The Dump as a Historical Landmark

Related Content

• Georgetown Music Store Was Robbed Last Night. If You Find This Gear, Call the Cops
  January 18, 2012
• A Very Serious Sandwich: Hallava Falafel
  September 13, 2011
• Bumbershoot Visual Arts: Skater's Gauntlet
  September 3, 2011
• MOHAI Takes a Booze History Stroll Through Georgetown
  August 17, 2011
• No Need for Heat: Dead Babies Take Care of Themselves
  August 11, 2011

More About

• Andy Ryan
• Landmarks Preservation Board
• Beth Dodrill
• Georgetown

To destroy the dump, we must preserve the dump.

Or at least that's the way it appeared in two applications Seattle Public Utilities filed this August with the city's Landmarks Preservation Board. What were the distinguished historical structures for which protection was being sought? The city's north and south garbage transfer stations, located in Wallingford and South Park respectively. Both were designed by the same local architect in a style we'll call '60s pre-cast concrete shed. (No faddish revival or coffee-table book has yet been devoted to that design idiom.)

In the professionally prepared, city-funded documents, consultant Beth Dodrill concedes, "Designs for the North and South Transfer Stations do not appear to have garnered interest from the construction or architectural design journals...and did not receive any awards at the time." Elsewhere it reads, "Transfer sheds and warehouses are a common industrial building type found wherever industrial activity occurs."

So what's so special about them?

SPU spokesperson Andy Ryan says the city was simply following a script from the private sector. "I'm told this is fairly standard when developers deal with older buildings," he says, citing the example of the Ballard Denny's, where developers filed for landmark status before those who were genuinely interested in preserving the structure were able to, thus insulating themselves against outside appeals (this practice has been referred to as "stepping on your own landmine"). Once landmark status was approved, the developers appealed, and were ultimately successful in demolishing the old Denny's.

The city announced plans this May for a $115 million renovation and expansion of the two garbage facilities (this following the 2007 defeat of a proposed third facility in Georgetown). "They're gonna be torn down," says Ryan. "We wanted to make sure we wouldn't get delayed. We just wanted to make sure we got due process. We've learned from painful past experience."

Ryan says public notices were issued concerning the dump landmarking, but "we got no public comments" in the affirmative. As a result, says Ryan, "applications have been received and denied as of October 17"—meaning the old transfer stations will soon be trash.