"West Seattle is a place that especially values its heritage ... it's been key to building community there." So said ex-Department of Neighborhoods Director Jim Diers when asked what he thought about preservation's role in the expansive neighborhood.

Diers wasn't overstating the truth. An overview of West Seattle's preservation successes provides an object lesson in how neighborhoods can use the past as a tool for sensitive economic development, and as a way to build community through inspired and impassioned grass roots action.

Neighborhood activists and preservation advocates take note...

The Duwamish River has long formed a psychological moat between West Seattle (actually a group of neighborhoods bound on three sides by water) and downtown. Since the late nineteenth century, a total of twelve different bridges have connected West Seattle with downtown Seattle. Its geography has fostered West Seattle's special character, making it a world apart from Seattle in many ways.

Though the physical distance between West Seattle and downtown is short, the neighborhood's residents have, historically, not been completely sure about their relationship with "the big city."

This independence has served its preservation efforts. No one saves anything passively waiting for someone else to take action. West Seattle is a community of political do-it-yourselfers.

Early History Remembered

Preservation activity in West Seattle has focused on all known elements of its past spanning Seattle's 150-plus years of development, and includes the Denny Landing site, where Seattle's first intrepid white settlers arrived on November 13, 1851.

This early history is recognized on and near the landing site at Alki -- how this story is told at the site has changed along with conventions of interpreting history in the public sphere. This topic (how to memorialize history) is the subject of countless books and dissertations.

In brief, in 1905, 54 years after the landing, Seattle recognized the significance of the event and the site by dedicating a pylon at Alki Beach inscribed with only the names of the men and the children in the Denny Party. Ironically, in his speech on the importance of the landing, noted professor Edmund Meany praised the hard work of the pioneers' wives, noted on the pylon only as "and wife." Eventually, this hard work was recognized, in memoriam, in an addendum plaque dedicated in 2002 as a part of Seattle's sesquicentennial celebrations.

The other side (or another side) of the settlement story, the displacement of the Duwamish occupying Seattle prior to its development, is beginning to be explored. The place where the Dennys landed had been a Duwamish burial site. In 1855, only a few years after the Dennys arrived, the Point Elliott Treaty required that all Duwamish living in Seattle move to reservations. Some refused, and some moved to West Seattle and temporarily continued their way of life, at least until 1893, when eight native houses were burned down.

The Duwamish tribe is now engaged in an effort to construct a cultural center to maintain the tribe's heritage along their namesake river.

This effort will receive its own article in the July 2004 issue of Preservation Seattle.

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society

Founded in 1984, the Southwest Seattle Historical Society has supported significant preservation efforts -- from helping produce West Side Story in 1987, and West Seattle Memories: Alki in 1997, to spearheading the preservation of a 1904 log house and finding funds for its conversion to a history museum.

The historical society has an incredibly productive history of preservation action. The organization has managed to channel the community's love of history and independent spirit into a number of noteworthy and award winning projects.

Log House Museum

The "Birthplace of Seattle" is institutionalized within the Log House Museum, located at 3003 61st Avenue SW only one block away from Alki Beach. The story of the museum, like the history of the pylon commemorating the landing, is richer than a few paragraphs can describe. The history of the museum itself reflects West Seattle's awareness and love of its past.

To mitigate the impact of a sewage line project, in 1994 Metropolitan King County granted $500,000 to the community of residents living within a designated area near the project. The County put the use of these funds to a vote within the target area. Residents opted to spend $200,000 to acquire one of West Seattle's three remaining log houses. The rest of the funds were used to acquire public open space.

The log house had been a private residence up until 1994, when it was put up for sale and presumably threatened with demolition. Its location near the water, and the growing popularity of high rise condos in the area suggested the worst.

The log house, built in 1904, was not in the best shape. Rotting logs and other needed improvements cost more than $500,000. Although the building still needs funds for capital improvements, much has been raised already from private, city, and country grants, as well as donations. David Leavengood, a specialist in museums and log structures, provided design services.

The museum opened on November 13, 1997, the 146th anniversary of the Denny landing. Since then the museum has received awards, both for the capital project, and its excellent programming.

