Tag Archives: preservation

Ten years of Chophouse Row, ‘a nice little critical mass of stuff for people who live on Capitol Hill’

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(Image: Chophouse Row)

Dunn (Image: Downtown Seattle Association)

By Matt Dowell

It’s ten years for Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row on 11th Ave, but Liz Dunn of Dunn & Hobbes is quick to say that she and her team have been on the block longer than that.

“We’ve actually been here for 25 years,” she reminded us. “So it’s the ten year anniversary of just this last building that we added — but this whole complex I’ve owned for 25 years.”

Dunn purchased a cluster of buildings inside the 11th/Pike/12th horseshoe in 1999, then the beautiful brick building on the northwest corner of the block in 2014. They were redeveloped one by one over the years before the current form’s culmination debuted in 2015.

That’s when the Chophouse building on 11th Ave was added on top of an existing auto row-era structure. Office space was built inside that is now dedicated to coworking, the alleyway and courtyard inside the horseshoe opened, and multiple food and drink and retail spaces joined in. Chophouse Row was born. It followed Melrose Market’s footsteps — another successful Dunn & Hobbes redevelopment project that brought many small businesses into a single, shared, and life-filled space.

Dunn says that the cliche is true. In these developments, “the total is greater than the sum of the parts.” Continue reading →

Belmont-Boylston ‘double house’ designated a Seattle landmark

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(Image: Historic Seattle)

The Seattle Landmarks Board last week voted to designate the Belmont-Boylston “double house” at 1411 Boylston Ave for official city protections.

The board voted unanimously in favor of designation, under Standard D, recognizing the 1901-era structure’s “distinctive visible characteristics” in a decision that extends protections to the exterior of the building and surgically restricts future changes to “the interior stairs between the first and second floors and both sides of the demising wall.”

CHS reported previously on the landmarks process that has come as part of Historic Seattle’s preparation to sell the property it renovated after purchasing a swath in the area in 1989.

The Seattle City Council must now pass an ordinance imposing the restrictions on the designated property.

Meanwhile, another landmarks board session in March will consider the nomination of the latest property on Capitol Hill’s Millionaire’s Row to be put up for landmark status. CHS reported here on the Burwell House and its owners’ hopes the 1904-built 14th Ave E house will be deemed worthy to advance in the landmarks process.

 

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Seattle landmarks board considers Belmont-Boylston ‘double house’

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A 1901-era, three-story apartment building at 1411 Boylston Ave nominated for protections in January will move ahead with a meeting on designating the property as an official landmark Wednesday afternoon.

Possible protections for the so-called Belmont-Boylston “double house” are coming as Historic Seattle prepares to sell the property it renovated after purchasing a swath in the area in 1989. Continue reading →

Burwell House latest to be considered for landmarks protections on Capitol Hill’s Millionaire’s Row

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Built for a Seattle Hardware Company founder, the Burwell House comes with a lot of hardware

A neighborhood of landmarks is poised to add another.

The Burwell House of Capitol Hill’s Millionaire’s Row is slated to be considered for protection of its historic features in a hearing scheduled for March.

Champions of historic preservation in Seattle might be falling over themselves to see the 1904-built 14th Ave E house designated. “It is challenging to find Arts and Crafts architecture in Seattle comparable to the Burwell House,” the report on the property compiled for the nomination hearing writes. Continue reading →

Still not much preserved when Pike/Pine preservation projects dig in — but the Booth Building will rise again

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On Capitol Hill, history repeats.

At Broadway and Pine, passersby are learning one of the cold, hard facts of the neighborhood’s historical conservation incentives: Not much is preserved when Pike/Pine preservation projects dig in.

The start of construction on the Broadway Center for Youth affordable housing and job training center has included a brutal round of demolition that is tearing down every last shred of the Booth Building that has stood at the corner since 1906.

The center’s development has been described as an adaptive reuse project and the development is utilizing the Pike/Pine Conservation District’s incentive program to build an extra story of housing in the eight-story project.

So, what happened to the preservation?

