Washington Trust for Historic Preservation

Most Endangered Places

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P-I Globe

Status: Most Endangered Places, In the works!

Year Listed: 2009

Location: King County

Location: Seattle, King County

Built by Pacific Car and Foundry and Electrical Products Consolidated (still in business today as PACCAR), the Globe is a visual representation for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper and remains a post-war tribute to the significant role trade signs and the graphic arts hold in commercial advertising. With the P-I now only an on-line presence, the globe does double duty as a tangible reminder of the challenges currently facing the newspaper industry in a community increasingly reliant on digital media formats. With concerns swirling about how those same challenges might impact the future of the globe, local elected officials have engaged in efforts to recognize the structure as an official historic resource. While no plans indicating the globe’s removal have been publicized, office space within the P-I building is for lease and maintenance needs for the structure could play a role in coming years. These facts have sparked discussion about an appropriate site for the Globe if its relocation ever becomes imminent.

Most Endangered Places

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Carmack House

Status: Lost

Year Listed: 2009

Location: King County

Vacant for years, the house fell into disrepair and was subject to vandalism. In addition, the property was for sale. Adjacent to an institutional medical center, existing zoning allowed for a much more intensive level of development than the existing single-family house, which made it more likely for a new owner to demolish the historic house.

Most Endangered Places

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Alki Homestead Restaurant

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2009

Location: King County

In January 2009, the restaurant suffered an electrical fire, leaving the interior and portions of the roof damaged. Temporary measures were taken to prevent additional damage from weather exposure, but the time frame for implementing major repair work needed to stabilize the building was uncertain. Compounding matters was the fact that the restaurant had been for sale for nearly a year prior to the January blaze.

In 2015, the property was purchased by Dennis Shilling and underwent a multi-year restoration with apartments in the upper floor and a restaurant once again on the main level. After 10 years as a Most Endangered Place, Alki Homestead opened its doors again in 2019. Mike and Victoria Easton, who own Il Corvo (“the crow”) in Pioneer Square in Seattle, have opened acclaimed restaurant Il Nido (“the nest”) within the historic building.

If you want to read more about the saga of the Alki Homestead, check out the 50+ articles from the West Seattle Blog.

Most Endangered Places

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Quad 7 Hangar, Boeing Field

Status: Lost

Year Listed: 2010

Location: King County

Constructed in 1962 for West Coast Airlines, the hangar was designed by John Morse of Bassetti & Morse, a prominent architecture firm in the Pacific Northwest during the mid-twentieth century. The structure also represents the work of Skilling, Helle, Christiansen and Robertson, an engineering firm whose principal, Jack Christiansen, is best known for his work on thinshell concrete structures and was considered a world leader in their design. Demolition is planned by the current tenant who leases the property from King County and uses it to service and outfit small jets and planes catering primarily to corporate clients. Re-development plans for the site include construction of seven new hangars.

Most Endangered Places

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Skykomish Hotel

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2010

Location: King County

After a 1904 fire devastated the town, the four-story Skykomish Hotel was built at a cost of $10,000 and featured chandeliers, a fireplace, gambling room/bar and restaurant. Although the town’s population has decreased significantly from its heyday as a railroad center, a massive environmental remediation effort by the railroads is now giving the historic structures in Skykomish a potential shot in the arm. While most property owners hope this work can serve as a catalyst for revitalization, the Skykomish Hotel has remained vacant and largely neglected for several years, and further inattention will likely lead to insurmountable maintenance needs, leaving demolition as the only option.

Most Endangered Places

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Reard Freed Farmhouse

Status: In the works!

Year Listed: 2010

Location: King County

Once part of a now-lost 80 acre farmstead, the 1890s farmhouse is the last remaining building of the former agriculture
complex. After 1915, the house is remembered as being a gathering place for the community with dances held in the large room on the 2nd floor. It is ready to be moved but is threatened by lack of funding to pay for the relocation and needed restoration. Demolition of the Reard Freed Farmhouse would result in the loss of one of the very few early historic structures that help tell the story of the Sammamish Plateau.

