Historic Name: |
Fire Station No. 22 |
Common Name: |
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Style: |
Modern |
Neighborhood: |
Eastlake |
Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1964 |
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Significance |
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Completed in 1964, this modern fire station serves the North Capitol Hill and Eastlake neighborhoods. It replaced the original Fire Station No. 22, which was located some five blocks to the south on the northwest corner of the intersection of East Howe Street and 11th Avenue East. Completed in 1909, this two-story wood frame building featured a Craftsman style design and a small hose tower. Located across the street diagonally from the northwest corner of Lake View Cemetery, the new building housed Capitol Hill’s second fire station. Thirteen years earlier, the first fire station, a two-story wood frame building, had been constructed in 1896 on the corner of 15th Avenue East and East Republican Street. This station was one of nine fire stations that were built between 1894 and 1908 using a similar design. This remained Capitol Hill’s only fire station until the addition of Fire Station No. 22. In 1920, a new two-story brick building replaced the 1896 wood frame structure and remained in operation until its closure in 1970.
Between 1896 and 1909, there had been extensive residential development, especially after 1901, when a streetcar line was established along 15th Avenue East to Volunteer Park and real estate developer James began to plat and improve his 200-acre tract as the Capitol Hill Addition. North Capitol Hill became an even more attractive residential neighborhood after extensive formal improvements were made to nearby Volunteer Park between 1904 to 1912, following the detailed plans of the Olmsted Brothers landscape firm. By 1908, access to the area had also improved with the extension of the Broadway streetcar line from its original terminus at East Lynn Street to Eastlake Avenue East at the northern tip of Capitol Hill via East Roanoke Street and Harvard Avenue East.
By the later 1940s, many of the department’s older wood frame fire stations were very much in need of replacement. Until 1949, the combination of financial difficulties due to the economic depression of the 1930s and shortages of labor and materials brought on by the Second World War had halted construction of any new fire stations for a fifteen-year period. In 1948, the Fire Department made plans to build a new Fire Station No. 22 on the grounds of nearby Roanoke Park. A local Soroptimist Club, a professional women’s organization, organized opposition to this plan and prevented construction of the new fire station on any portion of the park. In 1964, the Fire Department was able to build its new Fire Station No. 22 across the street from the park on surplus land owned by the state, which had been condemned for the construction of State Route 520. Architect LaMonte Shorett was selected to prepare the design for the modern one-story brick fire station. This building is significant for its design and for its associations with the development of the Seattle Fire Department and the North Capitol Hill neighborhood.
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Appearance |
Completed in 1964, this one-story brick fire station occupies an irregular lot on the south side of East Roanoke Street at Broadway East. Located across the street from Roanoke Park, this property originally belonged to a larger parcel of land, which had been condemned by the State of Washington as part of the construction of State Route 520. This Modern building’s prominent features include a flat roof, an exposed concrete frame filled with buff brick, and a large hose tower at the southwest corner of the engine bay. All of the window openings have a large fixed upper pane above a pair of narrow pivot windows. The building is comprised of three sections, creating a roughly rectangular footprint, which measures approximately 78 feet by 47 feet. A one-story crew quarters occupies the eastern third of the building and adjoins the taller engine bay at the center. A one-story office wing occupies the western third of the building.
The wider center engine bay dominates the principal north elevation and contains a single large opening with an overhead entrance door. A heavy overhanging flat roof further emphasizes the prominence of the engine bay. The engine bay also has a series of narrow windows along its east and west elevations, which extend above the lower roofs of the adjoining crew quarters and office wing. The crew quarters at the eastern end of the north elevation has a single window opening situated in the corner adjoining the engine bay. The office at the western end of the elevation has a small recessed area immediately west of the engine bay, which contains a large full-length picture window and a glass entrance door. The only other opening is a window at the far western end of the elevation. The east elevation of the building has four windows towards the northern end, while the west elevation has three. A full window wall covers the rear south elevation of the center engine bay. The eastern end of the south elevation has two windows into the crew quarters. Decorative brickwork embellishes the hose tower, which has the same exposed concrete frame filled with brick under its overhanging flat roof. A single entrance door on the south elevation provides access to the tower from the exterior. Well maintained, this building has excellent physical integrity. |
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Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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Cladding(s): |
Brick, Concrete |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
Roof Type(s): |
Flat |
Roof Material(s): |
Unknown |
Building Type: |
Government - Fire Station |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
Structural System: |
Concrete - Poured |
No. of Stories: |
one |
Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Politics/Government/Law |
Integrity |
Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Major Bibliographic References |
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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Seattle Fire Department, Centennial Commemorative, 1889-1989. Portland, OR: Taylor Pub. Co., c1989.
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