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
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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
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Chase Bank
Banquet Hall
Wiseman’s Appliance Store, Sound Orthodontics and the Ashcroft Building
James Apartments
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Admiral Apartments and Admiralty Antique Store
Present Use of Masonry Buildings
Wells Fargo
5
Construction Era of Masonry Buildings
6
Condition of Masonry Buildings
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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
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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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