Look to Remember

It’s still a good time to wander back under the Viaduct to the buildings on the east side of the Viaduct, some of them pre-dating the highway towering above. You may find a Maritime Building there, although it is likely displaying beautiful furniture today. If so, find the elevator lobby and admire.

These were once fine buildings looking out on a fine prospect. Then the Viaduct was built and the prospect was cast in gloom and shadow. When, eventually, the Viaduct comes down, the buildings are likely to come down too, and be replaced by modern construction.

The winter can be the best time to look for the old buildings, when the sun slants low in under the Viaduct. With an unseasonably warm winter, there’s no need for delay.

And it’s a good time to reflect on how insufficient McGinn’s proposals- to route the Viaduct traffic on new streets along the waterfront and rebuild the existing seawall as it is today- really are. The new waterfront will not consist of freighters and fishboats unloading into railroad cars parked on the piers. It will need to connect the people of Seattle to their central waterfront in a meaningful way, and that’s going to take some thought and lobbying. Be there or be square!