16 responses so far ↓

• 1 SPG // Nov 19, 2009 at 11:24 am

  I guess it’s still pretty early in the process, but any word from the property owner about rebuilding?

• 2 Ghoul // Nov 19, 2009 at 12:58 pm

  that looks so strange… sad really.

• 3 Mrs. Murphey // Nov 19, 2009 at 1:19 pm

  How will we now recognize all the contributions to society made by Elenor Roosevelt?

• 4 Trix // Nov 19, 2009 at 1:36 pm

  That is one very sad picture. I hope they are able to re-build to some extent. What a pointless loss.

• 5 Sad // Nov 19, 2009 at 1:41 pm

  is the entire building coming down, or just the parts that were destroyed in the fire?

• 6 mmm // Nov 19, 2009 at 3:27 pm

  When they do rebuild here, is there a height limit or are we going to get some huge building like the one across the street from wallgreens?

• 7 ByeByeGreenBean // Nov 19, 2009 at 4:40 pm

  That is sad to see….our own mini hole in the ground like NY ended up with, but at least with no loss of life.

• 8 MM // Nov 19, 2009 at 5:50 pm

  CC I miss you so. Hopefully they will be able to open in the neighborhood. Any word on possible reopenings for the three Asian eateries?

• 9 Doree // Nov 19, 2009 at 6:16 pm

  MM - Pho Tic Tac had opened a second location at 145th and Aurora earlier this year. And one of the owners of Szechuan Bistro told me last week that they hope to find a new space in or near Greenwood, but they’re still paying off bills and didn’t have insurance.

• 10 Emily // Nov 20, 2009 at 7:50 am

  Does anybody know how the building came to be named for Eleanor Roosevelt?

• 11 ER // Nov 20, 2009 at 8:53 am

  I think she lived there

• 12 Iron City Mike // Nov 20, 2009 at 1:26 pm

  @mmm - I think the days of building huge buildings like the one you mention are over for now - can’t fill the ones we have. In fact, there really is no incentive to rebuild on that lot at all, considering all the vacant space currently available in the neighborhood. My prediction (which I do not make happily) - that site will be blank wall for years to come.

• 13 StuS // Nov 20, 2009 at 4:27 pm

  I’m pretty sure that Mrs. Roosevelt visited Seattle repeatedly in the 1930s and 1940s.

  http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm-desmo/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=3632&CISOBOX=1&REC=5

  http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm-desmo/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=3994&CISOBOX=1&REC=3

  http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm-desmo/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=3767&CISOBOX=1&REC=2

• 14 StuS // Nov 20, 2009 at 4:28 pm

  1938
  Caption Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a celebrity in her own right. During her 12 years as first lady, she served as her husband’s ambassador throughout the nation when polio severely limited his travels. In March 1938, Mrs. Roosevelt visited Seattle where she made public appearances and visited with her daughter, Anna Roosevelt Boettiger and family. Mrs. Boettiger’s husband John was the publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

  http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm-desmo/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=3897&CISOBOX=1&REC=1

• 15 jm // Nov 20, 2009 at 6:00 pm

  We walked by that Roosevelt Building location today and it really looks bad. I’d guess it will be a fenced off hole in the ground for ages.
  Tour buses will start tours of Seattle’s ruins and unfinished construction sites.

• 16 Fnarf // Nov 25, 2009 at 12:06 am

  The thing that sucks about this is that this kind of older but still serviceable storefront can’t be replaced. They can build new, but the rents on new construction are going to have to be a lot higher, so the simple neighborhood shops won’t be able to afford them. Hello tanning salon and cell phone store.

  Or, more likely in this economy, as Iron City Mike points out, it’ll just stay blank for years. Goodbye pedestrian experience.

  That bastard really ripped a hole in our neighborhood.

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