A Survey of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings in the Admiral Neighborhood of West Seattle

A Survey of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings in the Admiral Neighborhood of West Seattle Digital Design Practicum Spring 2011

Joming Lau Virginia Werner

The Admiral Neighborhood of West Seattle According to the permit history found in the King County Assessor’s data, none of the masonry buildings in the Admiral Neighborhood have received any sort of seismic retrofitting. However, the masonry buildings built between 1948 and 1978 might have been constructed with reinforcing, and therefore do not need seismic retrofitting.

If this is the case, there would be no permit history shown. Further investigation is needed to assess buildings constructed between 1948 and 1978.

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WALNUT A

47TH AVE SW

41ST AVE SW

SW

H AV

SW HILL ST

SE T

SW COLLEGE ST

41ST AVE SW

RY

SW GRAYSON ST

42ND AVE SW

ARCH AVE SW

SW GRAYSON ST

SW STEVENS ST

CALIFORNIA AVE SW

44TH AVE SW

SW LANDER ST

SW STEVENS ST

FAIRMOUNT AVE SW

42ND AVE SW

CALIFORNIA AVE SW

44TH AVE SW

44TH AVE SW

SW PRINCE ST

SW ADMIRAL WAY

SW STEVENS ST

SW COLLEGE ST

FAIRMOUNT AVE SW

45TH AVE SW

46TH AVE SW

48TH AVE SW

SW WAITE ST

ARCH PL SW

AV E

SW PRINCE ST

SW COLLEGE ST

SW LANDER ST

°

ARCH AVE SW

SW HILL ST

SW

SW ADMIRAL WAY

49TH AVE SW

RY

FE R

47TH AVE SW

SW WALKER ST

44TH AVE SW

TE ST

SW COLLEGE ST 45TH AVE SW

46TH AVE48TH SW

AVE SW

AVE SW

SU N

R FE

W ES AV

ARCH PL SW

AV E

SW

SW HOLGATE ST

WALNUT AV SW ACCESS

SW WALKER ST

RD

FE R

RY

AV E

Historic Significance of Masonry Buildings

SW FOREST ST

SW STEVENS ST

SW FOREST ST

Eight masonry buildings within the URM study area are considered historically significant by at least one of the following: • Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Historical Resources Survey • National Register of Historic Places • Seattle Department of Neighborhoods designated Landmarks • Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation Historic Building Register

Other masonry buildings were identified through the 2007 Seattle Department of Planning and Development URM survey conducted by Reid Middleton, King County Assessor’s data, and a site visit.

SW STEVENS ST SW STEVENS ST

SW STEVENS ST

SW STEVENS ST

47TH AVE SW

SW HANFOR D ST

05

SW HIND SWS ST

HINDS ST

SW 39TH

39TH AVEAVE SW

40TH AVE SW

40TH AVE SW

WALNUT AVE SW

WALNUT AVE SW

41ST AVE SW

SW HINDS ST

41ST AVE SW

SW HINDS ST

42ND AVE SW

42ND AVE SW

47TH AVE SW

48TH AVE SW

SW HANFORD ST

Legend

Legend

URMURM Study Study Area Area Admiral Neighborhood Admiral Neighborhood Historic Masonry Buildings

Historic Masonry Buildings

Masonry Buildings

Masonry Buildings

0.1

2

0

0.05

0.1

0.2

0.2

0.3

0.3

0.4

Miles 0.4 Miles

Methodology Starting with data from the King County Department of Assessments database, a filtered list was created of masonry buildings (construction class 3) in zipcodes 98116 and 98126, which make up the Admiral neighborhood. These buildings were then geocoded using batchgeo.com and manually adjusted to match the boundary of our study area. These buildings were next sorted by the year built column, and divided into three categories describing their time of construction (before 1948, 1948-1978, and after 1978). Masonry buildings constructed before 1948 were most often unreinforced, and these buildings in our study area were assumed to be URM buildings.

Between 1948-1978, the practice of reinforcing masonry buildings became more prevalent, but it was not until 1978 that reinforced masonry became mandatory. Thus, a site visit was conducted to ascertain whether the buildings constructed between 1948-1978 are URMs, while the buildings constructed after 1978 are assumed to have been built with reinforced masonry.

