Seattle Now and Then

Seattle Now & Then: Proposed apartment high-rise near Science Center

1 Comment

(Click and click again to enlarge photos)

THEN: Shown on March 28, 1956, a former dental clinic building housed the George T. Newell insurance company in 1955-67, the John Hancock insurance building in 1967-76 and Frol & Peasley CPA in 1977-98. (Puget Sound Regional Branch, Washington State Archives)
NOW: On the northeast corner of Denny Way and, at left, Second Avenue North, an eight-floor apartment structure, with 151 units and 90 underground parking spaces, is proposed for construction. (Here a white Seattle police car blocks the intersection during the June 30 Pride Parade.) (Clay Eals)

Published in The Seattle Times online on Aug. 4, 2024
and in Pacific NW Magazine of the printed Times on Aug. 1, 2024

Will a proposed apartment high-rise block out a Seattle treasure?
By Clay Eals

We all can think of hidden treasures that shouldn’t be.

One of them is in downtown Philadelphia. Until 1987, anyone wanting to build taller than the hat on the William Penn statue atop City Hall was forbidden to do so under a “gentleman’s agreement.” The pact collapsed, and today, from many streetside vantages, towers obscure the city’s founder.

A similar situation looms next door to a Seattle jewel. We speak of one of several gateways to Seattle Center, next to the elegant Pacific Science Center, a legacy building of the 1962 World’s Fair.

The northeast corner of busy Denny Way and the side street of Second Avenue North wasn’t always notable. In the early 20th century, the uphill site was largely empty. In 1946, a commonplace two-floor structure with a dental clinic took shape. Remodeled in 1955, it housed insurance, CPA and other offices until 1998.

NOW: This east-facing view along Second Avenue North shows the entry of Pacific Science Center’s parking garage and its west wall, which would be blocked by a proposed eight-floor apartment building. (Margaret Pihl)

That’s when the Science Center built a partly underground three-floor, 130-spot parking garage on the L-shaped lot wedged between the center and the intersection. Still visible from the streets were the center’s exterior walls, whose curves mirror the graceful lines of its signature arches.

Over time, lush trees on Denny gradually obscured the walls, but the corner remains a low-rise pedestrian sanctuary compared to its developed surroundings. And a few hundred feet up Second Avenue, low-level topiary allows the center’s western wall to stay visible and welcoming.

NOW: This aerial view shows the L-shaped apartment building that would rise next to Pacific Science Center on the northeast corner of Denny Way and Second Avenue North. (Mithun and Hewitt architectural firms)

Watchdogs of Seattle aesthetics and history are spotlighting a project that would change all that. The financially troubled Science Center sold the L-shaped garage in 2019 for $13.9 million to an investor group tied to the Space Needle and Climate Pledge Arena. The group proposes to use the site’s 85-foot height limit to construct an eight-floor, 151-unit apartment building.

NOW: The design concept for the L-shaped northeast corner of Denny Way and Second Avenue North shows an eight-story, 151-unit apartment building to replace a low-rise parking garage. (Mithun and Hewitt architectural firms)

At a June 26, 2024, city design-review meeting, project designer Allison Orr called the building “a really positive addition to the neighborhood,” which she labeled “the cultural heart of Seattle.”

THEN: Minoru Yamasaki, architect of the U.S. Science Pavilion for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, appears on the cover of Time magazine on Jan. 18, 1963. (Courtesy Time magazine / Seattle Times Archives)

But firm public opposition arose in a dozen comments, including from Historic Seattle and Friends of Yamasaki, named for renowned Science Center architect Minoru Yamasaki. The latter group said the building would intrude on the Science Center’s design, block views of its facades and dominate the corner. In short, it would be “much too large.”

The design panel voted 3-1 to send the project to its next stage of city review. The dissenter, Seattle artist Norie Sato, said the plan portends a “massive presence [that is] missing any articulation that brings delicacy.”

The dispute may boil down to this: Without an alluring pathway, how do we find the treasure?

WEB EXTRAS

Big thanks to Heather of the Seattle Room of Seattle Public Library for her invaluable help with this installment!

To see Clay Eals’ 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos, and to hear this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.

Below, you also will find 4 additional photos and a report on the proposed high-rise that were helpful in the preparation of this column. Three other items:

  • At this link, you also can download a pdf of two Puget Sound Business Journal articles on this site and project.
  • At this link, you can follow the city review process for the project.
  • At this link, you can watch the 94-minute city design-review meeting from June 26, 2024.
THEN: A just-built two-floor building with a dental clinic stood at the northeast corner of Denny Way and Second Avenue North on March 18, 1947. (Puget Sound Regional Branch, Washington State Archives)
NOW: Pedestrians walk east along Denny Way. The Pacific Science Center and its garage are behind the trees, some of which would be lost in construction of an eight-floor apartment building at 200 Denny Way, to be re-addressed as 100 Second Ave. N. (Clay Eals)
NOW: Another view of the Second and Denny corner, with a development notice taped to a utility pole. (Clay Eals)
NOW: Pedestrians walk along Second Avenue North, where high-rise would be built. (Clay Eals)
Click the image above to see a pdf of the full developers’ proposal for the high-rise apartment building at Denny and Second.

 

One thought on “Seattle Now & Then: Proposed apartment high-rise near Science Center”

  1. What’s with the dirt bank behind the building in the “then” photo? Is that a remnant of the 2nd Denny regrade?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.