Many local landmarks are not single buildings, but rather, one or more buildings strongly associated with a significant park. Officially connecting built landmarks and their surrounding environments has a long-standing tradition in our federal government. The National Parks Service is the federal agency that oversees the National Register Program, administers federal preservation tax credits in concert with the Internal Revenue Service, and is, itself, a steward of many historic properties located within our National Parks. King County and City of Seattle Parks departments are often stewards of historic properties.

The responsibility of stewardship has financial implications, and public parks have not escaped recent budget cuts. The controversial, and as of yet unknown fate of County parks has already been well-publicized in local papers. Perhaps because most people (including policy makers) associate parks with recreating, and not their historic significance, preservation issues often take a back seat during serious discussions of stewardship and/or budget cuts effecting local parks.

King County Landmark Parks

King County, spread out between Elliott Bay and the Cascades, has a wide variety of parks that include a diverse set of cultural resources. These are:

Luther Burbank Park: This County park, located at 2040 84th Avenue SE, includes a 1928 dormitory built for the Luther Burbank School, which was designed by Floyd Naramore, a Seattle architect associated with many of our city's landmark school buildings. The Mercer Island school, which provided education to indigent boys and girls (boys exclusively after 1928), operated until 1956.

Marymoor Park: James W. Clise House and Willowmoor Farm. Marymoor Park, located at 6046 Lake Sammamish Parkway NE contains a number of historic buildings which appear on local, state, and national landmark registers. The site includes a Dutch windmill and a Craftsman- style hunting lodge, known as the James W. Clise House, built in 1907. Willowmoor Farm is a great example of a cultural landscape.

Lake Wilderness Park: Gaffney's Lake Wilderness Lodge and resort. Located at 22500 SE 248th Avenue, Lake Wilderness Lodge is a good example of mid-century Northwest architecture, and received an award for its site-sensitive design in 1952 from the American Institute of Architects. It originally provided overnight accommodations, and included a restaurant and meeting spaces.

Fall City Park: Fall City Hop Curing Shed. Located ¼ mile north of Fall City, this local and state landmark reflects the importance of the hop industry in this region in the 1880s when the exemplary example was built. Hop growing was the largest agricultural enterprise at the time of the shed's construction.

Three Forks Park: Norman Bridge. The 295-foot long Norman Bridge, spanning the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River near North Bend, is the only remaining example in King County of a timber truss vehicular bridge. Built in 1924, the bridge is on the National and King County registers.

WPA Parks Buildings: Preston, White Center, SiView and Enumclaw Parks. Five landmark fieldhouses, built by the Works Progress Administration in the late 1930s, are integral elements of five separate King County Parks.

Juanita Beach Park: Dorr Forbes Residence. Located at 11829 97th Avenue NE. The historic 1906 residence which is part of Juanita Beach Park is eligible for the King County Landmarks register, but is not yet an official County landmark.

Seattle's Landmark Parks

Landmark parks in Seattle are some our city's best public places. Parks and buildings with park elements which are currently part of Seattle's landmark register include:

McGraw Square/McGraw Place, at the intersection of 5th Avenue, Westlake Avenue, and Steward Street.

Belltown Cottages, located at 2512, 2512A and 2516 Elliott Avenue, are landmark buildings on a block which includes a P-Patch.

Volunteer Park's Seattle Art Museum, located at 1400 East Prospect. The parks conservatory, at 1400 East Galer Street, is also on the register.

Lincoln Park/Lincoln Reservoir and Bobby Morris Playfield, located at 1000 East Pine Street.

Kinnear Park, located at 988 West Olympic Place.

Kubota Gardens, located at 9727 Renton Avenue South

Gas Works Park at the north end of Lake Union

Hiawatha Playfield, located at 2700 California Avenue, SW

Changes to designated elements of landmark parks have to go through landmarks board review, just like landmark buildings. Landmark district boards also consider park improvements if these are designated elements within the district. Pioneer Square has a number of parks including Occidental Park, Fortsons Square, Pioneer Place Park (where the Pergola stands), and City Hall Park (by the King County Courthouse).

Pioneer Square also contains part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, which is part of a series of National Park Service parks that interpret the gold rush. Other parts of the park are located in the Canadian Yukon and Skagway, Alaska. The Chinatown International special review district's Hing Hay Park is, arguably, the center of the neighborhood. Public institutions such as the Columbia City Branch Library in the Columbia City historic district, are often surrounded by grounds that serve as public parks.

Many historically significant parks and their resident buildings are not designated, nor are all of the elements of the Olmsted legacy which have shaped numerous public parks and scenic boulevards throughout the city. Generally, however, these elements are respected by the city and designers working in and around these historic landscape elements.

The Future of Landmark Parks

As Seattle grows denser, open space becomes an increasingly critical part of the built environment and city planning. City government recognizes the great need for open space by building incentives into its Transfer of Development Rights program, and many plans are underway to shape public spaces near downtown. The Blue Ring concept, now in development within the city's Design Commission, is a plan conceived to connect residents and visitors with our many surrounding natural water features (hence the name). This plan also acknowledges existing urban green spaces, plans for public parks, and pedestrian-friendly streets which serve both utilitarian and social goals through thoughtful design.

Seattle has a long tradition of public parks. The comprehensive park plan developed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1903 is still a strong element of our city's urban form. Seattle's best outdoor places generally integrate the past with the present, or recycle the past for park use, such as the Burke Gilman trail which was once the path of an interurban rail line. Gas Works Park is a nationally-respected adaptive reuse project involving a problematic but historic site into a public park.

The integral connection between designated historic resources and open space sometimes complicates the process by which parks are maintained and altered, but the trade offs are well worth the trouble. Seattle's historic landscapes, like Volunteer Park, Interlaken Boulevard, Seward Park, Sand Point, and countless others, are ingrained in our city's identity and substantially contribute to our high quality of life.

View last month's Preservation & Environment article

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