Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Before & After


































The vintage 1926 brick and terra cotta clad apartment building on N Highland Drive across from Kerry Park (below) was demolished to make way for this contemporary condominium complex. I haven't seen any occupation of the new residences yet, but imagine it won't be long until it is as full of life as the building it replaced. All cities change over time, and the boom in photography enthusiasts with digital cameras chronicling their neighborhoods all over the globe may prove to be a big boon to historians and archivists as time keeps marching by.


5 comments:

brattcat said...

Glad to hear you are hopeful about occupation of this new building. What happened to the folks who lived in the old one?

poefusion said...

I know this was a 1926 building but it doesn't look like the outside was run down. I've seen buildings in worse shape. Was it the inside that was run down? Could they not remodel? At any rate, the condominium looks really nice. Hope they receive the business once had here. Hope all is well. Have a great night.

dianasfaria.com said...

Interesting, you have a good point there. I am sure you are right.

Kim said...

Brattcat, I don't know where they all ended up, but I spoke to a couple of them (who were curious about me taking photos outside the entrance a few months before that fence went up) and they were on-board with having to move.

Michelle, I think the difference is twofold, 1) this is earthquake country and structural damage isn't always apparent to the casual observer, 2) this address is one of the most prime pieces of real estate in the city and looks directly out at "the post card view" of Seatle (aka the veiw from Frasier Crane's apartment), so for the owners who couldn't afford major upgrades, there was plenty of incentive to sell and build new in this town filled at the time with absolute condo mania. A lot of vintage buildings are kept "as is" on the outside and upgraded (like the ones visible just down the street in this photo). As you can imagine, the change was not without its controversies and neighborhood input about the new design.
-Kim

Small City Scenes said...

I lived in apartment that looked very much like that building when I was first married. It was on Lower Queen Anne. We were only there a couple of months and then I lost my job (thank goodness) and we moved north. MB

Congrats on your daughter moving on up in the world. MB