| Historic Name: |
Central Supply Center for Seattle School District #1 |
Common Name: |
Evergreen Wholesale Florist |
| Style: |
Modern - International Style, Other - Industrial |
Neighborhood: |
Cascade |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1956 |
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| Significance |
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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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In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
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The building was designed by architect John Maloney in 1955. Several bays were added shortly thereafter by 1956. The nature of the construction and design probably made it easy to design and build additions. John Maloney was a well-known Seattle architect in his day. The building was constructed on the site of the former Cascade School (designed by John Parkinson, completed in 1894 and demolished in the early 50s). This building was also built for the Seattle School District and is described in drawings as “Central School Supply, Seattle School District 1.” It mainly served as a warehouse for supplies and books for the School District. It is also significant because of the nature of its construction. This is a warehouse building, clearly designed according to International style/Modernist notions, as well as innovative construction practices: repeated concrete barrel shell vaults and tilt-up concrete walls, ribbon windows. There seems to only one other known industrial building of this type and from this period in Seattle ( built later in 1963 by the Concrete Technology Corporation, known for industrial warehouse design and construction). In addition, this building is a remarkable and noticeable building in the Cascade District that helps residents and non-residents alike orient themselves.
The Seattle School District still owned the building during most of the1980s. By 1989, Pemco, the current owner, had bought it. It currently houses the Evergreen Wholesale Warehouse.
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| Appearance |
| The building plan is a rectangle with a smaller rectangle cut out of it at the southeast corner. It takes up the entire block from Harrison to Thomas Streets and from Pontius to Yale Avenue North. It has precast concrete tilt-up walls. Its roof mainly consists of repeated concrete barrel shell vaults, supported on concrete post. A small rectangular area to the north has a flat roof, supported by steel joists, and was designed as a loading area. The elevations reflect the variation in roof structure, with a preponderance of concrete barrel shell vaults. For instance, on the west elevation, starting from the north, the first three bays have a flat roof, and are succeeded, running to the south, by eight barrel shell roof vaults. On the east elevation, the first four barrel vaulted bays are cut into by the smaller rectangle, creating a courtyard and entrance to the building, and then succeeded by four barrel vaulted bays, and then three shorter bays covered by the lower flat roof. Another distinctive feature, tying all elevations together, is the continuous ribbon of square windows. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
INV |
| Cladding(s): |
Concrete |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Barrel Vault, Flat |
Roof Material(s): |
Other |
| Building Type: |
Commercial/Trade - Warehouse |
Plan: |
Irregular |
| Structural System: |
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No. of Stories: |
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| Unit Theme(s): |
Education, Manufacturing/Industry, Science & Engineering |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Plan: |
Slight |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
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King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
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Boyle, Susan and Katrina Louise Deines, The Industrial Shed in Seattle (Joint M.Arch. thesis), University of Washington, 1979.
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