Wallingford Historic District Public Meeting

Historic Wallingford will be holding a public meeting to present progress on the Wallingford Historic District – North. The application to the National Park Service for designation of the area north of 45th and south of 50th as a National Register Historic District is nearing completion.

The meeting will be held at 7 pm on Tuesday, December 7, 2021, via Zoom. The meeting is free but you must register to join the meeting. Register at the Historic Wallingford website.

The historic district effort builds on a 2019 feasibility study and is led by a grassroots volunteer team guided by preservation consultants Northwest Vernacular. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss what we have learned so far, what’s next for the National Register process and what designation will mean for property owners.

To learn more about the Feasibility Study completed in 2019 go to the Historic Wallingford reports website. From the results of that study, the area containing the highest concentration of properties meeting criteria established by the National Park Service was chosen for the nomination. Specifically, the area between N/NE 45thSt and N/NE 50th St and between Interlake Ave N. and 5th Ave NE is the area under consideration.

The Wallingford Historic District is significant at a local level of significance for the period of 1900 to 1936,

beginning with the construction date of the oldest property within the district still standing and ending in 1936, the last year streetcars were the only public transit serving the district. It was the streetcar service and the intent to sell to working class homeowners that led to such a dense neighborhood, then a suburb to newly settling Seattle. Streetcar lines serving the neighborhood began to switch to motorized buses and trackless trolleys in 1937. The new homes in the neighborhood were built after the arrival of the streetcar lines and were advertised as desirable because of their proximity to public transit. The street features (e.g., street widths, lack of alleys), mix of architectural styles, presence of kit houses, and the clustering of apartment buildings close to transit lines and the business district reflect this subtype of suburb.

Your support and involvement is crucial to this effort and to the potential effort for additional designations in Wallingford. Come, join Historic Wallingford and NW Vernacular on Tuesday, December 7th at 7pm to learn more.

Historic Wallingford is grateful for the support of 4Culture.