As the first tenants take up residence inside 7 Hills, the mixed-use development across the street from the vacated Metropolitan Market, some walkers are slowing down to take in the striking mosaics on a pair of columns out front.
Like the columns themselves, which are an engineering necessity, the glass mosaics are more than merely decorative — they capture Queen Anne’s many visual vignettes, those sometimes-odd juxtapositions that defy any one image or “brand” that would define Queen Anne.
The mosaics — 51 inches around; 8 feet, 3 inches high — come from the hand of Lydia Aldredge, an artist and architect who lived on Queen Anne for three decades and now lives in Bellevue. She still works out of her studio on Crockett Street.
Aldredge, author of the 1985 book “Impressions of Imagination,” which catalogued Seattle’s terra-cotta architecture, is well known for her public art in the region. She recalled developer Joe Geivett didn’t want the columns, but the engineer did— so, Geivett figured, they would be perfect for mosaics.
“I want a ‘Where’s Waldo’ thing,” Aldredge remembers Geivett telling her — a reference to the children’s books and TV show challenging youngsters to find a character in a crowd.
The north column reflects imagery from the south and west sides of the hill; the south column, the east and north sides.
To do this the New York City native, camera in tow, rode her bike around the neighborhood looking for arresting images and not just the usual suspects.
“I’m a Europhile,” Aldredge said, referring to her fascination with Italy’s collage-like imagery accumulated over time.
The old Queen Anne High School and John Hay Elementary are here, but so are the famous Landmark Tree, the long-felled towering cedar on the southwest slope; blackberry vines; and a certain house that caused one woman passing by to shed tears. “I raised three kids in that house,” she told Aldredge.
The mosaics capture the spirit of Queen Anne’s public facades and secret places.
Aldredge recalled that, as she installed the mosaics in late July and early August, those who stopped to take a look were most often kids slowing down their parents. And, she added, people over 45.
“Joe’s ‘Where’s Waldo,'” Aldredge mused. “It works.”
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