Most Endangered Places

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Murray and Rosa Morgan House

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2010

Location: King County

Originally constructed as a community dance hall, the house stands as one of the few remaining buildings from the era of small lakeside resorts common to that part of King County in the 1920s and 30s. With peeled log for the beams, old-growth fir floors, pine paneled walls and a big masonry fireplace, the original building represents a style of Northwest vernacular architecture for outdoor recreation. Of greater significance is that Murray Morgan, a preeminent and popular Northwest historian of the 20th century, as well as an influential journalist, drama critic and teacher, lived and worked in the Trout Lake home from 1947 until his death in 2000. Plans are underway to conserve the land on which the house is located, but rehabilitation costs and other issues may hinder efforts to preserve the house.

Most Endangered Places

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First Hill Apartments

Status: Most Endangered Places

Year Listed: 2012

Location: King County

Location: Seattle, King County

The Baroness, the Cassel Crag, the Chasselton and the Rhododendron comprise a cluster of historic apartment buildings along Boren Street near Madison Avenue significant for their architectural styles and their association with multi-family residential development in Seattle. Collectively, by their proximity to one another, their similar scale and building materials, and their varied ornamental vocabularies that reflect design trends in the 1920s and the 1930s, these buildings provide the historic context for understanding the development of apartments/hotels for the middle class on First Hill. Virginia Mason Medical Center, owner of all four buildings, is creating a new master plan for its campus and has been working with a Citizens Advisory Committee and the City of Seattle to gather input. Early proposals show the demolition of two buildings, while the retention of only two facades is planned for a third.

Most Endangered Places

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Harborview Hall

Status: In the works!

Year Listed: 2012

Location: Seattle, King County

Located in the First Hill neighborhood, Harborview Hall stands as a fine example of the Art Deco style in Seattle and a notable work of architect Harlan Thomas. But perhaps more important is the role Harborview Hall played in training multiple generations of nurses, serving as the base for the University of Washington’s School of Nursing from 1931 to 1961. Despite this, the master plan in place for the Harborview Medical Center Campus called for the Hall to be demolished, replaced with an open plaza. Complicating matters is the fact that King County owns the buildings on the medical campus, but responsibility for facilities management falls to the Harborview Medical Center Board of Trustees.

Under the leadership of County Executive Dow Constantine, King County intervened, asking the Trustees to allow the county time to assess the economic feasibility of redeveloping Harborview Hall. In November 2016, the county included $2.5 million in the budget to convert the building to a homeless shelter. While the project experienced significant delays due to code-compliance issues, an overnight shelter opened in late 2018 on the first floor only. King County Council is still exploring ways to upgrade the building to be an “enhanced” shelter which would be open 24 hours a day with case managers to connect shelter residents to housing and behavioral health services.

As for the rest of the building, there are no immediate plans but the Council is exploring ideas to convert it to low income or affordable housing. Executive Constantine’s office has estimated that a renovation of the entire building that would fully comply with code standards is around $15 million. The county is still determining the building’s long-term plan, a process that County Councilmember Rod Dembowski expects to take at least five years, with the shelter occupying the space in the interim.

We are excited to see the shelter open and are calling this campaign a save — for now. We’ll be keeping an eye on the building and will reopen the advocacy campaign if needed!

