Fir Lodge/Homestead building update 12/2009

Threatened Seattle Landmark Fir Lodge/Homestead Restaurant

The owner of the Alki Homestead restaurant, Tom Lin, has had a preliminary meeting with the Architectural Review Committee of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board concerning the building that has housed the restaurant. Lin told the committee he plans to ask for a certificate of approval to demolish the 105-year-old Fir Lodge and does not plan to rehabilitate the structure.

This news follows the January 2009 fire in which a portion of the Homestead’s second floor and roof were damaged and the first-floor restaurant suffered severe smoke damage. (For more information on the original fire see www.westseattleblog.com.)

Because the Homestead has been given landmark designation by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board since 1996, any changes, including demolition of the structure, must be approved by the board. As per the designation documents the exterior of the building, including the roof; the first floor interior, excluding the kitchen and bathrooms, and the site, excluding minor plantings, have been landmarked (http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/SW.htm).

The Architectural Review Committee toured the site on December 4. Following the tour, if Lin applies for a certificate of approval, the committee will make a recommendation to the full board, and the board will vote to approve or not approve demolition.

In the event of the Homestead’s demolition, Lin has said that he plans to construct new buildings on the site. At a meeting of the Alki Community Council in September, he mentioned potential plans for a lodge, bar, spa and living accommodations.

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society and owner Doris Nelson nominated the Homestead for landmark status in 1995. The SWSHS’s Log House Museum has heard countless concerns from community members and heritage groups who have expressed a strong reaction to the lack of action in the past 11 months to preserve the Homestead. Part of the Society's mission is "to preserve historic sites," and we fittingly have taken leadership in supporting the Homestead and other landmarked structures on the Duwamish Peninsula.

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society operates the Log House Museum, which was built as part of the Fir Lodge estate in 1904 and to which the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board also granted landmark status in 1996. The Society initiated and oversaw the preservation and restoration of the Log House Museum. We know that rehabilitation of this type of building is possible, and we realize the value the Homestead building has to West Seattle, Seattle and the region. We have been supported in this advocacy by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, 4Culture and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

Your opinion counts. Is this building important to Seattle's history? Community history? West Seattle? Seattle? The region? To be kept informed of developments in its preservation and restoration, monitor this web site, the Log House Museum’s Facebook or e-mail the Society at loghousemuseum@comcast.net.

Thank you!