Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 7351 E Green Lake DR E / Parcel ID 9551200005 / Inv # DPR027

Historic Name: Green Lake Park Boat Rentals & Concession Common Name: Style: Modern Neighborhood: Green Lake Built By: Year Built: 1946   Significance The brick building was constructed on the northeastern shore of Green Lake in 1946 to house a boat rental facility and concession stand. Within thirty years of the first settlement at Green Lake in 1869, the area had been transformed from dense forests to an attractive residential neighborhood served by a streetcar line, which connected it with downtown Seattle. In the late 1880s, entrepreneur William D. Wood acquired more than 600 acres of real estate around Green Lake and then platted and promoted his holdings. In order to stimulate development, Wood convinced Dr. Edward C. Kilbourne, one of the founders of Fremont, to extend his streetcar line from Fremont to Green Lake in 1891. Together, they organized the Green Lake Electric Railway, which Wood managed, and developed a ten-acre amusement park at its terminus on the northwestern corner of Green Lake. The same year, the City of Seattle annexed the Green Lake area along with other northern suburbs. 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. The Olmsted Brothers recommended the acquisition of Green Lake and the creation of a park and boulevard surrounding the lake. Unfortunately, settlement had reached to the shoreline by this time, providing little opportunity to create the park economically. As a solution, the Olmsted Brothers recommended lowering the level of the lake and filling in the wetlands to create more usable parkland. In 1905, the State of Washington deeded ownership of the lake bottom to the city, which proceeded to acquire the remainder of the shoreline through purchase and condemnation, including the former amusement park site. Beginning in 1911, the level of the lake was lowered seven feet, which added 100 acres of dry land once it had been graded and filled. This process was completed by the early 1930s with the filling of the southern end of the lake using material excavated from Woodland Park during the construction of Aurora Avenue in 1932. When Guy Phinney developed his Woodland Park pleasure grounds in the late 1880s, he constructed a boathouse on the southwest shore of Green Lake with rowboats for rent and his own private steam launch. At the time, there was good fishing on Green Lake, which was still connected to Lake Washington by a stream running through the ravine at Ravenna. After the city acquired Woodland Park in 1899, a series of concessionaires operated the boathouse facility until the lowering of the lake in 1911 left the old facility stranded on dry land. This action also cut the lake off from outside sources of aquatic life. Over the next forty years, private boats and moorage were allowed on the lake, and fishing was considered as a casual activity to be conducted from the shoreline or private boats. In the early 1940s, the Washington State Game Department made plans to stock the lake with 50,000 rainbow trout for sport fishing. In 1945, a pier was built on the northeastern shore for youth fishing. By that time, the Parks Department had decided to prohibit the private moorage of boats, and to replace it with public boat rentals. The following year, this building was constructed adjacent to the pier to house the boat rental operations as well as a concession stand. These functions have continued in this building to this day. This modest brick building is significant for its associations with the development of Green Lake Park.   Appearance Completed in 1946, this one-story brick building occupies a site along the eastern shoreline of Green Lake west of the tennis courts and north of the parking lot adjacent to the Green Lake Community Center. The side gable building faces west and has a rectangular plan with an open passageway through the center. The northern half of the building houses a storage area while the southern half contains an office. Wrought iron gates enclose the passageway at the center of the east and west elevations. A service counter has been installed within the opening on the principal west elevation, while the opening on the rear east elevation has been boarded over. On the east and west elevations, paired rafters overhang the exterior walls of buff brick, resting on a base of vertical bricks. A large opening centered within the northern half of the west elevation contains an overhead door, which provides access to the storage area. On the southern half of the elevation, a similarly sized opening contains two pairs of double doors separated by a brick pier, leading into the office. These doors do not appear to be the originals. The north elevation presents a blank brick wall, as does the east elevation with the exception of the center opening. The south elevation features a window set high on the wall within the gable end, which appears to be a modern replacement. This modest building retains good physical integrity despite the alterations noted above.

Detail for 7351 E Green Lake DR E / Parcel ID 9551200005 / Inv # DPR027

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: Cladding(s): Brick Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Gable Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition Building Type: Other Plan: Rectangular Structural System: Brick No. of Stories: one Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development, Entertainment/Recreation Integrity Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Windows: Slight Changes to Original Cladding: Intact Major Bibliographic References Sherwood, Don. Seattle Parks Histories, c. 1970-1981, unpublished. Fiset, Louis. "Green Lake -- Thumbnail History," The Green Lake News, July-August 2000, p. 4-5.

Photo collection for 7351 E Green Lake DR E / Parcel ID 9551200005 / Inv # DPR027

Photo taken Jul 17, 2000