Many historic buildings downtown have not been reviewed and nominated for the City landmark status that would protect them from demolition or alterations that diminish their historic character. These buildings are now endangered and could be lost to the community's heritage because the land on which they are built has become so valuable. In 2005, the Mayor's Center City Strategy proposed to increase downtown height and density limits. This effort will change zoning which will increase downtown land values prompting property owners and developers to consider tearing down old buildings so they can construct new, more lucrative, taller buildings.

To provide certainty to property owners and developers about which buildings are historically significant and which are not, Historic Seattle commissioned eleven students from Seattle University's Public Policy class last autumn to survey the downtown neighborhood. The students looked for buildings over 25 years-of-age that were not already designated City landmarks.

The eleven undergraduate students, under the direction of Historic Seattle Council member and Seattle University Professor Marie Wong, surveyed thousands of buildings from the waterfront to the freeway, and from Yesler to Denny. They produced "Beneath the Skyline: A Building Survey of Seattle's Downtown Core," which defined 330 possibilities for landmark nomination in a broad effort at identification. The work was conducted by the students with Historic Seattle serving as their client to simulate a professional contractual relationship requiring the students to use teamwork, meet a deadline, and present a product.

The next step will be to conduct scholarly research for these 330 properties and determine which ones have enough historic significance to nominate them for a City landmark designation. The bulk of the 330 possibly eligible landmarks were located in the Denny Triangle. The City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods will hire professional historians to conduct an extended research effort in the spring of 2006 to make determinations of landmark eligibility. Afterward, the professionals will write City landmark nominations for those buildings determined to be eligible for designated landmark status. The professionals' nominations will be reviewed by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board.

To find out more about Historic Seattle's success at protecting downtown historic buildings, please read the persuasive letter we wrote last autumn at: letter to Mayor Nickels

To find out more about how a building becomes a designated City landmark, please visit: www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/landmarks_listing.htm.

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