Tag Archives: harvard belmont

Kerry Hall hits the market as Cornish College of the Arts says goodbye to Capitol Hill

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(Image: Cornish College of the Arts)

The Cornish College of the Arts is ready to sever its final connection after more than a century of dance and music education on Capitol Hill.

Kerry Hall, the three-story studio and performance hall at E Roy and Broadway where Nellie Cornish called home at the time of the school’s 1914 founding and part of the school for more than 100 years, is now for sale.

“This is an exciting moment for Cornish College of the Arts,” Emily Parkhurst, chair of the board of trustees, said in a statement. “The decision to sell Kerry Hall completes the Board’s plan to unify the campus in South Lake Union, first outlined in 2007.”

CHS reported here in 2021 on preparations for the property sale as Cornish sought to solidify its growing presence in South Lake Union.

The announcement did not include a price tag for the property. Cornish says proceeds from the sale will be “reinvested into Cornish’s existing facilities and operations, allowing the college to continue to grow.” The school says its enrollment is expected to exceed 530 students in the 2024/2025 school year. Continue reading →

No rush on new park for North Capitol Hill — no money to pay for it until 2029

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The property from above in the summer of 2022

Sorry for the late notice — we just found out about it, too

It is extremely late notice but apparently there is time.

Seattle Parks says a meeting it is holding Wednesday night to update the community on design plans for a new city park on 1.6 acres of North Capitol Hill land formerly owned by the Bullitt family will include a call for patience — it won’t have the funding it needs to complete the project until 2029 at the earliest.

Superintendent AP Diaz and the city’s parks and rec department are holding the meeting on the important updates for the planned park in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods with little public notice. It didn’t send details to media about the meeting and didn’t post about it on its social media accounts.

CHS has asked officials what’s up with the oversight and for copies of the materials to be presented so we can share the details more widely. UPDATE: Technical difficulties! Sounds like there is an issue with email coming into CHS. We’re taking a look at what’s up. In the meantime, the city says it will post a recording from Wednesday’s meeting later this week.

The land and 69-year-old home on the property left to the city after the death of philanthropist Kay Bullitt stretches out on the northwest slopes of Capitol Hill in the prestigious Harvard-Belmont Landmark District. CHS reported in 2022 on the early planning for the new park project including a survey that planners said showed preferences for developing the new park land “as a quiet, contemplative place” while making space for the Cass Turnbull Garden as part of the site, a project from Seattle nonprofit Plant Amnesty honoring its late founder. Continue reading →

Bullitt House moves forward in city landmarks process

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(Image: Seattle Parks)

The 1955-built A-frame style house at the center of the Capitol Hill historical district property lined up to become a new city park will be considered for landmarks protections that will shape how the structure will be utilized in the new public space.

Last week, the Seattle Landmarks Board unanimously moved the nomination of the Bullitt House forward in a 7-0 vote. Continue reading →

At center of property lined up for new Capitol Hill park, Bullitt House to be considered for landmarks protections

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As the process to turn the Bullitt property’s 1.6 acres of North Capitol Hill land into a city park slowly moves forward, the family’s 1955 A-frame house will be considered for landmarks protections.

Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board will consider the nomination of the Bullitt House on June 7th.

The land and 68-year-old home on the property left to the city after the death of philanthropist Kay Bullitt stretches out on the northwest slopes of Capitol Hill in the prestigious Harvard-Belmont Landmark District. Continue reading →

City says new Capitol Hill park will need ‘private-public partnerships’ to pay for it

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A new sketch for the planned park (Image: Seattle Parks)

A new Harvard Ave E park is currently in the planning phase and a new, early design concept has been presented to the public.

Susanne Rockwell, senior planner with Seattle Parks and Recreation is working on figuring out how to best create a space where people can gather and stroll in nature while incorporating historical elements into the current park design.

Since the park space is located in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Seattle, it is not considered a community of need. The park is eight to 16 years away from having park district funding directly allocated for this site so Seattle Parks is hoping to create private-public partnerships to raise the money needed to create the new public space.

This land has been donated to the city for public use. Rockwell hopes that with the new park, it is open for everyone to enjoy.

“Our parks are open to everyone regardless of sexual orientation or home ownership or where you come from, you are welcome and they are open to everybody.” Rockwell said.

Some neighbors in the area are worried about an increase of crime or encampments that could occur with having a park near them. Continue reading →

City to unveil design concept for Kay Bullitt property, ready to start talking cost for a new Capitol Hill park

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The property from above in the summer of 2022

 

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City planners are ready to show off the first design concept and proposed elements for a new park on Capitol Hill. Talk of a price tag for developing the donated parkland will soon be on the table, too.

