Site of the last 3 single family homes in downtown Seattle
City of Seattle Historic Landmarks
The heart of Belltown
All the above!
The Belltown Cottage Park is a new neighborhood park in
downtown Seattle.
The Belltown Cottages are the last 3 buildings of a cluster of 11
that were constructed here on the Seattle Waterfront from 1906-1916.
These are the last wooden frame, single family houses left in the
downtown and represent a building style not seen again in Belltown
after 1920.
The Cottage property, located adjacent to the Belltown
P-Patch, was purchased December of 1998 by the City of Seattle
following another round of spirited lobbying by the Belltown community. The
3 turn of the century Cottages were designated Seattle Landmarks the
Spring 2000. They are the last of 11 homes on this 1/4 block and
represent a residentual housing style that dominated the Seattle
waterfront and Denny Regrade from the 1850's to the 1920's.
With a 1999 Matching Grant, the Friend's
Cottage Park Planning Project conducted 18 months of outreach to the
community to determine how the new park could be best developed.
Belltown Cottage Park provides the neighborhood with an active
open green space in the sun. The Cottages support the community
with personal histories, and provide meeting and educational rooms.
The Richard Hugo House Literary Center has located 2 writers
in-residency using 2 Cottages, and the Friends of
Belltown P-Patch assist in the operation of the 3rd
Cottage for use as a neighborhood history site and community
center.
Friends of Belltown P-Patch received a $200,000 Department of Neighborhood's Matching Grant for the renovation of the 3 Belltown Cottages and the creation of Belltown Cottage Park. The Cottage Steering Committee has supervised the renovation of the 3 Cottages and continues to develop the new Park area with Landscape Architect Peggy Gaynor. We expect completion of the Cottage renovation and Belltown's new Cottage Park during the Summer of 2004.
The resulting Cottage Park transforms a space
that previously invited vandalism, drug dealing and petty crime, into
a beautiful and useful addition for Seattle and the Belltown
neighborhood. A destination point for anyone interested in enjoying
open greenspace, as well as providing space for having a meeting, and
interacting with the work of the Hugo House writers. The Cottage Park provides residents of Belltown open space among the massive scale of
the new developments that have begun to characterize our neighborhood
and a chance to appreciate the buildings of a previous era. If you
have any questions feel free to contact us.
The 6 original homes were advertised in 1916 as new Modern Cottages, Save Car Fare and Time. $16-18/month. Modern ment indoor plumbing and electricity. While "Modern" was an improvement over outhouses, wash basins and candles, and included a toilet, with a 4' tub, no shower, and overhead lightbulbs with a pull chain in each room. Heating was a coal or wood fired stove. Hot water and the electrical outlets weren't added until the 1940's. Saving car fare was not having to pay for a trolley ride from the then new neighboorhoods of Phiney Ridge and Green Lake to get to work on Seattle's bustling Waterfront. Kind of like the recent residentual development in Belltown to get people to live closer to their work. Seems like William Hainesworth was 90 years ahead of the times!
1998 Before Abatement and Renovation
GRAND OPENING!!! TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!
BELLTOWN COTTAGE PARK Saturday 21st JUNE 2003
June 2003 Painting more trim! The Landscaping in coming together and the pathways and faded cottage walls have been installed by Seattle Parks crews!
April_- May 2003 Painting trim! Things are looking great! The Landscaping and formwork for the pathways has begun!
March 2003 The crew contiues spreading paint on the interiors and cleans and paints trim. 7 new entry doors installed! Sink and tubs installed, kitchen cupboards ready for paint!
February 2003 The exterior siding get painted, then the crew begins spreading paint on the interiors.
Janurary 2003 The exterior siding is going on, the windows get reinstalled and the crew starts on the interiors
December 2002 Getting the roofs on before Christmas!
November 2002 getting started! New foundations, sewer, water and electrical get started
Read the Cottage Diary I, Cottage Diary II, Cottage Diary III, by Glenn MacGilvra, courtesy of the Denny Regrade's Belltown Paper.
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Landscape Plan will create reminders of the missing Cottages that can be used as stage and seating. An ADA accessible path will wind down from the alley connecting the P-Patch and Cottages. |
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The footprints of the missing Cottages will be recreated as a plaza with the short concrete walls providing seating/terracing as you move up towards the alley. This view looks out from the 'stage'. |
If you are interested in booking the Community Cottage for a small gathering contact Myke or Glenn. See Hugo House Literary site for information on applying for the Writers-in-Residency program.
Myke Woodwell
mykejw at speakeasy.org
Glenn MacGilvra
glenn at speakeasy.org
Friends of Belltown P-Patch
a neighborhood 501(c)3 non-profit
organization
2516
Elliott Avenue Seattle, WA 98121
This page created on a little black
Macintosh with assistance by Newton.
Images
by Myke JWoodwell ©2003