In the news:

“‘It should have been open a year ago’: Homeless shelter to open in Seattle’s Harborview Hall — but it hasn’t been easy” – The Seattle Times, July 30, 2018

“Harborview Hall finally put back to use as homeless shelter set to open” – Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, December 2, 2018

“Harborview Hall opening to welcome up to 100 adults and their pets to warm, safe shelter on First Hill” – King County Press Release, December 20, 2018

Most Endangered Places

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Mukai Farm and Garden

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2013

Location: King County

The Mukai House and Garden is a significant example of the Japanese American presence on Vashon Island and in the Puget Sound Region. As a young man, B.D. Mukai immigrated to the United States from Japan. Built in 1927, he designed the structure to emulate a typical American rural farmhouse. His wife Kuni designed the surrounding garden as a traditional Japanese stroll garden, which is the only known Japanese Garden of this era designed by a woman. Together, the house and garden represent the blending of two cultures and the aspirations of Japanese American immigrants to realize the American Dream. B.D. and his son, Masahiro, also pioneered a cold barreling process that revolutionized the strawberry industry. The house and garden were sold in the late 1940s after the family’s return from Idaho following WWII. With funding from federal, state and local sources, a non-profit formed to acquire the Mukai House and Garden in 2001. The organization’s mission included restoration of the house and garden, with public tours intended to interpret the Mukai Family and their role in the community. Recently, due to increasing concern over the future stewardship of the resource and emerging questions surrounding its current management, a group of Vashon residents formed Friends of Mukai to work toward the site’s long-term preservation.

Most Endangered Places

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Battelle/Talaris Campus

Status: Most Endangered Places

Year Listed: 2013

Location: Seattle, King County

Developed in the late 1960s, the Battelle/Talaris property is architecturally significant to the region as an example of Pacific Northwest modern architecture that represents the move toward environmentally responsive design. David Hoedemaker of NBBJ was the project architect. He attributes the influence of Eero Saarinen with whom he previously worked, as well as Paul Kirk and Al Bumgardner on his own work. Richard Haag, the award-winning designer of Gas Works Park, designed the landscape. By 2001, Battelle Research outgrew the location, which subsequently served as home to the Talaris Institute, an organization dedicated to early childhood development.

Concerned with losing the site’s delicate balance of the built and natural environment to development, a group of neighbors formed Friends of Battelle/Talaris. The Friends, who have closely partnered with Historic Seattle, successfully nominated the property as a City of Seattle Landmark in 2013. Various redevelopment plans have been proposed to the Landmarks Preservation Board, but none have moved forward.

Most Endangered Places

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Thayer Barn

Status: Lost

Year Listed: 2014

Location: King County

Built during the Depression of the 1930s from a Sears & Roebuck barn catalogue and featuring a popular gothic style roof, the Thayer Barn is one of the few remaining dairy barns in the area and serves as a reference point for the community’s agricultural heritage. Yet, the barn has not been actively used for years, and sits dilapidated along the roadside. A decade ago, notice went out that the property would be sold for redevelopment and local advocates raised a sizeable portion of funds needed to rehabilitate the barn into a community arts center. The deal fell through, leaving the barn to sit untended. Earlier this year, the property did indeed sell and plans for a housing development are moving forward. Thankfully, the project sponsors have shown a willingness to incorporate the barn into the new development, provided advocates can come up with the needed funds. Presently, the Duvall Foundation for the Arts is working in partnership with the City of Duvall and the developers on plans for rehabilitation. In the short-term, advocates have been granted a temporary easement to shore up the barn. Long term plans call for the barn to be relocated on site. And a thank-you goes out to the Thayer Barn Project, a group of area residents responsible for nominating the barn to the Most Endangered List.

Most Endangered Places

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Masonic Home of Washington

Status: Most Endangered Places

Year Listed: 2015

Location: Des Moines, King County

UPDATE (January 24, 2024): The Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been released for public comment! Visit the Advocacy Alert page to take action today.

Completed in 1926 as a retirement community for members of Washington’s Masonic Society, the Masonic Home of Washington features box beam ceilings, hand carved woodwork, stained glass, and terrazzo floors throughout. By 2004, the Masonic Grand Lodge of Washington initiated plans to market the property as a traditional retirement home, open to Masons and non-Masons alike, but the economic recession put these plans on hold. Instead, the building, its ornate facilities, and beautiful grounds, was utilized as an event center hosting weddings, film shoots, and corporate meetings.

