3. HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The Market Neighborhood is located on the traditional land of the First Peoples of Seattle, the Duwamish People. The Duwamish Tahb-tah-byook tribe once inhabited the Lake Washington shoreline of the Market Neighborhood from Juanita Bay to Yarrow Bay, as described in more detail in the Community Character Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. Lake Washington offered an abundance of riches, including wapatoes (a wetland tuber), tules, cedar roots, salmon, waterfowl, berries, deer, muskrat, beaver and otter. The 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott guaranteed hunting and fishing rights and reservations to all Tribes represented by the Native signers, including the Duwamish People. In return for the reservation and other benefits promised in the treaty by the United States government, the Duwamish People exchanged over 54,000 acres of its homeland. Today those 54,000 acres encompass much of present-day King County, including Kirkland (and the Market Neighborhood). Unfortunately, the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in the early 1900s had a detrimental effect on the Duwamish People, lowering the level of the lake, affecting wetlands, and diminishing traditional food sources.

Sears Building at northeast corner of 7th Avenue and Market Street (2006), Sears Building (historic photo)

Within the City of Kirkland, Market is one of the most historic neighborhoods and had a significant role in the development of the City starting in the late 1880s when a majority of land was purchased to be part of Peter Kirk’s new town. The area west of Market Street was to be a neighborhood based on social principles emerging in England to combine worker and executive housing into one neighborhood. The new Kirkland town center was at the intersection of Market Street and Piccadilly (7th Avenue). This intersection continues to be one of the most historically significant in Kirkland.

The Hotel Jackson was the brick building on the corner of Market and 7th Avenue where the Leland Building sits today. This hotel was state of the art when built in 1890, featuring a large theatre on the top floor, stately hotel rooms on the second floor, and retail space on the street level. The hotel was built by Capt. Daniel B. Jackson, great-grandfather of Washington State’s past governor Daniel Jackson Evans. The Jackson Theatre later ran silent movies and was the first movie theatre on the eastside. The theatre and hotel eventually became the Gateway Theatre and Hotel. The 1891 Sears Bank Building at 701 Market Street was built by Joshua Montgomery Sears of Boston.

Homesteads in the 1870s

The land homesteaded in the 1870s by Andrew and Susannah Nelson and their son Christian Nelson as well as the Cedarmere tract included all of the land from Lake Washington to First Street. The Nelsons built a small white frame house on the property at the northeast corner of Market and Central (about where the Communications Building is now located at 212 Market Street).

Kirkland Land and Improvement Company

Between 1888 and 1890, Peter Kirk’s Kirkland Land and Improvement Company purchased many of the homesteads to begin the proposed new city which would support the construction of the steel mill on Rose Hill near Forbes Lake. In 1889, a number of homes for both steel mill workers and administrators were built in the Market Neighborhood although few of the roads were built until years later. In 1890 the original plat prepared by John Kellett, Kirk’s engineer, established the street layout that is evident today. Peter Kirk’s original Victorian home was built on the southern corner of 2nd Street West and 5th Avenue West before being sold to Burke and Farrar who dismantled the home and built two large family homes on Waverly Way. The Kirk home is the logo for the Kirkland Heritage Society. The Loomis home located at 304 8th Avenue West is one of the last remaining Queen Anne Victorian homes in Kirkland.

In 1892, the Seattle Woolen Mill opened on the lake shoreline in the Market Neighborhood. C.C. Filson opened a store with Albert Timmerman next to the Sears Building. When the 1897 Gold Rush came, Filson moved to Seattle and opened the historic C.C. Filson which is still in business today. Filson sold goods from the Kirkland woolen mill.

In 1893 the nationwide depression wiped out Peter Kirk’s dream of Kirkland becoming the “Pittsburgh of the West” as the financial backing stopped and the steel mill closed without ever having produced steel. Very little development occurred in Kirkland until after 1910, but even though times were tough, the citizens voted to incorporate in 1905.

Peter Kirk Mansion

Boom Development 1910-1930 Burke and Farrar

One of the most significant eras of development in Kirkland was from 1910 through the 1930s, after Burke and Farrar, Seattle developers, purchased Peter Kirk’s remaining holdings. Although this era coincided with the national popularity of the Arts and Crafts movement and the construction of bungalow and craftsman-style homes, the Market Neighborhood was not as impacted by their development as the adjacent Norkirk Neighborhood.

Change of Street Names

In the late 1920s, the street names defined in the original Kirk Plat were changed to the present naming system to facilitate public safety. The street signs installed in 1999 and 2000 reflect the original historic names. Examples of these include: Market Street – a traditional name assigned to the agricultural roads that led from the farms to the market place – in this case, the ferry to Seattle. Waverly Way also retained its original name. Streets reflecting the English roots of Kirk and Kellett included: 5th Avenue West – Bond Street; 8th Avenue West – Regent Street; and 4th Street – Fleet Street. Other streets were named after states: 17th Avenue West – Oregon Street; and some after presidents: 7th Street West – Monroe Street.

The Union A High School or Kirkland High School was built in 1922 with the first graduating class in 1923. It served as the high school until 1950 when the new Lake Washington High School was built. The building served as a junior high after the high school moved. In the early 1970s the older portion of the building was destroyed by fire and demolished. However, the historic terraced land remains today in Heritage Park. In 1998 the Christ Science Church was moved from 1st Street to the southern corner of Heritage Park. This iconic building, known as Heritage Hall, is now a historic fixture in Kirkland and the lower level houses the Kirkland Heritage Society Resource Center and Museum. The main entry arch from the old Union A High School building was saved and in 2005 was moved to the corner of Market Street and Waverly Way as the symbolic entry to Heritage Park.

Historic Properties

The Kirkland Heritage Society utilized a grant from the Kirkland City Council to conduct an inventory of properties meeting established historic criteria in 1999. Over one-third of the structures on this Citywide inventory are in the Market Neighborhood, with many of them having high priority status. Three buildings in the neighborhood, the Loomis House, Kellett/ Harris House and Sears Building, are on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Union A High School

Policy M-1:

Encourage preservation of structures and locations that reflect the neighborhood’s heritage.

As described above, parts of the Market Neighborhood were the center of the original Kirkland and had been inhabited for many years by the Duwamish People. In addition to Norkirk, Highlands, and downtown, the Market Neighborhood contains a significant concentration of historic built resources. The historic structures and locations should be preserved to maintain the historic heritage of the City and the neighborhood. The Community Character Element of the Comprehensive Plan provides additional policies to encourage preserving and maintaining historic structures, sites and objects. Table CC-1 of the Community Character Element contains a list of designated historic buildings, structures, sites and objects located in the Market Neighborhood. List A includes historic structures, sites and objects in the Market Neighborhood listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places and designated by the City of Kirkland. List B includes historic structures, sites and objects in the Market Neighborhood designated by the City of Kirkland.

Policy M-2:

Provide markers and interpretive information at historic sites.

Providing markers and interpretive boards will identify important sites and enable the community to have a link with the history of the area. Attention should be given to celebrating the neighborhood’s history in an inclusive way, including by helping residents and visitors understand the history of the area prior to white settlement.

Policy M-3:

Continue to evaluate incentives to encourage retention of identified buildings of historic significance.

Existing zoning and subdivision code incentives allow lots containing historic buildings to be subdivided into smaller lots than would otherwise be permitted if the historic buildings meet designated criteria and are preserved on site. In the future, additional incentives may need to be explored to protect historic buildings.