Historic Tacoma’s WATCH List:
- Brewery District including the Heidelberg Brewery
- Elks Lodge
- First Congregational Church
- John R. Rogers Elementary
- Murray Morgan Bridge
- Sixth Avenue Baptist Church
- University-Union Club
- Wedge Neighborhood
Preservation success story:
Trinity United Methodist Church renamed Kalevaria UMC and removed from the Watch List March 2009
Preservation loss:
Luzon Building built in 1891, designed by Chicago architects Burnham & Root, demolished Sept 2009
“Watch” A keeping awake for purposes of guarding, protecting, attending, or the like; watching; preservative or preventive vigilance; wakeful or vigilant attention. - Webster’s New International Dictionary (1923)
Historic Tacoma’s WATCH List brings architecturally, culturally and historically significant sites to the attention of Tacoma citizens. The listed sites are in transition. Some are in danger because they are proposed for demolition, are suffering deterioration due to neglect, or are subject to potential redevelopment which would destroy their significant features. Others are in the process of rehabilitation and we expect to be able to report success stories of creative adaptive re-use.
We are watching each site with interest. Our goal in publishing this evolving list is to increase awareness of historic properties in transition to facilitate conservation and re-use.
Historic Tacoma WATCH listing does not confer or imply historic landmark or other legal status upon a listed property. While many of our WATCH listed properties may be eligible for such status, and professional expertise and community input inform our listings, the criteria are our own and include subjective considerations. Owners of individual properties are informed in advance of WATCH listing.
Historic Tacoma does not currently have the means to purchase, restore, or otherwise save any of the listed sites. We will work to bring parties with the necessary resources and expertise together; advocate providing time for owners to make fully considered decisions; and offer information about the significance and potential of the listed properties. But most of these sites will not be preserved without a constituency of local and involved grass root advocates.
The HISTORIC TACOMA WATCH LIST will evolve as conditions change. The list may include historic landscapes, commercial and residential properties, buildings with industrial character, buildings from the recent past, social and fraternal halls, and sacred places -- all of which typify Tacoma’s past. We may be accepting nominations to our WATCH list at a later date.
Revised 9/28/09