Complicating our study was the fact that it was difficult to confirm whether buildings were URM, or indeed even masonry at all. The latter was the case for a number of buildings that were looked at in our site visit, and these can be found in the spreadsheet “URMFinalList” that is included on the CD that is submitted as part of this report.

Our site visits revealed that buildings that were listed on the Assessors database were often incorrect. In some instances the addresses were entirely incorrect, but oftentimes, buildings that were clearly structural masonry were classified as wood frame. Other times, some buildings classified as wood frame appeared to be brick, but we determined it was a brick veneer through further investigation, such as identifying weepholes, which indicate a brick veneer/wood frame wall assembly. Twenty-three buildings were noted in this study using the techniques described above, and should be included on the list of URM buildings began from DPD’s 2007 URM survey.

Our final step was to collect data from the sources described on page two, and cross referenced against our generated list of masonry buildings in order to determine which of these commercial buildings were deemed to be historically significant.

Heartland Cafe

Weepholes

3

Chase Bank

Banquet Hall

Wiseman’s Appliance Store, Sound Orthodontics and the Ashcroft Building

James Apartments

4

Admiral Apartments and Admiralty Antique Store

Present Use of Masonry Buildings

Wells Fargo

5

Construction Era of Masonry Buildings

6

Condition of Masonry Buildings

7

Net Square Feet of Masonry Buildings

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Appraised Value of Masonry Buildings

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Seismic Retrofit Priority Assessment Flow Chart

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Creating the Priority Map We established rating system for URMs to assess their risk to public safety and to systematically prioritize buildings that should be seismically retrofit. This system was based on the City of Berkeley’s “Standards for the Seismic Analysis of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings,” found in the 2007 URM survey.

The rating system has priority four levels, with the highest priority being Risk Level 1, which consists of public buildings that either are essential services, like the fire station, or serve as large assembly spaces like schools, libraries and assembly halls.

Risk Levels 2, 3 and 4 consist of commercial buildings, including apartment buildings, that have a net square footage greater than 10,000 square feet, 5,000 to 10,000 square feet, and less than 5,000 square feet, respectively.

Within each risk category they were then prioritized by building quality, number of stories, and historical significance. A logic flow chart describing this system can be found on page 10.

James Madison Junior High School

number percent

total commercial buildings in URM study URMs in study area area 30 190 15.8% 100%

According to the permit history found in the King County Assessor’s data, none of the URM buildings in the Admiral Neighborhood have received any sort of seismic retrofitting.

West Seattle High School

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47TH AVE SW

SW HILL ST

SW WALKER ST

째 ARCH PL SW

FE R

RY

AV E

SW

41ST AVE SW

48TH AVE SW

SU N

FE

SW VE YA R R

WALNUT AV SW ACCESS

SE T

AV E

SW

SW HOLGATE ST

RD

Seismic Retrofit Priority Map of URM Buildings

SW COLLEGE ST

SW PRINCE ST

FAIRMOUNT AVE SW

42ND AVE SW

SW GRAYSON ST

CALIFORNIA AVE SW

SW ADMIRAL WAY

44TH AVE SW

SW LANDER ST

SW STEVENS ST

ARCH AVE SW

44TH AVE SW

SW WAITE ST

45TH AVE SW

46TH AVE SW

49TH AVE SW

48TH AVE SW

SW COLLEGE ST

Legend URM Study Area Admiral Neighborhood SW FOREST ST

Priority Level 1 High

SW STEVENS ST SW STEVENS ST

SW STEVENS ST

Low

Priority Level 2 High Low

Priority Level 3

47TH AVE SW

39TH AVE SW

40TH AVE SW

WALNUT AVE SW

SW HINDS ST

41ST AVE SW

High 42ND AVE SW

48TH AVE SW

SW HANFORD ST

Low

Priority Level 4 High

SW HINDS ST

0

12

0.05

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4 Miles

Low

Fire Station No. 29 Address: 2139 Ferry Ave SW Year Built: 1970 Net Square Feet: 3,929 Appraised Value: $956,500

Southeast Facade

Northwest Facade

View looking Southwest towards Fire Station

View looking Northwest towards Fire Station

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Admiralty House Antiques Address: 2141 California Ave SW Year Built: 1926 Net Square Feet: 2,500 Appraised Value: $852,000

Photo looking Southwest towards Antique Store

View looking Northwest towards Antique Store

View looking Northeast towards Antique Store

View looking Southwest towards Antique Store

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