The property was put up for sale in 2013, and event center operations ceased the following year. It has been listed as one of Washington’s Most Endangered Places since 2015, and the property finally sold in August 2019 to EPC Holdings LLC for $11.5 million and was transferred to Zenith Properties LLC in November 2019. According to The Seattle Times, “The Masons submitted an application for a demolition permit in July 2019 as part of the sale. The city is currently waiting for additional materials from the current owners after they resubmitted the demolition permit application in September 2020.” On May 3, 2022, the City of Des Moines issued a Determination of Significance (DS), meaning “this proposal is likely to have a significant adverse impact on the environment, and accordingly, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is required” under the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA).

Drafting the EIS started in late August 2022, and it was released to the public for comment on January 9, 2024. The draft EIS focuses on the effects of demolition and does not thoroughly explore ways to adapt and reuse the existing buildings of the Masonic Home, the Landmark on the Sound. This leaves the future of the more than 30-acre site unknown and unexamined.

The building’s architectural features and exterior remain in good condition. Renovation of the building would require substantial investment as many of the building’s systems are outdated and in need of replacement. The building sits on a large parcel of more than 30 acres of land that could allow for the coupling of rehabilitation with new construction- potentially making the project more financially feasible.

Learn more about the history of Masonic homes in Washington in Adam Alsobrook’s essay, “The Three Masonic Homes of Washington State.”

Most Endangered Places

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Nuclear Reactor Building

Status: Lost

Year Listed: 2015, 2008

Location: King County

Following World War II, nuclear engineering programs proliferated at universities across the country, including the University of Washington (UW). Retaining a competitive Nuclear Engineering program, however, required construction of a research reactor. Designed in 1961 by The Architect Artist Group, known as “TAAG”, the Nuclear Reactor Building was a unique collaboration between the architectural and the engineering departments of UW.

Efforts to save the building from demolition in 2008 culminated in the nomination of the building to the Washington Heritage Register that same year and the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. Though younger than the minimum of 50 years that is generally required for listing, the Nuclear Reactor Building (constructed in 1961) was placed on the National Register of Historic Places because it demonstrated exceptional importance with its association with significant historic events, embodying the characteristics of the Modern Movement and representing the work of prominent Northwest architects. The building was also placed on the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2008 Most Endangered Historic Properties List. The earlier advocacy efforts involved the Friends of the Nuclear Reactor Building (consisting mainly of University of Washington students), Docomomo WEWA, Historic Seattle, and the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.

In the Fall of 2014, the University unveiled plans to construct a new Computer Science and Engineering II Building on the site, which would require demolition of the Nuclear Reactor Building. Because of the building’s significance and the seriousness of the threat, the Nuclear Reactor Building was re-listed on the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of 2015 Most Endangered Places. In late 2015, Docomomo WEWA submitted a landmark nomination to the City of Seattle. The University of Washington, claiming it was not subject to they City’s Landmark Preservation Ordinance because it was a state agency, filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle and also named Docomomo WEWA in the suit. The Washington Trust and Historic Seattle also joined the lawsuit as intervenors.

Preservation advocates lost the first round of legal proceedings in King County Superior Court. On April 14, 2016, King County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Parisien issued an order granting the University of Washington its motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit against defendants City of Seattle and Docomomo WEWA, and intervenors Historic Seattle and the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. Although advocates continued to try to slow the demolition process, UW moved forward and the Nuclear Reactor Building was demolished on July 19, 2016. Despite the loss of the building, the fight to protect other historic buildings on state-owned university campuses continued on.

The City of Seattle appealed the King County Superior Court decision and the case was elevated to the Washington State Supreme Court. The almost decade-long fight to protect historic resources at the University of Washington has culminated in a State Supreme Court ruling in favor of preservation advocates in the case—University of Washington vs. City of Seattle, Docomomo WEWA, Historic Seattle, and the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. On July 20, 2017 the State Supreme Court of Washington issued its opinion—a precedent-setting unanimous decision—holding that the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance applies to property owned by the University of Washington. The Court ruled that the University of Washington is a state agency that must comply with local development regulations adopted pursuant to the Growth Management Act.

