Historic Seattle

General Interest

Historic Seattle, whose offices are located in the historic Dearborn House on First Hill at 1117 Minor Avenue, believes that buildings ground us to our past, defining who we are and where we came from. The establishment of historic districts, beginning in 1970, and an ordinance permitting the designation by the city of individual landmarks in 1973, protected significant buildings, objects, and sites from demolition.

The establishment of Historic Seattle in 1974, created a means by which threatened historic properties can be restored, recycled for new uses, and maintained for the enjoyment of future generations. It is the only nonprofit membership organization dedicated to preserving Seattle and King County's architectural heritage.

Despite these efforts, older buildings continue to be fragile bits of real estate as landowners face pressures for economic returns on increasingly valuable property. Historic Seattle’s mission is to educate, advocate, and preserve vestiges of the past.

As both a public development authority and charitable foundation, Historic Seattle is a major advocate for, and participant in, the thoughtful and meaningful preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings. They have, during their 31-year history, helped protect and preserve 45 irreplaceable buildings.

Historic Seattle also advocates preservation by urging government, developers, and citizens to consider the cultural value of historic buildings. Historic Seattle offers a year-round program of educational lectures and tours to increase public awareness of the vibrant architectural heritage.

The architecture that arose in Seattle took its cues from the forms that were popularized in East Coast and Midwest cities, including Romanesque brick and stone commercial buildings, in the 1890s, steel frame skyscrapers sheathed with brick and terra cotta facades in the first decades of the 20th century, graceful set-back skyscrapers in the modernistic style in the late-1920s, and International-style modern, curtain-wall office buildings, in the 1960s and 1970s.

Residential design was modeled after historically derived English, French, Italian, and Colonial American prototypes. New ground was broken in the work of important local designers such as Carl Gould, R.C. Reamer, Ellsworth Storey, and Paul Thiry.