Site Report #1
My block is Block #26 which is located between NE 11th Street and NE 12th Street, and NE 41st Street and NE Campus Parkway. Only one building resides on my block: Condon Hall. Condon was once used by the University of Washington to house various classes throughout the years, but now the building has been repurposed to hold various startup projects. With the various occupancies of startups in Condon, the building has now been nicknamed Startup Hall. At various points on my block are parking-meters. The designated time for the parking-meter changes depending on what side of the block you are on.
Placed on my block are several details that would usually go overlooked if you were just passing by. One such small detail was the difference in leaves still attached to trees around the block. On all sides but one, the leaves of all trees had fallen. The number of hanging leaves would usually go unnoticed because people are more focused on what is in front of them rather than what is above them. Another feature of my block that is typically missed is the location of a pay-phone. I did not first notice the pay phone along NE 41st Street of my block because I had never seen a pay-phone around the U-District. Payphones are largely disregarded today because everyone now has their own personal cellphone to make phone calls.
After walking and taking notes on my block, I expected my block to be bigger. NE 11th Street divides my block from a small parking lot owned by the University of Washington. Instead of placing a small parking lot across the street from my block, I would expect Condon to extend across NE 11th Street to use the extra space that the parking lot does not use. The parking lot could be located across from Condon to give professors and students a place to park their cars when street parking around the block is full. Finding the street plans for my block could give me answers to why my block does not use the space across NE 11th Street when the University of Washington owns both Condon and the parking lot adjacent to it.
Questions to investigate:
Why is this block and other along Campus Parkway smaller than others in the area?
What was on this block prior to the construction of Condon Hall?
Why was Condon repurposed to house start-ups?