Wednesday afternoon, the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board will sit in judgement of a surviving remnant of Pike/Pine’s auto row. Broadway at Union’s Great Western Motors Building, nearing its 100th birthday and lined up to be part of what will likely be a preservation-minded mixed use development, will be assessed against six design standards that qualify Seattle structures for enhanced protections.

The nomination document, prepared by architects Nicholson Kovalchick on behalf of present owners the Polyclinic and the Wolff Company, the developers lined up to purchase the building, will be weighed Wednesday as the board decides on whether to move the property into the next phase of the nomination process.

It describes the neighborhood at the turn of the century and the growth of an auto row business on Capitol Hill that created the original showroom and garage in 1920:

The building remained dedicated to cars through the decline of the area’s auto row:

Consideration as a landmark will likely be a factor in any purchase process for Wolff but even an unlikely decision to afford the property landmark protections won’t necessarily scuttle development plans, we’re told. The Pike/Pine Conservation District’s developer incentives for preserving old “character” structures will likely be in play as it is in the other Wolff Capitol Hill projects.

Though the landmark process hasn’t been kind to most of the recent area properties considered for nomination, the most recent candidate advanced to at least the nomination phase after the board decided it didn’t have enough information to deny the more than 100-year-old E Madison Victorian protection.

Wednesday’s meeting information and the complete nomination document is below. You can also provide public comment via email.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING OF THE LANDMARKS PRESERVATION BOARD to consider Landmark Nomination for the Following Property: Great Western Motors Building
The Landmarks Preservation Board will consider this nomination at its meeting on Wednesday, September 4, 2013, at 3:30 p.m. in the Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 5th Avenue, 40th Floor, Room 4060. The public is invited to attend the meeting and make comments. Written comments should be received by the Landmarks Preservation Board at the following address by September 3, 2013, by 5:00 p.m.: Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board, Dept. of Neighborhoods, P.O. Box 94649, Seattle WA 98124-4649 (mailing address).

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