gone, this area of the building is still breath-taking.	South face of the building. You can see the extensive detail work in the terra-cotta.
Even more terra-cotta trim and detail on the southeast side of the building. The contrast here is with the modern building to the east.	Another take on the retail window displays, which was designed into the original theater.

Err, that would be the week ending July 22. It’s a pretty busy week with regards to Seattle’s history — have a read.

• Seattle Is A City Flush With Forgetting Mossback takes a look at historic preservation in Seattle and the battle between new blood and old bones. A great read, as always.
• Can We Afford Historic Preservation? Now it’s The Paper Noose on historic preservation and progress as the new religion. Pithy in the Paper Noose style.
• Condo Conversion At Smith Tower One Step Closer Usually the words “condo” and “historic landmark” do not go well together, but this time around it’s not quite as scary as one of Seattle’s most historic skyscrapes preps to become some rich people’s home.
• Any Old Buyer Won’t Do In Kirkland I know, I know. This is called VintageSeattle, but let’s take a quick detour over to the east side for once.
• Pioneer Square: History Vs Renewal Jeff Roush takes a look at the Seattle Plumbing Building and hopes the city will not put housing before history. This reminds me that I need to document this building before they “muck it up.”
• One Buyer, 40 Acres: A Quiet Revolution In Sodo Story detailing Henry Liebman’s slow plan to snatch up land in the industrial district and say goodbye to blue collar jobs.

Read all about it and sign up for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer… in 1902. This advertising relic comes to us from The Seattle Mail and Herald, at a time when the weekly plan cost just 75 cents a month. It now costs about 14 bucks. Apparently, at the time, the Seattle PI was only made up of “gentlemen” and “your friends in the east” would appreciate your subscription. I wonder what would happen if you sent this coupon in today, I mean there’s no legalese stating when it expires! Click on it for a larger view:

Subscription coupon for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer circa 1902.

Well folks, sometimes a Reframe just doesn’t work out. You can file this one under blunders. It’s the southwest corner of 20th Ave. and Roy St, looking south, but you probably couldn’t tell from the modern day shot. Trees and other vegetation make this one nearly impossible to compare. Oh well, we can still take a closer look at some of the houses captured in the January 27, 1925 photograph. Click on the thumbnails for a closer look, a closer look at some completely unnecessary and obvious arrows.

The streetscape as it appeared on January 27, 1925. Looks as though the road was dug up due to some piping work. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives.	The same shot, Reframed. Though it is difficult to tell from the photo, this street has changed little. I will need to revisit the scene in winter when leaves are in short supply.
The building materials on this home seem to have stood the rigors of time. In fact, the house as a whole looks very well kept.	A classic early 1900’s bungalow. Most of the architectural details remain unchanged, though it does look like the brick has been painted over. Notice the decorative vertical and horizontal supports.

With this recent “heat wave” gripping Seattle (how’d everyone enjoy sleeping the night of that near 100 degree day?) I thought it wise to show a very refreshing past postcard. And with that in mind, it’s a stormy Lake Washington card sent in 1913. Looks ripe for a swim right about now, don’t you think? It’s a pretty ominous take on hand tinting, showing that the postcard color choices were at times, err, creative. And just look at that text — the most shocking part being that people in Seattle danced! The rock shows I’ve attended recently at Neumo’s have been dance-free.

Front: 1748 — Stormy Day On Lake Washington, Seattle, Washington.

Back: Postcard to Miss Clara Sarlouis living in Lake Odessa, Michigan on August 23, 1913.

There’s quite a bit going on this week as far as Seattle history buffs are concerned. Thirty-eight buildings up for historic designation, very exciting news! So what better time to start off our simple historical linkage feature.

• Seattle Eyes 38 Properties For Historic Designation, Protection 100 properties were narrowed down to 38. But not all property owners are happy — see other link.
• 37 Downtown Buildings Eyed For Historic Status The PI’s take on the same story. Huge news for the preservation community, but apparently not everyone.
• Just Another Metropolis Jonathan Raban ponders whether Seattle has lost its way, if the old Seattle is gone.
• Another Roadside Attraction Is About To Be Demolished This great new Pac Northwest online newspaper reports on the potential destruction of the Denny’s building in Ballard. And this update uncovers even more controversy.
• Historical Materialism I know I mentioned this one last post, but I think it’s worth a second mention and a look. Very amusing.

