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Nomination Process & Criteria

Every year, many historic properties across the state of Washington are threatened by demolition or neglect.

The following properties, nominated by concerned citizens and organizations throughout Washington, form the Trust’s Most Endangered Historic Properties List for 2008. In addition, unfortunately many sites from our past lists are still threatened and remain on our Watch List.

The Washington Trust will be assisting those involved with each property to develop support to remove the threat.

2008 Most Endangered Historic Properties List

Bettinger House – Edmonds, Snohomish County

William & Ina Bettinger built this Queen Anne-style house in 1917. As one of the older houses in the downtown core of Edmonds, the structure is identifiable for typical Queen Anne details such as multiple gables, a wraparound porch, fish-scale shingles, and decorative woodwork. The house is considered eligible for the local register.

The Threat:  The Bettinger House sits within the commercially zoned core of downtown Edmonds and is subject to the intense real estate pressures many cities are experiencing throughout the Puget Sound area. The building recently changed hands, and while the new owners appreciate the historic value of the house, they purchased the site for its prominent downtown location and plan to erect a structure for business purposes. The owners are actively working with the city and other preservation advocates to identify a suitable site for relocation of the house, ideally within Edmonds.

Read the Press Release
(Additional Photos)

Greyhound Bus Station – Olympia, Thurston County

In 1937, the North Coast Lines, a consolidated bus company, built what company representatives described as the “newest, most modern bus depot in the entire Northwest.” Designed by architect L.B. Barthomew, the distinctive Art Moderne depot set the standard for other buildings in the area employing the same popular style. In addition to the streamline features characteristic of Art Moderne, the bus depot featured a rooftop structure resembling a radio tower that supported a neon “bus depot” sign serving as a beacon to travelers.

With Olympia located along the main highway system for the state, the depot provided a significant link in the transportation system, strategically sited along downtown’s Sylvester Park; its detailing are modern in character, complementing yet contrasting with the Old Thurston County Courthouse/State Capitol Building. In 1949, North Coast Lines changed its name to The North Coast Greyhound Lines, becoming simply the Greyhound Lines by 1950. The depot continues to provide service to Portland and Seattle and stands today as a contributing building within the Downtown Olympia National Register Historic District.

The Threat:  For several years, the specter of redevelopment has threatened the Greyhound Bus Depot. In 2002, the company initiated plans to relocate its operations adjacent to a proposed expansion of Olympia’s Intercity Transit station five blocks away. While this expansion has failed to materialize, recent efforts to secure federal funding have revived the notion of an Intercity Transit expansion. Greyhound has expressed an interest if expansion plans were to be implemented, as it would facilitate more convenient connections with local bus routes.

Should Greyhound move to the new facility, the 1937 bus depot would become vacant and likely be sold. To date, the company has received offers from a local developer interested in erecting a mix-use development on the site, which would require demolishing the depot. Local zoning allows a more intense use of the parcel, and while demolition and redevelopment of the site would be reviewed by the Olympia Preservation Commission, there are no demolition controls.

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(Additional Photos)

Historic Commercial Fishing Net Sheds – Gig Harbor, Pierce County

Next to the fishing vessels themselves, net sheds represent the most important architectural by-product of the commercial fishing industry for Gig Harbor. Croatian immigrants began to settle in the area around 1900, establishing Millville, one of the harbor’s first towns, along the western shore. With commercial fishing as the predominant industry, easy access to land for loading and unloading gear was essential. Modest docks built on wood piles developed along the waterfront with, in many cases, the family home constructed behind these net sheds. In addition to workplaces, these simple wood piers and covered structures served as gathering places for skippers, crews and their families.

The Threat:  As land values climb and property taxes increase, these simple architectural treasures are being demolished and replaced by condos and marinas. By bringing recognition to this endangered cultural resource, more substantial incentives to preserve them become possible. The City of Gig Harbor has taken steps to provide incentives for property owners who retain historic net sheds and recently conducted a survey of the remaining structures lining the harbor’s waterfront. Such proactive measures will work toward preserving these emblems of Gig Harbor’s heritage.

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(Additional Photos)

Kapus Farmstead – Ridgefield, Clark County

Facing pressures from population growth, real estate development, and increased maintenance costs, the state’s agricultural heritage as represented by farmhouses, barns, silos, granaries, and all the other buildings associated with food and crop production is steadily diminishing. The Kapus Farmstead in Ridgefield counters this trend. Settled in the 1880s and farmed by Valentine Kapus and his family after 1888, the farm produced potatoes, grains, dairy and beef cows, pigs, chickens, and grapes. The farmland was gradually reduced during the twentieth century, but the farm remained in the Kapus family until 1963. As an ensemble, the Kapus Farm evokes the feeling of an early-twentieth century farmstead, and is unique as one of the last relatively intact complex of farm buildings left in Clark County.

