Roslyn National Historic District

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2010

Location: Roslyn, Kittitas County

The City of Roslyn is a National, State and Local Historic District consisting of approximately 900 property lots and 600 residential, commercial and community structures. Many structures suffered from deferred maintenance and neglect, in some cases resulting in demolition, and new construction was often incompatible with the historic character of the town. Furthermore, the Historic District was endangered by the continuing loss of forest lands on the town’s perimeter.

The Northwest Improvement Company (NWIC) Building is the largest, most visible and historically significant commercial structure in the city and the last remaining structure associated with the Roslyn Coal Field. The company store, built in 1889, supplied most of the food, clothing, furniture and hardware needs of the coal miners and their families as well as the explosives used in the mining operations. After the last of the working mines closed in 1963, Roslyn’s population declined and the NWIC building became vacant and eventually faced demolition.

The Washington Trust included Roslyn’s National Historic District as Most Endangered Place in 2010 when the Roslyn Downtown Association (RDA), a nonprofit Washington Main Street Community organization initiated an ambitious plan to revitalize Roslyn. Transformation of the NWIC Building was the cornerstone of the Roslyn Downtown Association’s plan, and working with students and faculty from the University of Washington’s Storefront Studio, the RDA conducted community visioning workshops to identify potential projects.

The RDA acquired the building in 2013 and completed the first phase of the renovation – ADA and life-safety improvements, interior renovation and repairs – the following year. Today the building is home to a visitor’s center, several locally-owned shops, galleries, and a micro-distillery. Recently completed masonry repairs, structural reinforcement, new electrical and mechanical systems and building insulation will help preserve Roslyn’s past to secure its future.

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.

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.

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.

Trafton Elementary

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2010

Location: Snohomish County

One of the oldest continually operating public schools in the state, the current school building was constructed in 1912 after the original structure succumbed to fire. Located in a unique rural country setting, the building retains its original architecture, accented with its bronze school bell in an open cupola on the roof, and is listed in the state and national registers. Facing district-wide underenrollment, budget deficits, and needed repairs, the Arlington School District Board will vote on June 14 whether or not to keep Trafton’s doors open. The hope is that Trafton will remain open and continue to serve the community as it has for over 120 years.

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.

Moran School Administration Building

Status: Lost

Year Listed: 2010

Location: Bainbridge Island, Kitsap County

Constructed in 1918 for the Moran School for Boys, the building originally housed an auditorium/theater, classrooms, science labs, a library and dormitories. After the school closed in 1933, the property re-opened five years later as the Puget Sound Naval Academy, a military prep school that operated until 1951. Although the other remaining school building was converted for use as a nursing home, this structure has stood empty save for a brief transformation into a movie set in 2000. Citing the high costs of rehabilitation and the lack of a viable use for the structure, the owner of the historic school offered it for sale, but the building was ultimately demolished in October of 2017.

“Bainbridge’s Moran School Has Rich History, but Does It Have a Future?“- Kitsap Sun, Feb. 18, 2015

“Historic Moran School demolished on Bainbridge Island” – Kitsap Sun, Oct. 20, 2017

Coke Oven Park

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2010

Location: Pierce County

The coke ovens are the only evidence left to tell Pierce County’s coal industry story of the boom time in “uptown” Wilkeson. Production began in 1885 when the Tacoma Coal & Coke Co. built the first 25 beehive coke ovens at Wilkeson and peaked in 1916 when it reached a maximum of 125,872 tons with shipments to ports as far as San Francisco and Alaska. After production terminated in 1937 following years of steady declines, mine shafts were sealed, and other buildings were removed. Listed in the local, state and national registers, the remaining coke ovens are threatened with lack of protection from vandalism, neglect and vegetation overgrowth.

Washington Trust for Historic Preservation

Most Endangered Places

Roslyn National Historic District

Most Endangered Places

Quad 7 Hangar, Boeing Field

Most Endangered Places

Skykomish Hotel

Most Endangered Places

Reard Freed Farmhouse

Most Endangered Places

Trafton Elementary

Most Endangered Places

Murray and Rosa Morgan House

Most Endangered Places

Moran School Administration Building

Most Endangered Places

Coke Oven Park