Unless you were born in Seattle your habitation here makes you a "transplant". In other cities you just move, but in Seattle you are apparently grafted onto some larger foreign structure and expected to take root. There is of course a mild culture shock associated with relocation. It would never have occurred to me, for instance, to save my coffee grounds and banana peels in a bucket on my balcony in Columbus. So to reconcile with all the differences I walk a lot. I aimlessly meander learning street names, neighborhood limits, efficient bike routes, and I photograph Architecture. Below are some discoveries and my attempt to learn more about this foreign organism I call home.
"Egan House" - 1958 by Robert G. Reichert.
"Old Post Station" - 1902 built by Stone & Webster.
Steam provides direct heating to over 200 buildings in Pioneer Square and Downtown through 18 miles of pipe. I like it for the severe neoclassical arches, and the smokestack doesn't hurt.
"Seattle City Light" - 1913 by Daniel Huntington
Decommissioned in the mid 80's, the hydro house and steam plant are now landmark buildings. The steam plant is now a biotech company called ZymoGenetics. They undertook the enormous task of renovating the structure complete with faux smokestacks.
"I-5 Colonnade" - 2005 by Evergreen Mountian Bike Alliance
This was an amazingly creative use of space. I was blown away with how much it added to the urban environment using basically wasted space. The trails while completely out of my skill set created an alien landscape that I enjoyed watching riders traverse. It also makes passing beneath I-5 possible since the paths cut a route for pedestrians reconnecting sadly cut apart neighborhoods.
"Arboretum Waterfront Trail" - circa 1934
The Waterfront Trail is another interesting way in which Seattle deals with the many infrastructural and environmental blockades that divide the city. The islands marshes and mainland are chained together with this meandering floating dock/bridge that gives you the unique experience of walking on water.
"Gasworks Park" - 1975 by Richard Haag
The original coal gasification plant operated from 1906-1956 and what remains today was designed and opened in 1975.
I have two impressions about the park that I can't shake. One is that we could do this all over the place. Entire parts of the rust belt could be reclaimed from post industrial nothingness and revised as an extensive network of much needed urban parks. Imagine Duisberg-Nord in Cleveland or Pittsburg! So that leads to the second thought, what works abroad does not transfer so well here. Even though Gasworks came before its German counterpart the fences and our general litigation culture prevent it from going far enough which is what separates it from being much more than a covered landfill you can watch the fireworks on.
"McMahon Hall" - 1965 by Kirk, Wallace, McKinley & Associates AIA
One of the better brutalist buildings in Seattle, the back terrace is like a drawer pulled out over the landscape which preserves a vista and creates a view back to the balconies. My favorite feature is the handrails that look like exposed rebar coming out of the concrete.
"Merchant Cafe" - 1890 by W. E. Boone
I plan to return here for some shots of the interior to see what they've done to it and perhaps get a 5 cent cigar...
"Seattle P.I. Building Globe" - circa 1947
The Globe was designed by UW art student Jakk C. Corsaw. They relocated the globe when the headquarters moved in 1986. It makes me long for a lost era of signage. It's hard to believe we traded things like this for sandwich signs you trip all over walking down the sidewalk.
"Bread of Life Mission" - 1939
Began at the end of the depression, the mission serves the needy providing housing and food. The buildings corner makes a gesture across the street which lends the service a sense of dignity missing in most public service buildings of its kind.
This has been fun researching sites in the city. I plan to do a series of these over the coming weeks.
Stay Tuned.