| Historic Name: |
Lakewood Moorage Shop |
Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Modern |
Neighborhood: |
Columbia City |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1953 |
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| Significance |
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This modest wood frame building was constructed in 1952-53 to serve as an office, shop and locker room facility for the adjacent Lakewood Moorage. The building was constructed on a small, undeveloped island as a replacement for an earlier boathouse building. The city had originally purchased the property on the cove north of Trotter’s Point in 1908 from the C.B. Dodge Company as part of its gradual acquisition of the Lake Washington shoreline. The city planned to create a Lake Washington Boulevard along the length of the shore, following the recommendation of the Olmsted Brothers landscape firm. In 1903, the city had hired the Olmsted Brothers to prepare plans for a comprehensive park and boulevard system, including suggestions for improvements to existing parks. This was supplemented by an additional report in 1908 to include the large areas annexed by the city the previous year, including this portion of southeast Seattle. The property contained an existing boathouse located between South Oregon and South Snoqualmie Streets, which was rebuilt in 1913. The Parks Board had agreed in a 1910 resolution to maintain a public boathouse between Mount Baker Park and the Bailey Peninsula (Seward Park) in consideration of an earlier donation of shoreline south of the boathouse.
When Lake Washington was lowered in 1916 due to the construction of the Ship Canal, many former islands became attached to the mainland. However, in this vicinity, Ohler Island was created with the lower lake level, which also left the boathouse stranded on dry land. The boathouse was soon relocated to the island, which remained largely undeveloped until the early 1950s. In the early 1930s, neighbors unsuccessfully petitioned the Parks Department to move the noisy and unsightly boathouse to nearby Seward Park. The financial difficulties of the depression in the 1930s and the shortages of labor and materials during the Second World War halted the construction of most park buildings until the later 1940s with the exception of those built by state and federal relief agencies. The Parks Department developed this facility in the early 1950s to provide private boat moorage as well as public boat rentals. Designed by architect LaMonte Shorett, this building was constructed along with docks and over one hundred boat slips. Currently, a private concession operates Lakewood Moorage as a long-term mooring facility. This building is significant for its associations with the development of Lakewood Moorage and Lake Washington Boulevard.
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| Appearance |
| Completed in 1953, this one-story wood frame building occupies a site on the western edge of a small island just north of the Seward Park peninsula. Boat moorage facilities extend south from the dock, which connects the northern end of the island to the shoreline. The front gable building has a rectangular plan, which measures 32 feet by 49 feet. A long low shed roof dormer lines the center of the eastern slope of the overhanging gable roof just below the ridge and contains a narrow band of windows facing east. The Modern building faces north and contains an office in the northwest corner and lockers in the southern half. On the principal north elevation, the main entrance to the building is situated within a recessed area west of center. A narrow horizontal band of windows lines the upper wall of the eastern half of the elevation below the wide gable end of the low-pitch roof. A taller band of vertical windows covers the western end of the north elevation and wraps onto the west elevation. Similar windows also wrap the southwest corner of the building beyond a single entrance door near the southern end of the west elevation. The mostly blank south elevation has door openings at the eastern end. The east elevation has several additional entrances, including a large overhead door at the southern end and a single door at the center. A recessed area at the northeast corner also contains entrance doors. It appears that a horizontal wood siding has replaced the original board and batten cladding. Despite this apparent alteration, the building retains good physical integrity. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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| Cladding(s): |
Wood - Clapboard |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Gable, Sawtooth |
Roof Material(s): |
Metal - Standing Seam |
| Building Type: |
Transportation - Water- Related |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Other |
No. of Stories: |
one |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development, Entertainment/Recreation, Transportation |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Extensive |
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Changes to Plan: |
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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Sherwood, Don. Seattle Parks Histories, c. 1970-1981, unpublished.
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