| Historic Name: |
Woodland Park Zoo Commissary & Dispensary |
Common Name: |
Keeper Central/Old Animal Health |
| Style: |
Arts & Crafts, Arts & Crafts - Craftsman |
Neighborhood: |
Green Lake |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1930 |
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| Significance |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. |
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This architecturally distinctive brick building was completed in 1930 as a commissary for the Woodland Park Zoo. In 1899, the Parks Department acquired the 180-acre Woodland Park from the estate of Guy C. Phinney, a wealthy lumber mill owner and real estate developer. In the late 1880s, Phinney paid $10,000 for 342 acres of land along what we now call Phinney Ridge and down the slope to Green Lake and kept more than half of it for himself. He then spent $40,000 converting his land into an elegant English-style estate named Woodland Park, complete with formal gardens, and generously opened his estate to the public as long as they obeyed his conspicuously posted rules. Since the location was considered far from the center of town, Phinney also installed a streetcar line down the hill to the town of Fremont. Phinney’s untimely death in 1893 at the age of 41 left his estate unfinished. Six years later, his widow sold the property to the city despite significant controversy over the $100,000 asking price and the distant location, and opposition by Mayor Thomas J. Humes.
In 1903, the city hired the Olmsted Brothers landscape firm to prepare plans for a comprehensive park and boulevard system, including suggestions for improvements to existing parks. This move was largely brought on by the public interest generated for the planned Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition and through the purchase of Woodland Park and the acquisition of Washington Park, two large tracts of mostly undeveloped land. A general plan for the landscape development of Woodland Park was included in the initial report prepared by the firm, but a more detailed plan with 65 drawings was not completed until 1910. Within four years, the park had been almost entirely reconstructed following the detailed plans of the Olmsted Brothers, which incorporated many of the existing features. These plans included a zoological garden for the upper area of Woodland Park and athletic fields and a picnic grove for the lower eastern half.
During the first 30 years of the 20th century, the zoo slowly took on the appearance of a "real" zoo of the time with the construction of additional animal barns, cages and enclosures. In 1911, the Primate House, which opened in mid-summer, was the first heated structure at the zoo and the most impressive building on the zoo grounds until mid-century. A row of barred bear and lion cages was constructed along the main north-south pathway through the zoo. Increasing numbers of fenced yards were built for birds and hoofed animals such as deer, sheep, elk and bison. In 1921, an elephant barn was built. Nearly all of the exhibits were in the approximately twenty acres closest to Phinney Avenue North. There were also large yards for elk and bison in what is now the northeast corner of the zoo. Unfortunately, this program of improvements came to a halt in the early 1930s due to the financial difficulties brought on by the Depression.
The construction of the commissary building in 1930 was one of the last major projects built before the Works Progress Administration (WPA) era of the later 1930s and early 1940s. The commissary, where food was prepared for the animals, was constructed south of the Primate House. The structure, one of the first service buildings constructed specifically for zoo purposes, indicates the increasing level of professionalism and permanence at the zoo. It was later converted for use as a veterinary treatment and quarantine center. However, zookeepers slaughtered horses for food for the lions and other big cats here as late as the 1970s. Currently, it is informally referred to as "Keeper Central" or "Old Animal Health." The zoo’s exhibit technicians have their shops in the surrounding compound. Largely intact, this building is significant for its design and for its association with the development of the Woodland Park Zoo.
Description of Physical Appearance (continued)
The west elevation of the main block has two multi-paned windows below the wide gable end, while the rear south elevation has a chimney centered between two 10/10 double hung windows. The west elevation of the wing presents a blank wall. Clad with cedar siding, an enclosed shed roof porch lines the first story of the wing’s south elevation below a paneled single entrance door within the gable end. The porch has an entrance situated under the roof overhanging the western side and bands of windows on the southern and eastern sides. On the east elevation of the wing, two openings contain pairs of casement windows. On the east elevation of the main block, the side gable roof terminates in a wall dormer set with a large multi-paned window. The lean-to along the ground floor level has two multi-paned windows and an entrance on the main wall facing east and a small chimney on the side wall facing south. The brick cladding on the lean-to has a slightly different appearance, possibly indicating a later construction date. Despite the changes of use over the years, this unusual and architecturally distinctive building retains very good physical integrity.
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| Appearance |
| Completed in 1930, this 1½-story building occupies the center of an enclosed service yard within the southwest quarter of the Woodland Park Zoo. Modern buildings line the eastern and western margins of the service yard. The side gable main block of the building has a gabled wing extending from the eastern end of the south elevation, creating an L-shaped footprint. The east elevation of the main block also has a one-story shed roof lean-to covered by a corrugated metal roof. Brick veneer clads the first story below the upper floor walls and gable ends sheathed with wide cedar siding. The principal north elevation has gable front projecting bays flanking a center entrance. The eastern bay has a large opening with double wooden doors at the first story below the cross gable end, which contains a single entrance door. The western bay has a stepped brick parapet covering the gable end of the wall dormer set with a multi-paned window at the upper floor level. The ground floor level contains a large opening with a pair of paneled wood doors. Multi-paned windows frame the center entrance door and its multi-paned fanlight.
The west elevation of the main block has two multi-paned windows below the wide gable end, while the rear south elevation has a chimney centered between two 10/10 double hung windows. The west elevation of the wing presents a blank wall. Clad with cedar siding, an enclosed shed roof porch lines the first story of the wing’s south elevation below a paneled single entrance door within the gable end. The porch has an entrance situated under the roof overhanging the western side and bands of windows on the southern and eastern sides. On the east elevation of the wing, two openings contain pairs of casement windows. On the east elevation of the main block, the side gable roof terminates in a wall dormer set with a large multi-paned window. The lean-to along the ground floor level has two multi-paned windows and an entrance on the main wall facing east and a small chimney on the side wall facing south. The brick cladding on the lean-to has a slightly different appearance, possibly indicating a later construction date. Despite the changes of use over the years, this unusual and architecturally distinctive building retains very good physical integrity. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Brick, Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Health Care- Clinic |
Plan: |
L-Shape |
| Structural System: |
Unknown |
No. of Stories: |
one & ½ |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Agriculture, Community Planning/Development, Entertainment/Recreation |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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Sherwood, Don. Seattle Parks Histories, c. 1970-1981, unpublished.
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The History of the Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo Website (http://www.zoo.org/zoo_info/special/history/begin.htm).
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