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society was largely responsible for the grass roots advocacy supporting the purchase and rehabilitation of the building. It was also responsible for the preservation of the Admiral Theater, an art deco gem in the Admiral district.

Saving Admiral Theater

The restoration of the Admiral Theater has had a direct and positive impact on the economic success of the Admiral business district.

In 1992, the city became famous in the annals of small theater preservation when the B. Marcus Priteca-designed Admiral Theater became one of the first neighborhood theaters in the country to be saved by a hard-fought citizens' campaign.

On the Admiral's closing night in 1989, a group of local advocates, spearheaded by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, picketed with signs and buttons in front of the theater. They carried signs declaring, "Don't Sink the Admiral," "No to the Wrecking Ball," and "It's Not the End for a Landmark." Among the protestors -- a young Greg Nickels.

The SWSHS prepared a landmark nomination for the building, which led to its designation in 1989. This effort helped bring the community together and played a significant part in its eventual preservation.

West Seattle's will eventually won out. The theater was sold to a local interest keen on keeping the Admiral a neighborhood landmark. It continues to operate as a discount, second run theater and is home to some of Seattle's most compelling mural art.

More on this effort will appear in the July 2004 issue of Preservation Seattle.

But Wait, There's More…

Cooper School: Preservation Seattle covered the Delridge Neighborhood Community Association's great work at Cooper School, which is now in the process of becoming a neighborhood center and artists live/work space.

Seattle's Oldest House: A very old house, thought to be Seattle's oldest house is substantially altered from its original appearance. Moved, chopped up, and re-clad, a few of the houses details subtly give away the house's age, and most of these are only visible to its owners, including hand-forged hardware. The house, located on 64th Avenue near the water, is not a city landmark, nor would it likely meet the criteria due to its alterations.

Alaska Junction's murals (nine total): Retired businessman Earl Cruzen got the idea for murals based on historic themes after a trip to Chemainus, British Columbia. Because of its sixty-odd murals, this tiny town is a tourist attraction. He headed a committee of Junction merchants and property owners that commissioned the Alaska Junction murals. The several-year project (1989-1992) attracted a lot of attention -- as they painted the West Seattle story, artists got to know the neighbors. The effort was a part of the community's recognition of Washington state's centennial (1989).

Historic parks: Camp Long, a wilderness in the city, and the landmark Hiawatha Playfield help preserve some of the city's pre-development character.

Excellent school projects: Over the last several years, Chief Sealth High School students, lead by teacher Gary Thomsen has produced some of the area's best oral history projects.

So What's Left to Save?

Even with this bounty of preservation activity, West Seattle still has its work cut out for it. The impact of the Seattle Monorail Project along a corridor with many older buildings will be significant - and it's up to community advocates to speak out now to reduce impacts to businesses and the built environment, and make sure mitigation funds will indeed be used to survey areas around the monorail line. Such as survey would provide the foundation for a protected bungalow district, and any number of individual landmark nominations.

Given West Seattle's size and history, very few structures and sites are protected by landmark ordinance.

"Eva's stone house," at the north end of Harbor Avenue, has been an unofficial landmark for decades. Now surrounded by condos and across the street from the Don Armeni Boat Ramp, the house's exterior walls are made up of stones collected from the beach. It's one of a kind, and intrinsically "West Seattle."

Another property of particular interest is tucked away along the Duwamish River, on West Marginal Way. An 1887 farmhouse built by a Danish immigrant for his wife and child still stands, in deteriorated condition, though its upper floor windows were stolen this year. The house and its outbuildings provide a window into the agricultural character of Seattle and surrounding areas - before Washington was a state.

The owner is now in the process of selling the property. Could this be another "log house" success? We'll keep you posted.

For more information:

The Log House Museum website

Brooke Best, Celebrating 150 years: Architectural History of West Seattle's North End, 2003.

West Seattle Herald, West Side Story, 1987.

Joe Fedderson, Voices of the Community: The West Seattle Cultural Trail, 1996.

A brief history of the neighborhood written by talented West Seattlite, Cassandra Tate.

A list of City of Seattle landmarks in West Seattle

View last month's Neighborhoods article

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