The 1125 Harvard Ave E project will meet its next major milestone Saturday with a community meeting to unveil the proposal held at Volunteer Park’s Asian Art Museum:

125 Harvard Ave E Park Public Design Meeting
Sat, Oct 15, 2022 , 10:00am-11:30am
Seattle Asian Art Museum, Alvord Boardroom 1400 E Prospect

The 1.6 acres of land and 1955-built home on the property left to the city after the death of philanthropist Kay Bullitt stretches out on the northwest slopes of Capitol Hill in the prestigious Harvard-Belmont Landmark District.

CHS reported here on the early planning for the project including a survey that planners said showed preferences for developing the new park land “as a quiet, contemplative place” while making space for the Cass Turnbull Garden as part of the site, a project from Seattle nonprofit Plant Amnesty honoring its late founder.

A plan must also be shaped for the 1955-built Bullitt residence — “a unique A-frame house” designed by Pacific Northwest architect Fred Bassetti that stands on the property. The one and a half story, 3,400-square-foot open design home must be structurally assessed and could be worthy of historical protections while remaining a centerpiece of the new park.

The full Seattle Parks document including survey responses and answers submitted by community members about the planned park is below: Continue reading →

‘A quiet, contemplative place’ — Plan for turning Kay Bullitt property into new Capitol Hill park moves forward

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For most respondents, a new Capitol Hill park at 1125 Harvard Ave E would be a 10 to 20 minute walk and have strolling paths, an open lawn, and would be a special place to picnic or wander through speciality gardens.

There probably would not be pickleball courts.

The Seattle Parks and Recreation process to shape the Kay Bullitt property in the northwest of Capitol Hill as a new public park is moving forward after a community survey and early August meeting at the site of the 1.6 acres left to the city by the philanthropist at her 2021 death.

CHS stopped through the August 3rd meeting and tour on the property as the city works to transform a private Capitol Hill yard already promised and in use as a community garden space into a public park serving communities far beyond Capitol Hill’s northern mansions and the overgrown greenbelt surrounding St. Mark’s Cathedral.

Most attendees had never been on the property before. Continue reading →

Police investigate after North Capitol Hill bout of gunfire and road rage

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“Police have closed the road at Harvard and Prospect. Neighbors saying there were two cars shooting at each other on this block. No injuries. Police investigating”  (Image: @whocanstandit via Twitter)

There were no injuries and no arrests in a Saturday afternoon bout of gunfire and road rage incidents on the usually quiet streets of North Capitol Hill west of Volunteer Park.

According to East Precinct radio updates, a series of road rage calls and hit and run collisions began on Belmont just after 2 PM and continued with gunfire reported near Prospect and Harvard and a hit and run and road rage incident at Broadway and Roy. Continue reading →

Kay Bullitt: A legacy of Seattle philanthropy — and a new Capitol Hill park

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A view of the Cass Turnbull Garden (Image: Plant Amnesty)

Kay Bullitt

On the Capitol Hill of the future, the Bullitt name will evoke ideals of environmental conservation, public space in the shape of a northern Capitol Hill park, and gardens — in its past, a legacy of lumber and broadcasting, and a remarkable Capitol Hill resident who used her family fortune to support “a dizzying array of causes spanning education, racial justice, international relations, politics, historic-landmark preservation and the arts.

It’s a legacy strong enough to create something nearly impossible on an increasingly packed Capitol Hill — a new park. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Rainier Chapter House plans a Revolution-ary celebration of its new historic status

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By Tim Kukes for CHS

The Rainier Chapter House in the Harvard-Belmont District of Capitol Hill, the meeting hall for the Rainier Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was built in 1925.  This spring, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

That’s not just something that just happens. Someone must care, and someone must do the work.

“We’ve been talking about it for a few years.  Our current regent – regent is kind of the top person of the chapter, runs the meetings and whatnot – she just kind of put it into full throttle last July,” said Diana Prigger, 1st Vice Regent of the Rainier Chapter.

The process is time consuming and involves a lot of documentation.  At one time the nomination form was 41 pages, according to Cindy Johnson-Sakuma, Regent of the Rainier Chapter. They managed to cut it down to 31 pages.

”When you first look at it you think, ‘oh, well, this is no problem,’ and it kind of like just grows,” Johnson-Sakuma said. Continue reading →