Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 10145 Rainier AVE / Parcel ID 8073000236 / Inv # DPR044

Historic Name: Lakeridge Playfield Shelter House Common Name: Style: Modern Neighborhood: Rainier Beach Built By: Year Built: 1961   Significance This modern shelter house was constructed in 1961 as one of the first permanent improvements to this park. The city had only acquired the property for the playfield in the late 1950s through condemnation proceedings and with funding from a Local Improvement District. This was over fifty years after the unincorporated Rainier Beach area had been annexed in September of 1907. The park is located along Rainier Avenue South in a residential neighborhood immediately north of the southern limits of the city. Most of the homes in the vicinity date from the late 1940s to the 1960s. Lakeridge Playfield is also located adjacent to Dead Horse Canyon in Lakeridge Park, which had been acquired by the city in 1947 through a deed transfer with King County. Designed by Parks Department architect Donald N. Sherwood, this shelter house was completed in 1961 to serve the adjacent athletic field, tennis courts and children’s play area. During his career with the Parks Department, Sherwood designed a total of fourteen buildings. This building is identical to the shelter house constructed the same year at Fairmount Playfield in West Seattle. Beginning in the later 1920s, the Parks Department had constructed brick shelter houses at many of the city’s playgrounds and playfields. These buildings housed large rooms for organized recreation activities in addition to public restroom facilities. Office space for recreation instructors was also provided. The Parks Department continued to construct new shelter houses into the later 1930s due to the availability of labor and funding from state and federal relief programs, such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA). However, shortages of labor and materials brought on by the Second World War halted construction of any new park buildings for most of the 1940s. Construction of new shelter houses commenced in the late 1940s and continued into the 1960s. However, the materials eventually changed from brick to the less expensive and more durable concrete block. The modern design of the 1950s and 1960s shelter houses also contrasted with the earlier buildings, which generally exhibited Craftsman or period revival stylistic features. This modest building is significant for its design and for its association with the development of Lakeridge Playfield.   Appearance Completed in 1961, this concrete block shelter house occupies a site near the children’s play area at the southeast corner of Lakeridge Playfield. The one-story structure has a T-shaped footprint, which measures approximately 31 feet by 21 feet. The overhanging front gable roof has exposed rafters on the east and west elevations. These rafters rest on beams lining the tops of the end walls, which, in turn, rest on beams lining the tops of the lower front and rear walls. These beams extend beyond the walls and cross at the northeast and northwest recessed corners. An additional overhanging beam supports the peak of the roof and rests on center posts within the gable ends covered with a corrugated metal cladding. The Modern building faces north and contains a recreation room at the center between a women’s restroom at the eastern end and a men’s restroom at the western end. At either end of the principal north elevation, the original single entrance doors to the restrooms are situated below louvered transoms on the rear walls of the recessed corners. A single door entrance to the recreation room is located west of center on the north elevation below an opening covered with corrugated metal. An identical entrance into this space is located on the inner wall of the recessed northeast corner. The rear south elevation presents a blank concrete wall. This modest building retains excellent physical integrity.

Detail for 10145 Rainier AVE / Parcel ID 8073000236 / Inv # DPR044

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: Cladding(s): Concrete - Block, Metal Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Gable Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition Building Type: Other Plan: T-Shape Structural System: Concrete - Block No. of Stories: one Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Community Planning/Development, Entertainment/Recreation Integrity Changes to Original Cladding: Intact Changes to Windows: Intact Changes to Plan: Intact Major Bibliographic References City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records. King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives. Sherwood, Don. Seattle Parks Histories, c. 1970-1981, unpublished.

Photo collection for 10145 Rainier AVE / Parcel ID 8073000236 / Inv # DPR044

Photo taken Oct 27, 2000