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Century 21 Digital Collection

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Home View S.E. across corner of playfield to 300 block 2nd Ave. No. & Field Armory

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View S.E. across corner of playfield to 300 block 2nd Ave. No. & Field Armory

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Title	View S.E. across corner of playfield to 300 block 2nd Ave. No. & Field Armory
Identifier	spl_wl_sec_00281
Description	Future site of the Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World’s Fair). In 1956, the City of Seattle’s Civic Center Advisory Committee selected land surrounding the existing Civic Auditorium at the foot of Queen Anne Hill for the site of the Century 21 Exposition and a future Civic Center for the city. In 1957, the city acquired the property through condemnation. With a few exceptions, including the Civic Auditorium (which was transformed into the Opera House) and the National Guard Armory (which became the Food Circus), most existing buildings were demolished. This set of photos documents the site before demolition began . On the Mercer Playground: “The City first acquired property at what is now Seattle Center in 1900. For many years, this area had been known among the early settlers as ‘Potlatch Meadow’ due to the belief that Native American festivals had been held there. Ten years later, the City transferred the block-sized parcel, which is now site of the International Fountain, to the jurisdiction of the Parks Department, which developed it into Mercer Playground in 1910. Seattle pioneer Thomas Mercer had homesteaded in the vicinity. Mercer Playground served both the surrounding residential neighborhood of mostly working class families and the Warren Avenue School located across the street to the west since 1902.” (Cathy Wickwire, Survey Report: Comprehensive Inventory of City-Owned Historic Resources, Seattle, Washington, 2001, p. 18.) On the Washington National Guard Armory: “In 1938, the Washington National Guard built a large field artillery armory on the block south of the Civic Ballfield. After eight years of lobbying and fundraising attempts for a new National Guard Armory building, final approval was given for a block-square facility, which would be built on land donated by the city. The new building would house the 146th Regiment of Field Artillery, the 66th Field Artillery Brigade, and the Washington Headquarters of the 41st Division of the National Guard. Other units would continue to use the Old Western Avenue Armory located north of the Pike Place Market. 55% of the funds for construction came from the state while the remaining 45% came from a Public Works Administration grant. The architects for the project, Floyd Naramore and Arrigo M. Young, had both established successful practices in Seattle. Their work on institutional and large scale projects provided them with the experience and expertise required to design a huge structure, such as the Armory, and successfully integrate it into the surrounding residential neighborhood.” (Wickwire, p. 18.)
Subjects (LCSH)	Century 21 Exposition (1962 : Seattle, Wash.) Food Circus (Century 21 Exposition, 1962, Seattle, Wash.) Center House (Seattle, Wash.) Exhibition buildings--Washington (State)--Seattle Exhibitions--Washington (State)--Seattle Lenggenhager, Werner Food courts--Washington (State)--Seattle Armories--Washington (State)--Seattle Dwellings--Washington (State)--Seattle Housing, Single family--Washington (State)--Seattle Wrecking--Washington (State)--Seattle Playgrounds--Washington (State)--Seattle Second Avenue (Seattle, Wash.)
Subject	Food Circus
Photographer	Lenggenhager, Werner
Date	1957-10
Period	Before the Fair
Notes	Title taken from handwritten caption on verso. Date stamped on verso.
Folder	Seattle Center Before Century 21
Measurements	25.84 x 20.82 cm
Digitization Specifications	Master image scanned on Epson 10000 XL flatbed at 600 ppi, 24 bit color, saved as TIFF file. Photoshop used to reduce access image to 600 pixels on long edge; master image file size: 90,073,410 bytes.
File Format	image/jp2
Collection	Century 21 Digital Collection
Contributing Institution	The Seattle Public Library
Rights Management	For information about rights and reproduction, visit http://cdm16118.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/rights
Type (DCMI)	image
Item Type	Photographs
Source	Original: 8 x10 b/w photographic print
Date created	2011-07-31