The recent weekend move of a 1906 Craftsman house from the 200 block of Boston St. to the 2500 block of Fourth Ave. N. was quite a spectacle. I attended a good portion of the all-night-and-into-the-morning event, which provided a great chance to socialize with dozens of neighbors. (As one person said, "Who needs block parties when there are events like this?")
In addition to the daunting logistics of ducking under telephone, bus and cable television wires, a fair number of trees had to be trimmed to accommodate the house's passage.
Many were trimmed beforehand, some had to be trimmed "on the spot" before the house could pass, and a few others were shorn by the house itself, which also received its share of scrapes and scratches.
But things seemed to go reasonably well, despite the apparent inability of a certain utility company to make a timely appearance (which entailed more than a little consternation and probably more than a few dollars in moving costs).
Unfortunately, Queen Anne architect Steve McDonald, the new owner of the meandering domicile, was the recipient of some less-than-neighborly comments by people whose trees were affected. Although McDonald planned extensively for the move, such a project is bound to have difficulties and things that don't get executed perfectly.
Like many of us, McDonald was dismayed to hear of the developer's plan to raze a handsome and well-maintained 100-plus-year-old house. Unlike many of us, he was in a position to do something about it - although not without expending a significant amount of his own resources.
His preservation efforts also begat conservation; saving the house from the wrecking ball not only conserved landfill space, it also conserved the resources that would be expended to build another house. I've heard that it would take some 200 trees to build a house like the one that was preserved.
It's too bad some people's trees were unexpectedly affected by this move, but branches can grow back - demolishing vintage houses is permanent.
I think Queen Anne owes Mr. McDonald a resounding "Thank you" for his commitment to neighborhood preservation.
And we owe it to ourselves to convince the Seattle Department of Planning and Development and the Seattle City Council that preservation efforts need encouragement - perhaps by stiffening the zoning, quality and aesthetic requirements for demolition-happy developers.
For example, let's curtail the proliferation of those tacky, cookie-cutter townhouses that are popping up all over Queen Anne like slugs in the garden. Some are better than others, of course, but most of them don't enhance the neighborhood or complement existing architecture. I doubt whether most will last for even a quarter of a century. Cheaply built housing might line developers' pockets, but we need to combine a preservation/conservation mindset with quality design and green development practices.
Responsible development should be more than just a lofty nice-to-have goal - we need to make it an immediate priority.
Steve Wacker is a member of Queen Anne Neighbors for Responsible Growth (www.qanrg.org) and the Queen Anne Community Council.
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