Parlor Car #1799

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2017

Location: Island County

Built as an extra fare car, Parlor Car 1799 operated from 1901 to 1941 along the Northern Pacific Railway. With its decorative glass windows, fine interior veneers, and intricate inlays, Parlor Car 1799 represents the Golden Age of rail travel in the US. The car was converted for use as a beach front cottage on Whidbey Island after its decommissioning in 1941. The owners, now wishing to redevelop the land, have generously offered the car to the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie.

The museum worked to raise money to relocate the car, a tricky situation as it had to be barged off the island! The move was only the first step, however, in saving Parlor Car 1799 – now on to restoration! Support the Northwest Railway Museum if you want to help the restoration of this beautiful parlor car.

Read more from the Northwest Railway Museum’s blog about the move and see the stunning photos!

Parlor car 1799 move grows near! – April 27, 2018

Putting wheels under a parlor car – April 30, 2018

Whatever floats your rail car – May 1, 2018

Saving a Pullman parlor car – May 8, 2017

Parlor car service on the Interstate? – May 17, 2018

Parlor car arrives – May 20, 2018

https://trainmuseum.org/

Valley Schoolhouse

Status: Saved!

Year Listed: 2017

Location: Valley, Stevens County

Valley, Washington’s “Little White Schoolhouse,” as it is known by locals, was built in 1916 as an annex for the original 1905 schoolhouse on the property. A brick schoolhouse was built in 1917 and expanded in 1926, but of the three historic buildings, only the annex remains. The schoolhouse served the school district in a variety of capacities through the years, but is currently vacant. District officials nonetheless hope to see it preserved as does the Valley Historical Society, which is making plans for relocating the building to a new site where its preservation and restoration for the community will continue.

Led by passionate local advocate Melissa Silvio, the Valley Historical Society spent three years rallying funds to move the schoolhouse, using every avenue including private donations, grants (including our own Valerie Sivinski Fund!), and even a recipe book sale. On July 15, 2020, house movers Jeff Monroe and Don Shaw successfully moved the schoolhouse to the Valley Fairgrounds and is in the process of receiving a new foundation. There’s still a lot to be done to realize the Valley Historical Society’s vision of creating a community center that will feature historical displays and interpretation, local art, and space for events and meetings.

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.

Beverly Railroad Bridge

Status: Most Endangered Places

Year Listed: 2017

Location: Grant County

Location: Columbia River between Grant and Kittitas Counties

The Columbia River is a defining feature of Washington State, but it also serves as a challenging barrier for cross-state travel. The construction of the Beverly Railroad Bridge, completed in 1909, was part of the westward expansion of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad and a major engineering feat of its day.

By 1980 the route was closed, but due to its significance, the Beverly Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Today, the Milwaukee Railroad route has been converted to the John Wayne Pioneer Trail – part of an effort by conservation, recreation, and preservation advocates to create a statewide greenway trail system. The Beverly Bridge is the pivotal missing piece that would connect east and west. Advocates would like to see the bridge transferred from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to Washington State Parks and rehabilitated to complete the cross-state recreational trail.

The Washington Trust is part of a broad alliance of statewide conservation, recreation, and preservation organizations who have been advocating for the rehabilitation of the Beverly Bridge across the Columbia River in Central Washington. Completed in 1909, the bridge was part of the westward expansion of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad and a major engineering feat of its day. By 1980, the route was closed, but much of the old Milwaukee Railroad route was converted to the John Wayne Pioneer Trail—recently renamed the Palouse to Cascades Trail. The Beverly Bridge currently sits as the pivotal missing piece connecting the eastern and western halves of the 285-mile-long trail, and rehabilitation of the bridge would be a critical investment in Washington State tourism along the trail while serving to enrich the recreational lives of Washingtonians.

The Washington Trust joined efforts when the Palouse to Cascades Trail Coalition nominated the Beverly Bridge to our list of Most Endangered Places in 2017. We played a key role in advancing the campaign to rehabilitate the bridge by managing the process of a conditions assessment of the bridge that would give advocates a realistic cost to work toward. Equipped with this information, the Washington Trust and our many partners were able to effectively advocate for state funding this past budget cycle to make that rehabilitation a reality. At the end of April this year, we were thrilled that the Washington State Legislature and Governor Inslee allocated $5.1 million to go toward the Beverly Bridge rehabilitation and conversion into recreational trail use. With an additional $429,000 in anticipated local funds, the total amount dedicated to rehabilitating the bridge and converting it to recreational use is $5.5 million. While there is still much to be done, the state’s investment in this historic bridge is a transformative accomplishment in the campaign to bring the Beverly Bridge back to life.

https://palousetocascadestrail.org/

Scottish Rite

Status: Lost

Year Listed: 2017

Location: Pierce County

The Scottish Rite was a rare and early example of poured concrete architecture in Tacoma that dated from 1922. Designed by the acclaimed Tacoma architecture firm Sutton, Whitney and Dugan, the building’s style defied easy categorization. It anchored a prominent corner lot across from Wright Park in Tacoma’s historic Stadium District and served as a fraternal hall, an events venue, and a church.

Unfortunately because churches are not subject to landmark laws in Washington State, the demolition of the Scottish Rite could not be prevented, and the building came down in October 2017. Through negotiations with the City of Tacoma Historic Preservation Officer, the church agreed to some mitigation steps, including DAHP level II documentation, salvage, onsite interpretive measures in the new building, and to help fund preservation planning efforts through Historic Tacoma. The new structure will also require design review by the Landmarks Commission per code.

The Scottish Rite represents a larger issue of concern witnessed in urban areas across the country. The congregation was unable to maintain the building and due to the high land value, a prospective developer tore it down in the name of increased density.

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/