Comments on: Revisiting The Denny Regrade

By: Fnarf

Fnarf — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:16:43 +0000

Martha, the fire and the regrade aren’t related, and took place at opposite ends of downtown. The fire was mostly in the Pioneer Square area and the south end of the downtown blocks. If the debris was pushed down any hills, it would have been into Elliot Bay, as part of the fill that created the land south of Pioneer Square where the stadiums are (once water).

The Regrade was behind Belltown, to the north of downtown, and was done in several stages, decades after the fire. That fill also extended the stadium area, as well as extending the entire downtown along the flat waterfront where Alaska Way is.

What’s kind of sad is that the land opened up by the Regrade was (and largely still is) used only for surface parking, with a few low-rise temporary-looking buildings here and there.

By: Daniel K

Daniel K — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:27:13 +0000

martha, the regrade was a response to the steep terrain.

By: Cliffe

Cliffe — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:04:04 +0000

I didn’t link to MS Virtual Earth because it’s very buggy for me. It just displays a flat green plain after installing it. I’d submit a bug if I could find a way how. It’s cool when it works though.

Cliffe

By: RyanB

RyanB — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:32:25 +0000

I’m a little disappointed you didn’t use the 3D view since you’re using maps.live.com. From the first photo, this view lines up nicely and you can clearly see from the terrain that the hill is mising:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=47.615234~-122.343281&style=h&lvl=19&tilt=-19.4160075475386&dir=0&alt=46.5430714227259&cam=47.614714~-122.34326&scene=-1&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Here is the other:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=47.61654~-122.34394&style=h&lvl=19&tilt=-19.8354481118981&dir=0&alt=77.1170900817961&cam=47.616006~-122.341974&scene=-1&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

I tried to match the perspective, and elevation of the camera in both cases, but without an ability to adjust focal length these are only approximate. Still, the obvious change in the landscape is pretty amazing.

By: megan

megan — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:00:15 +0000

I’ve always felt that part of town was sort of eerily flat – long before I was old enough or interested enough to know about the regrade.

By: martha

martha — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:44:26 +0000

Was the regrade a response to the fire? I recall that was how underground Seattle came into existence was that the rubble was bulldozed down a hill and covered up.

It is entirely possible that I am getting my history points mixed up.