Site Report 3
Audio Tour of Block 61. Created by Marie Desprez, March 1st, 2017
Front Entrance of the University Branch of the Seattle Public Library. Taken on February 23rd, 2017 by Marie Desprez. University District, Seattle, WA.
Outside the Front Entrance of the University Food Bank. Taken by Marie Desprez, February 23rd, 2017. Unviersity District, Seattle, WA.
The biggest building on my block is the University Child Development School. The building used to belong to the Blessed Sacrament Parish and the school moved into the building in 1990. The building looks old but one can see that it has been renovated to suit the needs of elementary school students. Prior to being a school, it was a building for the Catholic Church meaning that it held services regularly. The church sold the building to the school when parents at the school were looking for a larger space so that they could increase the number of students. The school began as an experimental preschool at the University of Washington but now teaches kid up to 5th grade.
Another major building on this block is the University branch of the Seattle Public Library. As you can see, this building is over a hundred years old. It was built in 1910 and has been a library ever since. It has gone through renovations but has stood on the same block the entire time. The building looks big from the outside, but inside it is pretty small. It can often be difficult to build new buildings like libraries because since they don’t bring in as much revenue, they can be seen as less essential. However, a lot of money was donated by Andrew Carnegie to build this branch as well as two others. It was renovated in 2007, which is why it no longer has the tall ceilings and large entrance of the original branch. However, outside you can still see large trees with deep roots, showing that the land itself hasn’t changed much over the years.