VintageSeattle.org

After last week’s deluge of nostalgia, preservation, and history — this week is much lighter.

• Jean Godden: Saying Goodbye To Our Friend, Walt Crowley
  Seattle City Councilmember Jean Godden says goodbye to HistoryLink’s Walt Crowley.
• It’s (Not) The End For The Last Exit
  Mossback breaks the news that the building of the Seattle landmark coffee shop is going down for the count. And then reports that it’s not.
• On Architecture: These Local Designs Are Simply Dispiriting
  The PI critiques some of Seattle’s more underwhelming architectural feats including The Westin Towers.
• Crowley Penned A Plan For HistoryLink’s Future
  Days before his death, Walt Crowley wrote a “Just in case” letter to his wife detailing his plan for HistoryLink and his replacement.

The season has started for our Seattle Seahawks and they’re 2-1 in the NFC West along with the 49ers. Next up on the schedule are those San Francisco 49ers. If you have a chance, make sure to get out to Qwest Field this season and root for our Hawks as they battle for the Super Bowl. As for history, the team first took the field in 1976 and have since won five division titles. Check out the Wikipedia entry for all the old logos and uniforms. Ah, the Brian Bosworth days — remember that hair? I love the old silver helmet. Let’s check out a late 70’s / early 80’s vintage postcard featuring the Kingdome because I’m all out of Bosworth postcards. Click on the image for a larger view.

Front: The Seattle Seahawks.

Back: King County Domed Stadium. Dedicated March 27, 1976. Home of the NFL Seattle Seahawks, NASL Seattle Sounders and American League Baseball Mariners. Covers 9.1 acres — 720 feet outside diameter — 250 feet to top of Dome. Will seat 60,000 for baseball, 65,000 for football and 80,000 for personality shows.

Coming up Thursday this week, Historic Seattle is presenting a talk on The Arts And Crafts Movement In The Pacific Northwest by authors Lawrence Kreisman and Glenn Mason. They will present “the rich legacy of regional architecture, furniture, metalwork, stained glass, ceramics and crafts, printing, photography, and other aspects of the movement in Washington and Oregon.” Sounds like an event not to be missed. It’s taking place 7pm at Town Hall and tickets are a steal at $20. If you go, please take the time to post in the comments your roundup and impressions. Click here for more information on the event. Let’s take a look at one Arts and Crafts inspired home from Seattle. Click on the images for a larger view.

Seattle Arts and Crafts style home circa 1985. Of note is the low-pitched roof and the deep overhanging eaves along with brackets. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives.

Alternate angle of Seattle Craftsman style home. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives.

That School Days category is getting a little lonely, so I want to start a series on Queen Anne High School. I’ll be concentrating on this school as I’ve become very interested in its history, mostly stemming from its architecture originally catching my eye. More on that soon, but first I found this foreword from the 1942 Grizzly Annual and subsequent Principal’s Message from Otto Luther. As World War II raged, the writers of the Grizzly decided to look away from the bloodshed. Find the text below. And click on the images for a larger view.

Foreword of the 1942 Queen Anne High School Grizzly Annual.

A message to Queen Anne High School’s Class of 1942 from Principal Otto L. Luther.

Well, well, well. Quite a lot of Seattle history and nostalgia to report this week. The Seattle PI wrote up a great series covering the last 100 years of the city. Speaking of last week’s links — I rushed out to the Bridge Motel on 99 late this week hoping to capture it before it was taken down. No dice. It was a pile of rubble. A shame. Other sad news to report this week is the passing of Walt Crowley of HistoryLink.org.

• 1907-2007: A Century Of Change In Seattle
  Though the past 100 years have seen great change in the city, some things remain unchanged. Casey McNerthney kicks off a great series from the PI.
• Seattle Bulked Up By Gobbling Tiny Cities
  Tracing the history of Seattle’s many annexations through the years. Learn the multiple meanings of “Free Ballard!”
• Moore Theatre Was Once Anchor Of Vibrant Arts Scene
  Was once and still is! Read up on the history of the Moore Theatre complete with an audio slideshow.
• Church Of The Epiphany Is A Constant In Changing Area
  This Seattle church has seen it all: firebombing, death by poisoning, epiphanies, and much much more.
• 100 Years At Childrens Hospital: No Ill Child Turned Away
  Another Seattle institution still grinding away after all these years. Children’s Hospital is now one of the leading children’s hospitals in the world.
• Does Seattle Have Too Many Historic Landmarks?
  Mossback asks the question and, as you may guess, the Ballard Denny’s is at the fore.
• Walt Crowley, Historian, Part Of City History, Dies At 60
  It is a sad day. Seattle has lost one of its great historians, Walt Crowley. The Seattle PI also reports on his life.
• 1907 Denny Mansion Opens Its Doors For Tours
  I was able to make it out today to the Denny Mansion to take some pictures. Will try to get them posted soon. The PI also has a story on it.

