History of Historic Preservation In Seattle

By Heather MacIntosh

Critical Loss

Like historic preservation activity in cities throughout the United States, Seattle's interest in saving its historic buildings grew from a critical loss. When the Occidental Hotel was demolished in 1961 and replaced by the "sinking ship" parking garage, many Seattleites began to take notice of the value of older buildings, especially in the Pioneer Square area. Early activists like Victor Steinbrueck catalyzed the community toward preservation with a populist slant, and helped the city see its future through a lens that valued both the past and present-day needs.

Old = Dirty, New = Clean

As suburban King County grew after World War II, more and more housing and services moved outside of urban Seattle. Increased reliance on automobiles rather than mass transit, cheap land, and heavy marketing campaigns for new suburban development, rapidly spread development north, south and east of the city. Emphasis on clean lines and modern design cast a rather dingy pall on older buildings, especially those in need of repair and rehabilitation.

The Century 21 Exposition in 1961-62 illustrated a mid-century modern sensibility that looked to the future for design cues, not the past. Located on opposite ends of the city, historic Pioneer Square and the Exposition provided contrasting views of the city on the Sound. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Pioneer Square and parts of downtown saw less commercial activity, and many buildings received little maintenance. Poorly maintained buildings contributed to the view that large parts of downtown were "blighted."

Pioneer Square was ground zero for urban blight downtown in the 1950s and 60s. This was due in part to the diminishing role of the train stations in south downtown. The traditional role of Pioneer Square, as the city's Skid Road, and home of many of the city's older bars, taverns, and sensual entertainments, contributed to a negative view of the place and the historic buildings there. Many Pioneer Square buildings, even those that had once been spectacular examples of turn of the century architecture, were in need of significant repairs.

The demolition of the Seattle Hotel in 1961 drew significant attention to the diamond-in-the-rough that was Pioneer Square. Slowly, a few optimists like Alan Black began investing in the Square's historic buildings. Throughout the country, the preservation movement was gaining momentum as urban renewal efforts leveled large swathes of historic neighborhoods in the name of progress. Luckily, Pioneer Square dodged this trend, though many older residential hotels closer to the city's center, and unofficial grand landmarks like the downtown Carnegie Library and the main Seattle Post Office were leveled in favor of new, streamlined designs.

New Views, New Laws

Throughout the US, cities were seeing losses like the Seattle Hotel, and community activists were speaking out. In 1966, the United States government responded to their concerns by establishing the Historic Preservation Act that also created the National Register of Historic Places. This program laid the foundation for a series of grants-in-aid and incentive programs, and review processes that considered the significance of buildings slated for demolition.

In Seattle, initial preservation controls grew from activity in Pioneer Square. Pioneer Square's historic buildings were inventoried by Victor Steinbrueck in 1969, and the collection of blocks were designated a National Register District in 1970. The ordinance creating the Pioneer Square Preservation Board grew from this. In the early 1970s, Pike Place Market was saved from demolition in the name of urban renewal. Victor Steinbrueck spearheaded the "Save the Market" campaign, which lead to the preservation of the place many writers consider "the soul of the city."

The City Landmarks program began in the mid 1970s, while more landmark districts were established to protect distinctive communities like Pike Place Market (1971), the International District (1973), Ballard Avenue (1976), Columbia City (1978), the Harvard-Belmont (1980), and Fort Lawton (1988).

The Powers that Were

Dedicated leadership helped Seattle successfully preserve places like Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square, and aided in the development of policies that continue to protect landmarks and districts today. Wes Uhlmann, Seattle's Mayor from 1969 through 1977, understood the role of historic places within the context of civic identity and neighborhood character. Most of the ordinances governing historic buildings in Seattle today were scripted during Uhlmann's 8-year term.

Victor Steinbrueck continued to advance his populist view of historic preservation through a series of books of sketches. In addition, Steinbrueck and Folke Nyberg, conducted a city survey during Uhlmann's term that documented significant resources in several Seattle neighborhoods including the University District, the Central Area, Eastlake/Cascade, the International District, and Alki Beach. This work lead to the designation of several city landmarks that continue to serve the city's changing needs, and was an early project of the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority.

Preservation Today

The City chartered Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority in 1974 to preserve Seattle's architectural heritage. Since its inception, Historic Seattle has purchased and developed over two dozen historic properties within the city limits, and continues to develop its advocacy efforts and educational programming.

The pressures challenging preservation today are much less institutionalized than urban renewal efforts in the 1960s. In Seattle in the 1980s and 90s, meteoric growth and the success of the local tech-based economy launched the city into a new national and international role. The late 1990s saw substantial new development downtown, and vacancy rates in new and historic buildings were at an all time low. Pressures to demolish were greater than ever, for while urban renewal was a national trend in the 1960s, Seattle's sagging economy during and immediately after the Boeing Bust (1971) made tearing down buildings less economically sound. In the late 1990s, the land under older buildings in downtown Seattle and many of its neighborhoods was more valuable than the buildings themselves. The cooler economic climate of the first years of the 21st century may foster increased interest in preserving the city's older buildings.

As the city recovers from the Nisqually earthquake of 2001, and other setbacks like the WTO riots, Mardi Gras, the identity of the city, determined in part by the distinctive character of its building, takes on new meaning. The future of the past is more relevant than ever.