February 25th, 2008 @ 12:39 am by Cliffe | Sorted Photo Exposure
By now you’ve all heard the news about the Ballard Manning’s/Denny’s
designated a landmark last week. It’s a big win for Seattle preservationists yet we all have to remain vigilant about defending this building since Benaroya Company will certainly appeal the decision. Anne Forestieri, of the group who worked for the designation, was kind enough to get in touch with me and send along some photographs of the Ballard Manning’s/Denny’s circa 1983 taken by former Manning’s general manager Winnie Young. The first with a snow covered ground shows the beautiful Manning’s sign while the second is shot along Market. According to Anne, many of the original significant and character defining elements remain, including the glue lam beams, the mirawal at the base of the building (still the original red color, under several layers of paint), and the concrete battered columns on the sides. For more information on the significance of the structure, you can read architectural historian Alan Michelson’s report submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Board
right here. Then check out the photos below and give them a click for a closer look.
|
|
A snow covered Manning’s Cafeteria, circa 1983. Photograph courtesy Winnie Young/Anne Forestieri.
|
|
|
Opposite angle of Manning’s Cafeteria in Ballard, circa 1983. Photograph courtesy Winnie Young/Anne Forestieri. |
RSS 2.0 Feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
February 25th, 2008 @ 9:05 am
Neat! What’s a “mirowal”? Google’s no help.
February 25th, 2008 @ 11:09 am
Ah, my finely-crafted Denny’s-themed headlines will come in handy now for newspapers in the area to use. Thank goodness.
February 25th, 2008 @ 11:24 am
Wow, love those cars!
February 25th, 2008 @ 6:34 pm
Anne contacted me as well and explained every effort being made. Let’s that Anne and everyone else’s efforts succeed and something useful is done with this ole gal.
February 25th, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
Mirowal seems to be a city in Pakistan.
February 26th, 2008 @ 7:52 am
First off, these are great old photos. I’m with Ben on the cars.
I’ve decided that I am really happy that this building is now a landmark. It sounds from what I’ve read that the original elements are still there — they just need to be uncovered and rehabbed a la King Street Station. I think you could make an interesting development around the building that respects the architecture but still promotes urban density.
I had some mixed feelings on this issue for a while, and I realize now that they had nothing to do with this building per se; I’m very, very unhappy that Sunset Bowl.is closing, and I felt that it was unfair that this building was getting so much attention and yet it seems no one is paying attention to Sunset Bowl. While the building is obviously nothing spectacular, the place is a Ballard institution and still hugely popular.
February 26th, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
That was a typo. It should read “mirawal” — corrected now.
Cliffe
February 26th, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
Hi Cliffe, have you seen the story in Crosscut? “Saving the Lesser Seattle Landmarks”:
http://crosscut.com/mossback/11839/Saving+the+lesser+Seattle+landmarks/
February 26th, 2008 @ 1:09 pm
I have. Meant to put it into the links list from Sunday. I enjoy Knute’s writing and his photo in Seattle Mag with his eyes closed.
Cliffe
February 26th, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
Mirawal was a product that was used in the 50’s and 60’s…it was a porcelain coated, painted steel, and if anyone happens to go over to the building, you can see on the Market street side where the original RED paint color is still there, even though it’s been covered up by 3 additional layers of paint. There was a report done on the integrity of the building that was submitted to the LPB and contained this crucial information. The architect that the developers hired didn’t even know what this was, or if it was original. These photos prove it (albeit somewhat faded over the years) is still there.
February 27th, 2008 @ 9:28 am
Thanks, Anne, for shedding light on mirawal.
February 28th, 2008 @ 10:43 pm
No problem Didi- a lot of people don’t know what it is, and it’s amazing to see the original color still there….. It could be restored, without much effort.
March 2nd, 2008 @ 5:39 pm
I can’t be certain, but if you go to the Burgermaster in Bellevue, based on the description of the product here I believe that some of the accents there (in distinctly 50s/60s colors) in the inside take-out counter area could be Mirawal.
March 5th, 2008 @ 8:07 am
Adding to Anne’s note of February 26th. Mirawal was a porcelain coated steel product sold through a company called Kaiser Aluminum. It was a brand name which was very popular in the ’50’s to the ’70’s. Today the “Mirawal” name has vanished - to my knowledge - unless someone out there knows different. One note that Anne made was that the porcelain finish was a painted system. Well it is not. It is a sprayed-on system made up of mainly fritted glass & oxides and fired in a furnace of around 1500 to 1650 degrees F. The firing creates a bonding of the porcelain to the steel. The durability of this product is excellant - unaffected by UV it will not fade and is highly scratch resistant. You will find porcelain enamel panels being used in subway systems throughout the world, airports and schools. Anywhere where you have high traffic areas and are looking for a very low maintenance finish.
March 5th, 2008 @ 4:26 pm
Wow Paul- thanks for the additional information. It is further proof that the mirawal panels at the Manning’s building are in excellent shape, under the 3 coats of paint. I will pass the additional information onto our person who researched the product. Thanks for the follow-up!
March 6th, 2008 @ 9:49 am
Based on Paul’s decription it seems that mirawal was an excellent, tough resistant product which boggles my mindas to why people are not still using it especially in retail, cities and government.