You’ll have to forgive me as I’m stepping a bit outside of Seattle for this one. There are two blogs that have caught my eye lately: Groceteria.com covers the history of the American supermarket (both the architecture and business) from the 20’s through 80’s. And Pleasant Family Shopping describes itself as a nostalgic look back at supermarkets and discount stores of the past. These are great reads and highly recommended. My tie-in here is downtown Bellevue’s vintage Safeway anachronism right in the midst of cranes littering the skyline. This one is just a block away from where I work and I wanted to capture it because, as you can guess, its days are numbered. Let’s have a closer look.

The marina-style Safeway stands just across the street from Bellevue Square Mall. Developer Kemper Freeman will turn the site into a mixed use highrise after demolition.	Close up of the Safeway facade lettering. The window reflects exactly what is encroaching on this vintage relic.
Interior shot of aisles 5 through 10.	Interior shot of the checkout stands.
The entrance wall of the building features the “It’s our pleasure…” slogan.	The produce department has newer signage juxtaposed with older.

I’m still reporting from Pennsylvania, but should be back in Seattle later tonight. So we’re going to enjoy a light-hearted take on the Past Postcard series. This time it’s Seattle Now And Then, Now being Then! It compares the Seattle waterfront sometime in the 1940’s (above) with 1874 (below). I guess “now” won’t be “now” forever. Click on an image for a larger view. Enjoy.

Front: 321 Metropolitan Seattle, Washington as it is today (above). Seattle in 1874 (below).

Back: Postally unused. Still just one cent.

New updates have been a little slow this week as I’m out of town visiting family in Pennsylvania. Regular updates should resume later tomorrow or Tuesday night. Until then, here are this week’s Links To The Past.

• Artists Bid Farewell To A Seedy City Landmark
  Aurora’s vintage Bridge Motel, built in 1954 is about to meet with the wrecking ball. A group of local artists will give it a proper send-off.
• Fate Of Historic Building Set For Oct. 1
  The Mukilteo City Council is going to be voting on the fate of the historic Rosehill Community Center, formerly Rosehill School built in 1928. Outside of Seattle, but important.
• Gas Works To Stay Open Despite Pollution Work
  Environmental inspectors will be drilling holes around Gasworks in order to locate pockets of tar that were buried when the plant was turned into a park. Gasworks operated as a gas plant from 1906 to 1956.
• New Vision For Denny Park Includes Playground, Crime-Fighting Lights
  One of Seattle’s oldest parks may be getting $190,000 to build a children’s play area and improved lighting. The old park has been plagued by crime.

Recently while eating dinner at Ballard’s Hi-Life (my favorite restaurant in Seattle), I noticed an impressive building across the street. Upon further inspection, I found that it was an old Carnegie Free Library building. The library opened in 1904 on Market Street and served as a branch of the Seattle Public Library until 1963 when a larger building was constructed. The plans were drawn up by Henderson Ryan featuring a men’s smoking room and women’s conversation room (!). Also of note was the 500 seat auditorium on the second floor. In 2003, the building became (aptly named) Carnegie’s restaurant and banquet hall. Click here for a 1911 shot of the library. Let’s devour the present day shots, shall we? Click on the thumbnail for more resolution.

Establishing shot of the Carnegie Free Public Library on Market Street in Ballard. The site is now home to Carnegie’s restaurant and banquet hall.	Shot of the facade and west face of the building. This Classical Revival structure has obviously been well kept over the years.
The facade and east face of the building. As with most Beaux-Arts style buildings, the windows are very large.	East face close up. The brick remains in fairly good condition despite being 100+ years old. The repetition of the modillion course is striking.
Concentrating on the front entryway of the building. Of note is the projecting pedimented central pavilion.	Alternate view of the entryway. The oval windows break up the many straight lines very nicely.