The farm retains the 1888 farmhouse, but most of the structures on site date from circa 1929 when a live-in carpenter was employed to modernize the farm. During this time, he remodeled the farmhouse and constructed a water tower, garage, and outhouse, all of which remain at the site (the farm’s badly deteriorated barn was demolished several years ago, while the granary was relocated to a new site in Ridgefield). The water tower is especially unique being a four-story, wood-frame structure with a gabled roof still housing the original 2,500-gallon wooden water tank.

The Threat:  In 1994, the property was brought into Ridgefield’s Urban Growth Boundary and soon after annexed into the City of Ridgefield. This changed the zoning classification of the Kapus Farmstead to Planned Commercial Development, allowing for a much more intense level of land use than had previously existed. In February of 2007 Southwest Washington Health System purchased a 75-acre parcel of land called Discovery Pointe from the Port of Ridgefield. One month later, Southwest Washington Health System purchased the remaining land comprising the Kapus Farmstead – a 1.5-acre parcel immediately adjacent to Discovery Pointe. The company’s plan included leveling the entire farm site for a medical services and retail development.

Difficulties arose when Southwest Washington Health System discovered that the Kapus Farmstead was a designated historic site listed in the Clark County Heritage Register, a fact the seller had failed to disclose, according to company representatives. As a county landmark, alterations to the farm buildings (including demolition) need approval of the Clark County Historic Preservation Commission. After learning of the site’s significance, Southwest Washington Health System has been working with the Preservation Commission to identify parties interested in moving the farm structures to another site in Ridgefield. For their part, the commission hopes an agricultural/rural site can be found so that all farm structures are relocated in a manner reflecting the original farm setting.

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(Additional Photos)

Murray Morgan Bridge – Tacoma, Pierce County

Spanning the famed Thea Foss Waterway, Tacoma’s Murray Morgan Bridge stands as a vigilant reminder of the challenges facing historic bridges throughout Washington State and across the nation. Critical maintenance and monitoring issues these engineering marvels face were tragically brought to light with the collapse of I-35 in Minneapolis in August of 2007. In Washington, the State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has categorized over 120 bridges in the state highway system as structurally deficient. The majority of bridges within this category are over 50 years old, the threshold for being considered historic.

Dominating the Tacoma skyline when it was built in 1913, the Murray Morgan Bridge, known then as the 11th Street Bridge, played a key role in the city’s urban development by linking downtown to the waterfront and the industrial tide flats. Designed by renowned bridge engineers Waddell and Harrington, the bridge is remarkable for the height of the deck, the overhead span designed for carrying a water pipe, and its construction on a grade. In addition, the bridge plays a prominent role in Tacoma’s social history, serving as the setting for gatherings and labor disputes, including a violent strike in 1916, just three years after completion. In 1997, the bridge was renamed after Murray Morgan, a noted Washington historian.

The Threat:  The Murray Morgan Bridge became part of the state’s highway system in 1937. But with new transportation corridors constructed in the 1990s, the 11th Street route was seen as less critical, and WSDOT entered into negotiations with the City of Tacoma to return the bridge to municipal ownership. Failure to agree on the terms of transfer has led to a stalemate, and concerns surrounding deferred maintenance prompted WSDOT to close the bridge to vehicular traffic in fall 2007.

At present, the main obstacle to saving the bridge is the great expense: recent studies indicate that restoration of the Murray Morgan Bridge would cost $80 million. Supporters, however, remain undaunted. A strong coalition of Tacoma-based preservationists, history buffs and elected officials are calling for rehabilitation, citing the National Register-listed bridge as an example of innovative engineering and its importance to Tacoma’s history as justification for preservation. While funds for the bridge have been identified, significant additional dollars are needed if the Murray Morgan Bridge is to be restored and returned to use once again.

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(Additional Photos)

Nuclear Reactor Building – Seattle, King County

Throughout the 1950s, the University of Washington developed its Nuclear Engineering curriculum, with the first Master’s Degree awarded in 1958. Understanding that a research reactor was essential to a competitive Nuclear Engineering program, the University of Washington completed construction of the reactor in 1961. Known today as the More Hall Annex, the Nuclear Reactor Building derives significance as a rare example of a Nuclear Age structure that embraced transparency. Rather than shrouding the purpose of the building in secrecy, university officials opted for a site in close proximity to other engineering buildings. The expressive concrete structure sits in a prominent university plaza and features walls of glass that allowed observers to essentially participate in the faculty and student work occurring within.

