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Is Seattle Disposable?

The Lawn at the University of Virginia, 1909

Like seemingly most people in Seattle, Seattlest is a transplant. From Virginia specifically. This morning we had this article from the New York Times Magazine sent to us [requires registration]. It discusses the difficulty in reaching a consensus on a design for a future expansion of one of the most revered areas on the Grounds of the University of Virginia (Seattlest's alma mater).

For those unfamiliar, the University of Virginia was originally designed by Thomas Jefferson, and the original buildings are considered to be monuments to that period's architecture. Centered around the Pantheon-inspired Rotunda, designed as a library, the original Grounds consisted of the Rotunda, flanked on either side by facing rows of rooms where both students and faculty lived, with a grassy area known as the Lawn in the middle. The end of this area was originally left open for taking in the mountain view, but was eventually closed as part of the University's expansion. That expansion, long a source of contention since it altered the original Jeffersonian vision, is now slated to be demolished and rebuilt. The dilemma created is how exactly to best do that while maintaining the character of the surrounding architecture and the spirit of Jefferson's intent. After five years of intense debate (and resignation from the original design firm), they've only now reached a design agreement. The article is a bit lengthy, but is a very good read if you have even a passing interest in architecture, design, or history and how all of those come together.

Bringing the focus locally, Seattlest can't realy think of any local structures that hold the same degree of reverence demonstrated in the article. The library is a new classic, the Space Needle isn't going anywhere, and even the Market seems to exist as just another part of the landscape, but none of those would seem to evoke the degree of passion demonstrated here (international open letters, architectural manifestos, department rifts). Transportation issues garner a lot of press, but that's not quite the same. So you tell us Seattle: Is anything here sacred? Are there any buildings here that are such a part of Seattle that they're "untouchable"?

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By Donte in on May 23, 2006 3:54 PM

Comments [rss]

  • gabbneb

    in addition to the aforementioned, a fair amount of Seattle Center, especially the Pacific Science Center, and Pioneer Square, especially the Fuller Building

  • From what I understand, the new plan for the Tunnel will ruin Victor Steinbrueck park.

  • This is a young city so it can't claim the long architectural traditions of east coast places, but the huge civic effort led by Victor Steinbrueck to save the Pike Place Market from being replaced by a ring freeway shows that the same kind of fire can be generated here about architecture. (http://www.historylink.org/_ou...



    I imagine that any plan that violated the original Olmsted Brothers world's fair layout of UDub's Rainier Vista would generate similar opposition.

  • The Skinner building at 5th & Union, more well-known as the home of the 5th Avenue Theatre. Remarkable example of 1920's American fascination with Chinese culture, containing historically accurate architectural features depicting elements of Beijing's Forbidden City. Also the original home of Eddie Bauer (where Brooks Brothers is now).

  • Cam

    Definitely the Olmstead parks. Can you imagine the ruckus if the old Volunteer Park Conservatory were to be taken down and replaced with lighted astroturf ball-fields?



    Another icon might be the Pioneer Square pergola.

  • Seth

    Never thought of the Olmstead parks as a architectural icon, but they really are. Hard to imagine Seattle if they'd drained Green Lake.

  • Jason

    Denny Hall on campus?



    The original Dick's?

  • Though they aren't buildings, the parks designed and brought to us by the Olmstead brothers are held in a similar regard as to what you are talking about. You can read more about them here:



    http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/parkspaces/olmsted.htm

  • Seattlest is a Wahoo? We are everywhere.



    I spent countless hours in Old Cabell and cannot imagine the lawn without it, much less UVA. But there is something neat about adhering to TJ's original plan. Also, a walkway over JPA is a fantastic idea. I also think the article made a key point when it talked about the fact that TJ was about innovation and it's more in the spirit of the man to endorse this conceptually than with the "jeffersonian" aesthetic. More glass! More metal!



    I have to admit though, in these forward-thinking northwestern parts where contemporary sheen abounds, I miss the red brick walls.

  • me

    It is the fact that it is Thomas Jefferson's vision that sets this apart. There is nothing in Seattle with that lineage. It has ZERO to do with architecture.

  • Virginian, take a stroll down Broadway and turn left toward the Harvard Exit, but keep going until you reach the corner. Turn right, to face the restaurant on the lower level of the Loveless Building (one of seversal 1920s structures on the Hill that ought not e lost). Now look to the left of the stone fronted entrance to the nosh palace.



    The white building you lay eyes on is the DAR hall, a vintage 1920s EXACT FULL SCALE REPRODUCTION OF MOUNT VERNON, externally, anyhoo. I'm thinking that rates, based on the criteria listed above, even though there is something undeniably wierd about exact copies executed at full scale. I guess that's the part that makes it part of the West, and of the Seattle that I love, as it vanishes.

  • donte

    Thanks Matt. I never even knew about the Fox Theatre. Sounds like it was quite the grand building.

  • The Smith Tower possibly, but after they tore down the Emerald Palace (Fox Theatre) to put in a mall, it's really anybody's guess.

  • i d i o t

    EMP

  • Seth

    The Smith Tower.

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