Mark the calendar, ye Vintage Seattle readers! The 10th Annual Bungalow Fair is coming up the last weekend of this month (the 29th and 30th). This is your chance to learn more about arts and crafts era architecture as well as other aspects of the movement (like furniture, ceramics, lighting, etc). It’s put on by Historic Seattle and is their most popular yearly event, so be sure to grab a ticket at just 10 bucks. With that said, let’s take a look at an old Craftsman bungalow floorplan from 1910. Click on the image for a larger view. Someday I’ll realize my dream of buying an old Craftsman and fixing it up. Someday.

Arts and crafts era Craftsman home floorplan designed by V.W. Voorhees circa 1910. Just $1700 in projected construction costs. Image courtesy Special Collections, University Archives, University of Washington, Seattle.

Ron Paul is *still* in the news, how about that.

• MOHAI Forges Ahead With Proposed Move To South Lake Union
  The City’s Finance and Budget Committee unanimously approves a resolution urging MOHAI to continue “due diligence” with their move to SLU.
• The Decline Of Gathering Places
  Pet Jackson explores the decline of third places like the Elks Club in Everett.
• Discovery Park Deal Nears Approval
  The City of Seattle and the Navy are nearing a deal to demolish military housing and sell the prominent houses of “Officers’ Row” built in 1904.
• Ron Paul For President In 2008
  The Hunt For Red November? Give me a break and go for Ron!

Continuing with yesterday’s hovercraft post and the August 1 Past Post, here’s the next in the Seattle World’s Fair overhead vintage postcard line. This time around it’s the Hawaiian Pavilion and International Fountain. Vintage Seattle reader Brendan chipped in with word that the Pavilion is long gone and the fountain was renovated in ‘95. If you look behind the fountain in the distance you can make out a Union 76 Gasoline ball. More on that soon! Pretty good shot of Queen Anne there too. Click on an image for a larger view.

Front: Seattle World’s Fair.

Back: Hawaiian Pavilion. Color photo by Mike Roberts.

Front: Seattle World’s Fair.

Back: International Fountain. Color photo by Mike Roberts.

Remember back in June when I was snooping around that old abandoned house in my neighborhood and musing about Elvis? Well, in that house I also uncovered this rather odd artifact: an old crumpled piece of paper trumpeting a hovercraft demonstration at the British Pavilion at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Now I know this may only interest die-hard hovercraft aficionados such as Shipley and myself, but hovercrafts are really just too awesome to pass up. Here’s a clipping and the scanned paper. Most farmers I know have not yet hopped onto the hovercraft bandwagon… just yet. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view.

Hovercraft On Show At Seattle. British Pavilion. Seattle World’s Fair. Seattle 9, Washington.

As promised, this is a continuation of our tour of the Live Historic projects. Up today is The Pittsburgh Condos, which I consider the higher class sister site of the Queen’s Court Condos. If you missed my Queen’s Court post and photos, click here to check it out. The Pittsburgh is quite impressive — in fact if I were looking for a small condo I’d probably be looking here. It is located just across the street from the Queen’s Court in Lower Queen Anne. The studio, one, and two-bedroom condos go for $150,000 to $450,000 with square footage ranging from 255 to 867. The building just celebrated a 100 year birthday, being built in 1907. Reportedly built to house many of the Klondike Gold Rush workers, the apartment complex fell into disrepair in later years but has now been resurrected. And the craftsmanship is second to none. Let’s have a look, but first I’d like to once again thank Ben Rankin and Kate Miller of Pioneer Property Group for giving me the tour. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

Wide angle shot of The Pittsburgh facade. You can see Ben and Kate chatting on the sidewalk. Landscaping is tasteful and the tree-lined street is very nice.	The windows are a clustered one-over-one double hung sash. A cornice separates floor two and three, while decorative elements are featured at the top.
The gateway that leads to the building courtyard is gorgeously detailed. You will not find this level of craftsmanship on modern buildings.	Notice that the brick on the courtyard walls is a lighter color, probably to bounce more light. Greenery and benches break up the space nicely.
One of the newly remodeled kitchens. Granite slab countertops as well as stainless steel appliances are standard for the building. Many of the units have restored cabinetry from a 1930’s remodel.	This dining room features striking dark hardwood floors. The staging, neutral colors, and crown molding make for a tasteful room.
The bathrooms have period subway tile with a nice trim along the top. Notice the exposed brick wall in the reflection of the mirror. Claw-foot tubs have been restored as well. Honeycomb tile would have made this bathroom perfect.	A living room with fireplace. The color transition between the hardwood floors was caused by carpet being taken up from the bedroom area. The underlying fir floors were left in place.