The Supreme Court win won’t bring back the Nuclear Reactor Building (may it rest in peace), but it can help save other properties owned by UW in the future and may serve as an important precedent for future cases regarding historic properties across the state. Universities not only manage their campuses, but they also own properties in downtowns areas in the hearts of Washington communities small and large.

Even though the building has been lost, we are honored to accept, along with our advocacy partners Docomomo WEWA and Historic Seattle, a Docomomo US Modernism Award of Excellence in Advocacy.

http://www.savethereactor.org

Most Endangered Places

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Robert Morris Earthwork

Status: Most Endangered Places

Year Listed: 2015

Location: Seatac, King County

Created in 1979, the Robert Morris Earthwork is a 4-acre sculpture and public artwork, with significance as a pioneering example of land reclamation as art. It has garnered an international audience of scholars, students, urban planners, curators, and art enthusiasts. As part of King County’s Public Art Collection, Robert Morris Earthwork is open to the public from dawn to dusk on a daily basis, providing a contemplative open space and an extraordinary view to the Kent Valley below. Since its creation, the physical context of the Earthwork has changed dramatically as nearby urban development continues to expand. Encroaching development has also led to more abuse of the site, including vandalism and illegal dumping. Current funding from 4Culture, King County’s cultural development entity, provides for daily management of the site, but is insufficient for cleaning up vandalism, restoring the site from erosion, replacement of decomposing natural features, or new interpretative signage. 4Culture is organizing a campaign for funding toward site restoration, interpretation improvements, and to raise awareness for this important cultural resource.

Most Endangered Places

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Buchanan House (Trueblood House)

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2016

Location: King County

In 1886, a British steel tycoon named Peter Kirk envisioned a “Pittsburgh of the West” to be established in the area he incorporated as Kirkland. Attempting to turn this vision into reality, the Kirkland Land and Improvement Company constructed 8 homes in 1889. One of these 8, the Buchanan House, differs from the other residences: while seven of the homes were built for steel mill executives in the West of Market area, the Buchanan House sat East of Market and, based on newspaper records, was built for Doctor William Buchanan, Kirkland’s first physician. A second physician, Doctor Barclay Trueblood, took up residence in 1907.

The Buchanan House is one of very few early residential structures remaining able to represent the founding history of Kirkland. The Buchanan House is an excellent example of the wood-frame English Mill Town architecture present in Kirkland due to Peter Kirk’s influence. While Kirk’s plan to create a center of steel production never materialized, the area grew in population as other industries developed including wool production and shipbuilding. By the midtwentieth century, construction of floating bridges across Lake Washington made Kirkland a popular bedroom community for urban commuters to Seattle.

Kirkland remains a popular residential city, yet due to dramatic regional economic growth and an associated spike in land values, smaller, historic houses increasingly fall victim to the teardown trend. The current owners of the Buchanan House planned to build a new, larger residence on the property, but supported relocation of the structure to a new site. In 2016, the house was moved to a nearby parking lot to await a party willing to acquire the house, and hopefully keep it in Kirkland.

Saved!

The house was recently purchased by Kim and Dan Hartman, and on August 15, 2017 it was moved to its permanent new home on Sixth Avenue in the Norkirk neighborhood of Kirkland. A huge thanks to Nickel Bros for making the move possible, to Kim and Dan Hartman for recognizing how special this house is, and to the many, many advocates who put time and effort into making sure we did not lose this one!

