Curiouser and Curiouser: Capitol Hill’s Strange Facades
Seattle’s breakneck growth has spawned an interesting sight on Capitol Hill
By Brangien Davis November 3, 2014
This article originally appeared in the November 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
They look like decaying movie sets left over from some long-ago shoot. Across Capitol Hill, skeletal remnants of vintage brick buildings are propped up with girders and posts, while huge construction pits gape just behind. The prevalence of these haunting façades is the result of zoning incentives established by the Seattle City Council in 2009 as part of the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District, which set out to preserve the character of the old “auto-row” architecture in the neighborhood. Developers were allowed to construct taller buildings provided they retained “character structures” from the buildings they were tearing down. But during the recent boom, some developers took liberties with the legislation, leaving only bare traces of character so as to build higher, wider and bulkier structures—and thereby maximize their return. In June, the City Council amended the guidelines to address out-of-scale development, requiring new construction projects to retain all character elements (either partially or fully) in order to reap building incentives. But for now, it’s all a façade.
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Getting Ghosted
Kim Fu’s latest novel turns a rain-soaked Pacific Northwest winter into the backdrop for a story about grief and loneliness.
In their latest novel, Seattle-based author Kim Fu gets one thing right about the Pacific Northwest: the rain. Set during a particularly bleak winter, The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts tells the story of Eleanor Fan, an online therapist grappling with the recent loss of her mother, Lele. After Lele’s passing, Eleanor inherits money to put…
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Studio Sessions: Gabriel Stromberg
For his current show at studio e gallery, Gabriel Stromberg explores the challenges of working with clay.
Gabriel Stromberg has been a name about town for nearly two decades. As one of the cofounders of design firm Civilization (where he was the creative director and lead designer from 2008 to 2022), Stromberg worked on many award-winning projects, helped produce the wildly popular and always packed Design Lecture Series, and co-created and moderated…