Developer Community Roots Housing says to wait for it — the development is set to echo past neighborhood preservation projects by rebuilding the historic structure. Continue reading →

Save Kerry Hall? Students stage sit-in, call for arts, music, and dance to be preserved as buyers eye historic property for housing and development

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Monday, Cornish College of the Arts students gathered along E Roy on Capitol Hill for a sit-in at Kerry Hall. Their hope is to save the historic building — and keep the 103-year-old studio and performance hall as a center for arts and learning on Capitol Hill.

There is also a Save Kerry Hall group formed with hopes of asking Cornish to reconsider the decision — or help shape the old building’s future by finding a buyer dedicated to continuing its role in the city’s arts scene.

“Most of us feel that the Cornish school should not be sold and it could be part of a vision of Cornish in other ways on Capitol Hill, so [there’s] this sort of long standing threat and feeling of insecurity for many of us as far as the future of Kerry Hall,” Elizabeth Jane Darrow, a former Cornish faculty member who has been helping organize efforts to save the building, tells CHS.

CHS reported here as Kerry Hall hit the Capitol Hill real estate market in April. At the time of Cornish’s announcement that it was finally preparing to sever its final ties to its birth neighborhood and fully move its campus to South Lake Union, the arts school did not include a price for the E Roy property and three-story building just off Broadway within the Harvard-Belmont Landmark District. Its broker is now awaiting offers.

Cornish students staged the sit-in at Kerry Hall on Monday to raise awareness about the pending sale. The sit-in plan included improvisational dances by Cornish graduate Sylvia Schatz-Allison and an opportunity for students past and present to write goodbye letters to the building.

“The decision to divest from Kerry Hall is a strategic one, so that we can focus on our energies on teaching and learning,” James Falzone, academic dean and professor of music at Cornish told CHS about the planned sale. Continue reading →

St. Mark’s affordable housing and adaptive reuse development on agenda at Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board

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A rendering showing the planned massing of the new structure (Image: Atelierjones)

The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board will be briefed this week on the planned redevelopment and adaptive reuse project envisioned to create more than 100 affordable homes on the St. Mark’s Cathedral campus on northern Capitol Hill.

The project would transform the landmarks-protected St. Nicholas building that has stood on the property for 98 years. CHS reported here on the project taking shape with designs calling for 109 affordable apartment units in a development that would create a new twin to the historic building.

Designated as a protected landmark in 1982, the St. Nicholas structure’s protections include the “entire exterior of the 1926 building” and “the entire site” but the restrictions do not extend to the structure’s interior. Continue reading →

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 →

As we drink to Linda’s 30th, raise a glass to 97 years and counting at 707 E Pine

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Capitol Hill at Pine and Boylston, looking southwest at downtown, Seattle, Washington, July 22, 1991. 707 E Pine is in the foreground and Linda’s was about to be born. (Image: University of Washington Libraries, Special Collection)

So, you know the secret of how Linda’s has survived and thrived on Capitol Hill for 30 years  — Linda Derschang isn’t wrong when she says it is about people.

But the 1927-built store turned Middle Eastern restaurant with belly dancing turned grunge-era bar is also a key component.

Somehow over its three decades at 707 E Pine, Linda’s hasn’t directly faced the challenges that come with new landlords and new development plans.

King County records show the same family who gave Linda’s its first lease 30 years ago continues to hold the property. Continue reading →

With demolition plan for 120-year-old Wilshire Building, seven-story affordable housing project’s ‘fast track’ finally ready to play out on Broadway

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(Image: Knit Studios)

The Bait Shop block isn’t the only stretch of Broadway being readied for redevelopment to add new housing to the core of Capitol Hill. Demolition permit filings this month show the project to create a new seven-story affordable apartment building in the 200 block of Broadway E is rounding into shape after years of planning.

CHS reported here in November 2022 on the Seattle Landmarks Board rejection of Broadway’s Wilshire Building for historical protections, clearing the way for the now more than 120-year-old structure to be demolished to make way for a new seven-story, mixed-use building with 95 apartments, five ground floor live/work units, and new street-level retail space.

The project has been developed by Cannon Commercial, TAP Collaborative, and $3 million in affordable housing funding from the 2021 round of Office of Housing grants. A company registered to Joe Cannon and TAP’s Rebecca Ralston purchased the property for $6.25 million in 2018, according to King County records. Continue reading →