News coverage of the move:

King5 – Historic Kirkland house moved to new home (video)

Kirkland Reporter – Historic Kirkland house to move to permanent location

The Seattle Times – On the move in Kirkland (slideshow)

Most Endangered Places

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Dvorak Barn

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2016

Location: King County

The Dvorak Barn in Kent hearkens to the city’s early years when the area was home to a significant farming community. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Kent got its start raising potatoes, onions, and hops, expanding with lettuce, eggs, dairy, and poultry after the turn of the twentieth century. The damming of the Green River in 1962 and the completion of Interstate 5 in 1966 played pivotal roles in transforming Kent from a farming community to the industrial center it is today. While farming activity remains present in the Kent Valley, many of the historic resources representing the area’s agricultural heritage have been lost. The Dvorak Farmstead is one of these resources. Established along the banks of the Green River with the construction of a farmhouse in 1906, the iconic barn was built two decades later in 1925. The City of Kent is embarking on the Green River Levee Improvement Program, requiring construction of a levee directly through the Dvorak Farmstead site.

Although the farmhouse and several outbuildings all need to be removed, the barn retains the most integrity and is the priority for local supporters who hope to relocate the structure and find a new community use. The City of Kent and King County have initiated discussions related to the barn as part of the Section 106 process. While Section 106 has yet to be formally instituted, advocates feel this will happen soon given that the levy project prompting removal of the barn and surrounding farmstead requires a federal permit from FEMA.

See Saved Story: https://www.kentreporter.com/news/city-of-kent-plans-to-move-historic-dvorak-barn-to-save-it/

Most Endangered Places

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Providence Heights College

Status: Lost

Year Listed: 2016

Location: King County

The Providence Heights College and Provincialate was founded in 1961 as a response to the Sister Formation Conference. Started in the 1950s, the Conference initiated an inter-congregational effort to promote college education for sisters, enhancing the professional lives of religious women. Providence Heights College was one of only two institutions in the nation established at that time specifically for this purpose. The National Register-eligible campus represents the volatile time period in the Catholic Church when a crisis ensued over a new theology of authority and obedience among American sisters that collided with older, more traditional theological interpretations.

Completed in 1961, the Providence Heights College campus was designed by John Maloney, a prominent regional architect. Purposefully situated within a secluded wooded area on the Sammamish Plateau, its buildings total roughly 210,000 square feet and include classrooms, administrative offices, dormitories, an auditorium, a cafeteria, a library, a pool, a gym, and a chapel. The chapel is a remarkable modernist interpretation of Gothic design elements with fourteen steeply pitched gabled clerestory windows created by Gabriel Loire, a world-renowned stained glass artist.

The integration of religious education with secular student populations coupled with declining numbers of women entering the religious community led to Providence Heights College closing in 1969. The Sisters sold the property in the late 1970s to the Lutheran Bible Institute, later known as Trinity Lutheran College. The subsequent owner, City Church, purchased the complex in 2004 and initiated plans to build 140+ single family homes. The developer’s plan originally sparked the property’s nomination to the Most Endangered List, but the Issaquah School Board then voted unanimously to use eminent domain to acquire the site for a new high school and a new elementary school. Because the school district did not plan to reuse the buildings, the eminent domain process was put on hold while the owner pursued demolition.

A wide network of supporters were eager to preserve this significant piece of the area’s history and reuse the buildings in their original configuration. The Sammamish Heritage Society partnered with the Washington Trust to submit a landmark nomination, and while the campus was designated, the owner filed a lawsuit in opposition. Local advocates campaigned to save the campus and filed legal appeals against the owner’s application for a demolition permit. Sadly, in 2018 advocates lost the legal battle and the campus was demolished.

Read the Providence Heights landmark nomination, submitted by the Sammamish Heritage Society: text and photos.

