Introduction

Block 63 of the University District Stories is, like our urban history, constantly changing. The pace of this change isn’t consistent, but over time has shaped the Block into its current form. Block 63 is residential, so it makes sense to focus on how urban history has shaped how people have lived on the Block since it was first settled over 100 years ago.

In the grand scheme of our urban history, much of Seattle is fairly young, as is Block 63; the earliest date of development likely stretches back to 1908, with the development of the Pettit’s University Addition, which in turn lead to the chopping down of the old growth forest to make way for the land speculation of the time. The expansion of the streetcar lines, the relocation of the University of Washington to the new campus (originally used for the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition), and house building advances helped build a confluence of events that grew the University District and neighborhoods like it through the early 20th century.

The neighborhood experienced more change after the war, expanding streets in the 50’s to accommodate cars, and the growth of the University’s federal funding allowed in more students and research dollars; with a much larger student population, more housing was needed, which led to the redeveloping of much of the Block for low-rise apartments, which could accommodate more students with more space than the detached houses they replaced.

The latest developments mirror larger trends of cities, as more traditional families again see the city as viable, so some new development in the form of townhomes allow for their demographic resettlement, albeit in smaller, newer, and sometimes more affordable dwellings.

All of this contributes to the current state of the Block, and representative of the District as a whole, creating a fabric of history which I have explored more deeply over the past 10 weeks, which is encapsulated in these Site Reports.