As a structure, the Nuclear Reactor Building itself is a fine example of modernism designed by noted architects Wendell Lovett, Gene Zema and Daniel Streissguth. Together with a structural engineer and an artist, the group formed The Architect Artist Group, or TAAG. With the exception of Gene Zema, each member of the group served as University of Washington faculty. The Nuclear Reactor represents the only building project completed by TAAG.

The Threat:  A University Master Plan adopted in 2004 called for demolition of the structure once the reactor was officially decommissioned. With that process now complete, the university has applied to the City of Seattle for a permit to demolish the reactor building. And while the university does have guidelines for assessing the historic significance of buildings on campus, the reactor is not yet 50 years old, and therefore was not subject to additional review for the purpose of determining significance.

Due to efforts made by the Friends of the Nuclear Reactor Building, a student group on campus hoping to see this iconic structure adaptively reused, a campaign is being waged to raise awareness of the building, have it listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and celebrate its architectural, technological, and historical significance as a symbol of the Nuclear Age.

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(Additional Photos)

Old Granary Building – Bellingham, Whatcom County

Serving as a monument to agriculture and produce, Bellingham’s Granary Building stands as a key part of Whatcom County’s early chicken and egg cooperative movement. In the early 1900s, rapid growth of cities expanded the demand for chickens and eggs to the extent that small producers could not keep up. To compete with imported products, smaller farms formed cooperative associations to address their supply and marketing needs.

In the fall of 1915, a group of farmers formed an association that ultimately led to the organization of the Washington Cooperative Egg and Poultry Association. By 1920, Whatcom County’s chicken population exceeded every other county in the West except one in California. Today, the Granary Building continues to represent this movement. The Granary Building, a three-story concrete structure and associated wood-framed silo tower built for the coop, creates a distinct silhouette in downtown Bellingham’s skyline and is architecturally notable as an agricultural building form co-existing within an urban/industrial working waterfront setting.

The Threat:  The Port of Bellingham currently owns the Granary Building, along with over 200 acres of property along Bellingham’s waterfront containing numerous additional structures that until recently served as an operating site of the Georgia-Pacific Corp. Intending to redevelop the entire site, the Port released a Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) in January of 2008. Each of the three redevelopment schemes presented in the DEIS assumes removal of the Granary Building. Of the thirteen buildings at the site identified as potentially eligible for historic designation, the DEIS assumes that all but one would be removed given the anticipated level of redevelopment activity.

In addition to being individually eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, the Granary is in close proximity to Bellingham’s Central Business District and the Old Town area of the Lettered Streets Neighborhood. The Port’s DEIS notes that of 43 designated historic buildings, structures, and districts within the vicinity of the proposed redevelopment zones, the majority of designated sites are located in these areas. As such, the Granary Building is an important component of the overall historical context the City of Bellingham has worked to preserve.

Recently, the Port of Bellingham, distributed a Request for Proposals soliciting a consultant to assist in developing mitigation strategies for any adverse effect redevelopment may have on historic structures potentially eligible for designation, including the granary. Fearful of losing the identifiable Granary Building along with nearly a dozen other historic structures, concerned residents of Bellingham are beginning to actively advocate for the preservation of these structures and for a measured analysis of how it might be adaptively reused as an economically viable project.

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(Additional Photos)

Washington Hall – Seattle, King County

Washington Hall is significant as the well-loved focal point of community life in an ethnically diverse neighborhood. Built in 1908 for Danish immigrants starting anew in America, the hall soon hosted other populations in the Central District neighborhood, including African American, Jewish, Filipino, Japanese, Croatian, Korean, and Ethiopian. The hall’s spacious second floor dance hall and stage, and its first floor meeting hall with kitchen were available for rent and in constant use. Over the years, well known civil rights activists, labor unions, community dances, and a wide array of artists have leased the space. World-renowned musicians, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holliday, and Jimi Hendrix, performed at Washington Hall. In addition, the building possesses architectural significance as the only known fraternal hall designed by prolific Seattle architect Victor Voorhees.

The Threat:  Since 1973, Washington Hall has served as the headquarters for the Sons of Haiti, an African-American Masonic lodge. Facing increased maintenance costs, the Sons of Haiti have recently put the property on the market. With zoning allowing a dense residential development, it is feared that developers will wish to acquire the property to demolish the building and put up condominiums. Given the significant degree of deferred maintenance the building faces, it will take a dedicated preservationist to step forward and find a compatible new program for the building in order to keep its legacy alive, as the purchase price reflects the value of the land. Sale to the wrong buyer could easily result in the loss of this highly significant property.

Read the Press Release
(Additional Photos)