Learn more: Providence Heights in the News.

https://www.gofundme.com/hcs8h-save-providence-heights-campus

Most Endangered Places

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Cascade Workers’ Cottages

Status: Still Standing

Year Listed: 2017

Location: King County

In the last decade, Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood has transformed into a tech and biomedical hub. As full city blocks are built out for both office and housing needs, buildings constructed a century ago are vanishing or being consumed by development. Three workers cottages dating from 1911, collectively referred to as the Cascade Workers’ Cottages, are nearly all that remains of the years when Seattle’s Cascade neighborhood was evolving into an early industrial hub for the city. Characterized by their modest size and design, buildings in the area reflected the working roots of the early tenants, which in the case of the worker’s cottages included a paint spray operator employed at the nearby Ford Motor Company and an elevator operator at Smith Tower.

The three cottages have since been combined into one building and alterations over the years have ultimately rendered the structures ineligible for local landmark designation. Advocates believe, however, that the cottages do still convey the early history of the Cascade neighborhood and are crucial to retain. The struggle to balance new development without erasing the past remains ongoing in South Lake Union.

Most Endangered Places

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Weyerhaeuser Corporate Campus

Status: Most Endangered Places

Year Listed: 2017

Location: Federal Way, King County

The design of the Weyerhaeuser Corporate Campus was a joint effort between architect Charles Bassett of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, landscape architect Peter Walker, a founding partner of Sasaki Walker & Associates; and George Weyerhaeuser. The collaboration resulted in the design of the stunning 430-acre campus clearly visible from Interstate 5 and Highway 18 in Federal Way. According to Bassett, the campus is designed such that “the landscaping and the building simply cannot be separated…they are each a creature of the other.” The interior design of the headquarters also reflected this sentiment by popularizing the open-office plan, free of any partitions, allowing the exterior landscape to be enjoyed from almost any location inside the building.

The campus was purchased in 2016 by a developer who is moving forward with plans to build warehouses on the surrounding acreage. Local residents are concerned that the massing and scale of proposed new construction will overwhelm the site, adversely impacting the balance of the built and natural landscapes that lend such significance to the site. Advocates are also concerned for the future of the globally important Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden and the internationally-known Pacific Bonsai Museum, two distinct and significant cultural resources also on the property.

With such an expansive campus, a certain level of development is inevitable; even the original concepts for the campus indicated areas for additional development, but at a much smaller scale. New buildings must be sensitive to the original design philosophy of the campus, which emphasized integration with the landscape and environmental sensitivity.

The developer is moving forward with plans to build five warehouses totaling 1.5 million square feet on forested portions of the campus. In response to the proposals, the organization Save Weyerhaeuser Campus (SWC) was founded, fighting for responsible development that is sensitive to the historical and environmental features of the campus. SWC has been pivotal in rallying the community in support of the campus and creating a network of partnerships, including state legislators, King County, Forterra, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Rainier Autobon, SoCoCuulture, DocomomoWEWA, and the Washington Trust, to name a few.

The dedicated volunteers of SWC have been exemplary in their advocacy efforts in initiating meetings with stakeholders, engaging in the public process, holding their own events, and even legal appeals. It is often difficult to sustain long-term preservation advocacy efforts, and the Washington Trust is proud to be a partner of SWC and committed to doing all we can to preserve the essential elements of this campus.

Letter-writing campaign

Read letters in support of preserving this incredible campus from experts across the country at The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s website.

News coverage

A Fight to Save a Corporate Campus Intertwined With Nature
The New York Times – February 12, 2021

The Cultural Landscape Foundation launches campaign to halt “inappropriate” development at historic Weyerhaeuser campus
The Architect’s Newspaper – February 2, 2021

Weyerhaeuser campus clash continues over warehouse plan
Federal Way Mirror – January 28, 2021

Save Weyerhaeuser Campus appeal begins June 20
Federal Way Mirror – June 18, 2019

Nonprofit, company at odds over preserving Weyerhaeuser property
Federal Way Mirror – January 24, 2019

Weyerhaeuser’s old campus is five times bigger than Disneyland. So what should it become?
KUOW – November 5, 2018

Constantine wants to leverage conservation fund to buy 65,000 acres of ‘last best places’
Seattle Times – May 23, 2018

http://saveweyerhaeusercampus.org/