Yes, the last post was a bit of a downer so let’s jump into something a little more upbeat, shall we? Historic Seattle is honoring the 100th anniversary of the opening of the House of the Good Shepherd on Sunday, July 22 1:30 til 3:30 pm. The building is a City of Seattle landmark and is also on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1907 by noted Seattle architects C. Alfred Breitung and Theobald Buchinger (one half of this team was responsible for one of my very favorite Seattle buildings, The Triangle Hotel next to the stadiums). The event will include period music, historical information, costumed guests, ice cream, and Mayor Nickels. That’s right, ice cream and Nickels! What a combination! Honestly though, this sounds like it will be an interesting event. While we are talking about historic preservation (and when are we not here?), I found this rather funny article from the Stranger about some pretty enterprising residents going up against a developer threatening to tear down one certain house. Good stuff. And let’s end this post with an image of the House of the Good Shepherd. As always, click on the image for a larger view.

House of the Good Shepherd, built in 1907 as a home for “orphaned and wayward girls.” Photograph courtesy Special Collections, University Archives, University of Washington, Seattle.

A Paper Noose blog post recently mentioned this Crosscut article on Washington Hall, one of Seattle’s African American landmarks. The article is devastating. It’s looking like the building is likely to be sold and demolished and the land developed into yet more condos. Needless to say, this would be a terrible shame if a historic Seattle landmark like this was lost. Because once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. The building was designed by Victor Voorhees (of Troy Laundry fame) and built in 1908 for the Danish Brotherhood Society. In 1958, the building was bought by The Sons of Haiti and over the years has hosted performances by Jimi Hendrix, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Duke Ellington; speeches from Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. Dubois, among others. I want to thank George from The Sons of Haiti for being so kind as to give me a tour of the building. I was not able to photograph the auditorium as there was a community memorial taking place. The Crosscut article serves as a reminder that many of our city’s most important historic landmarks are constantly under threat from development and we need to remember that tearing down these icons that have shaped our culture is something that cannot be undone.

Wide angle shot of Washington Hall. You can find the building on 153 14th Ave.	Front face of the building.
From the front entrance looking up. There are two sets of doors, one leading to a reception hall and another leading to a separate bar area.	South side of the building with fire escape.
Upstairs interior of the building. This area is getting an overhaul and currently houses members of The Sons of Haiti.	North side of the building. Trash is piled up in the parking lot, a reminder of the state of the building.
Alternate view of the North face of the building.	Wide angle shot of the South face of the building.
Southeast corner of the building. The brick on the front of the building is painted over.	A living quarter on the upper-back area of the building. Pigeons have taken up residence in this area of the Hall.

So let’s hear in the comments what you’re doing for the 4th. Scarfing down hot dogs? Maybe eating tofurkey instead. Watching the fireworks from the Needle? Lighting one solitary sparkler? Or maybe going to Crescent Lake! Ok, I’m really pushing it here but hey I had to tie this postcard in somehow. From 1940 comes a postcard from one of the deepest (deep, man) lakes in Washington: Crescent Lake in Olympic Natinonal Park. Would be a great place to spend the 4th. So, scarfing hot dogs (or tofurkey) on the lake. Luckily some things never change.

Front: Boating on Crescent Lake.

Back: See the west with 76 Gasoline.

Straight from a 1914 edition of The Cosmogram comes this vintage ad for The Bon Marche. This Seattle institution opened in 1890 by the enterprising Nordhoff family. The store moved into the building pictured below in 1896 at Second and Pike/Union and remained at this location until 1928. And a couple of corporate buyouts later, you now know The Bon Marche simply as Macy’s (now at 3rd and Pine). In this ad, notice the emphasis on cash instead of credit. Times do indeed change. Click the image for a closer look.

1914 ad for The Bon Marche located at 2nd and Pike/Union. “Seattle’s Great Cash Store.” Featuring the millinery parlors, or um, hats.