Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 5513 S Cloverdale ST S / Parcel ID 6896300010 / Inv # DPR004

Historic Name: Atlantic City Nursery Garage and Tool Service Building Common Name: Atlantic Nursery Service Building Style: Vernacular Neighborhood: Rainier Beach Built By: Year Built: 1952   Significance The Parks Department constructed this garage and tool service building in 1952 to serve the Atlantic City Park Nursery. The origins of the park date to 1905 when the Hillman Investment Company platted the Atlantic City Addition in the Rainier Beach neighborhood. The real estate company dedicated an area for a public park on the shores of Lake Washington and proceeded to develop Atlantic City Park with a bathhouse, pier, boathouse, picnic stove, and benches. At the time, the park was located on a cove at the south end of the swampy Dunlap Slough, which separated Pritchard’s Island from the mainland. Two years later, the Hillman Investment Company attempted to replat the addition without the park, but a lawsuit brought by residents forced the retention of the park. The City of Seattle acquired the park in its annexation of the Rainier Valley in 1907 but made no additional improvements to it until after 1916. In that year, the level of Lake Washington was lowered by nine feet due to the construction of the Ship Canal, which left most of the park’s boating and bathing facilities stranded on dry land. Pritchard’s Island also became connected to the mainland by the low-lying area of land formerly part of Dunlap Slough. By the mid-1920s, the old pier had been removed, and the Parks Department had built new tennis courts, a children’s play area, and a new picnic stove. There were also proposals at this time to expand the park to the northeast through the former slough. In 1934, the Parks Department acquired Pritchard Island Beach on the cove north of the slough, and acquired the slough itself a year later. In 1935, the south half of the slough was developed as the Atlantic City Park Nursery of the Parks Departments’ Horticulture Section. The name was later shortened to the Atlantic Nursery. In 1952, the Parks Department built this wood frame service building, which is similar in design to other park maintenance buildings constructed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including facilities located at Washington Park, Carkeek Park, Colman Park, and Ravenna Park. In 1978, the adjacent park was renamed to honor Seattle’s new sister city of Beer Sheva, Israel, however the nursery retained the original name. This utilitarian service building is significant for its association with the development of the Atlantic Nursery and Atlantic City/Beer Sheva Park.   Appearance Completed in 1952, this one-story wood frame building occupies a site along the higher eastern edge of the Atlantic Nursery bounded by Pritchard Beach Park on the north and Beer Sheva Park on the south. Large greenhouse structures and planting beds cover much of the large parcel enclosed by a chain link fence. The rectangular plan structure faces west and has an overhanging shed roof. Board and batten siding clads the exterior of the building. On the principal west elevation, a large opening at the northern end contains a paneled sliding wood door. At the southern end, a large window opening with three multi-paned windows adjoins a paneled entrance door in a recessed opening with an adjacent small window. The identical north and south elevations each have a band of three multi-paned windows in a large opening at the center. However, a shed structure obscures much of the north elevation. The rear east elevation has a single small window opening towards the southern end. Numerous stacks of plastic pots lean against this rear wall below a pile of wood suspended on a shelf. A lack of maintenance and some wood deterioration has reduced the physical integrity of this otherwise intact building.

Detail for 5513 S Cloverdale ST S / Parcel ID 6896300010 / Inv # DPR004

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: Cladding(s): Vertical - Board and Batten Foundation(s): Concrete - Block Roof Type(s): Shed Roof Material(s): Other Building Type: Other Plan: Rectangular Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: one Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Agriculture, Community Planning/Development, Conservation Integrity Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Windows: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Intact Major Bibliographic References Sherwood, Don. Seattle Parks Histories, c. 1970-1981, unpublished.

Photo collection for 5513 S Cloverdale ST S / Parcel ID 6896300010 / Inv # DPR004

Photo taken Oct 27, 2000