First Queen Anne telephone exchange achieves landmark status
Developer proceeding with designs to build townhomes within historic exterior
By Brandon Macz QA&Mag News editor
The Queen Anne Masonic Lodge building is now a designated Seattle landmark, but only its distinctive exterior, which means plans to build two townhomes inside it can proceed.
The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board accepted the building’s nomination in April, but not because of its long history as home to Queen Anne Masonic Lodge No. 242.
The 114-year-old building started as the Sunset Telephone & Telegraph Exchange, the first phone exchange on Queen Anne Hill, in 1905.
The building at 1608 Fourth Ave. W. was sold to the Queen Anne Masons in 1924, after the phone company moved the exchange to a larger building down the street. The landmarks board designated the Garfield Exchange last December, which is now being redeveloped into an apartment building.
Telephone exchanges provided early employment opportunities for educated women, and that cultural significance is what influenced the landmark board’s decision more than its lodge history.
Susan Boyle with BOLA Architecture+Planning prepared the
nomination report for Queen Anne companies R&R Development and Eiffel Tour, and was asked by the landmarks board in April to come back with more history about the exchange
Three Birds Home and Gifts flying out of Queen Anne due to lost lease
Closing sale for home decor store running through June
By Hugh Garbrick
QA&Mag News summer intern
Three Birds Home and Gifts will officially close when “inventory has sold down,” at the end June, after eight years of business on Queen Anne Avenue, according to an email from owner Robin Johnson.
Johnson tells Queen Anne News Three Birds is closing for lease-related reasons; she declined an interview request. In a Facebook
post on the business’ page, Johnson writes
Three Birds lost its lease.
“Unfortunately, dealing with a multi-billion dollar nation-wide landlord has proven to be most challenging,” she wrote.
The shop specializes in home decoration, jewelry, furniture and other novelty items.
Inside there are incandescent bulbs strung across the ceiling, illuminating the dwindling
and the women who worked there.
While the information pulled from old periodicals and documents left
Photo by Brandon Macz
The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board has designated the exterior of the former Queen Anne Masonic Lodge building as a historic landmark.
Photo by Hugh Garbrick
Three Birds Home and Gifts will close near the end of the month after losing its lease.
EXCHANGE, from Page 7
something to be desired by the landmarks board, they unanimously agreed that recognizing the building’s history as it related to early employment for women was important enough to approve designation.
“That really makes this building special, for its association with women’s history,” said board member Manish Chalana.
Boyle said the exchanges were staffed almost entirely by young women. “The Hello Girls,” as one news article referred to them, had to be nervy, quick and agile as they connected calls, Boyle said. They also had to follow a strict dress code.
“They were highly supervised,” she said, “and there were reports that they didn’t have aesthetics in the building.”
There’s nothing left of the interior of the Sunset Exchange building highlighting its original purpose, the Masons having made multiple renovations over the past 90 years.
Several landmarks board members appreciated the rustication of the unreinforced masonry building’s exterior, which is tucked among crafts-
man homes in Queen Anne. The facade was changed after residents objected to the original design, which would have used plain bricks.
“On this block, I would argue it’s difficult to see this building as prominent,” Boyle said.
One criterion the landmarks board can use to designate a building is its prominence or contrast in siting. Board member Kathleen Durham liked the idea of a utility building blending into a residential neighborhood.
“It almost has this movieset quality,” said board member Kristen Johnson.
“I think it’s a great piece of neighborhood infrastructure,” said board member Richard
Freitas of the building’s “industrial design at residential scale.”
Rich Rogers with R&R Development tells Queen Anne News the sale of the property is expected to close on June 30, and plans remain on track to design two townhomes within the exterior. The hope is the process will move more quickly now with the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections.
As a Seattle landmark, the board’s Architectural Review Committee will play a role in directing redevelopment of the building.
“It’s a quasi-judicial board,” Boyle said. “If they say you can’t do that, you can’t do that.”
Photo by Brandon Macz
The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board did not landmark the interior of the unreinforced masonry building.
Home & Real Estate
Department of Neighborhoods offering Night Out support
The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is making up to $5,000 available to community groups planning an Annual Night Out event this year. The deadline for applications for Small Sparks funds is 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 25.
Night Out is a national crime prevention event that brings together communities to promote outreach, education, kids’ activities and planning for neighborhood safety.
Apply for funds by going to this shortened link: https://bit. ly/2w4ZTfi. Call 206-733-9916 for more information.
More about Night Out is at seattle.gov/police/communitypolicing/night-out.
Outdoor summer garden planting event at Magnolia library branch
The Seattle Public Library is hosting a planting party for a summer community garden at its Magnolia branch on Sunday, June 16.
Tools and light refreshments will be provided during the event, which runs 2-4 p.m. Sunday, outside the library, 2801 34th Ave. W.
All library events are free and open to the public. More information about programs is available by calling 206-386-4636.
CLOSING, from Page 7
inventory. A 30-percent off “Store Closing Sale” sign is visible at the storefront window.
Three Birds employee Stephanie Simpson said she took the opportunity to work with her friend Johnson in 2014, since her sons were grown up and she was looking to get back into the workforce. Simpson used to commute from Mt. Baker, but now she lives on Bainbridge Island and is unsure of what she will be doing after the store closes.
“I’m now commuting in from Bainbridge Island, and so I don’t know if I’ll find something in Seattle again or maybe something over there. But I’d like to still work,” Simpson said.
Erin Riccolo has been a North Queen Anne resident for about 6 years, and said she has done a lot of gift shopping at Three Birds. She said she is sad to see it go but hopes another local business will fill the space.
“Yeah, it’s really unfortunate. There’s a couple long-standing businesses in this neighborhood and Fremont that have become like banks or Verizon stores,” Riccolo said, “or kind of boring businesses that are very corporate, and I think it’s because they can afford the rent where small businesses can’t.
Photo by Hugh Garbrick
Three Birds will close once inventory has gone down. The store is at 2107 Queen Anne Ave. N.