Sat 16 Feb 2008
Last Saturday it was a cold, drizzly night. Clusters of people drawn to the Georgetown Art Attack stood across the street from where the Rainier Cold Storage stock house building was being demolished, taking in the beauty. The rain was misting and sodium streetlights reflected off clouds onto the crumbling brick, broken windows, and jagged edges of wood. It looked like it did not want to come down, but was so graceful in its decay. We speculated about whether any of it would be preserved.
Dan Bertolet at hugeasscity.com points out that the cooler in the building had frozen the ground underneath, and when the cooler was turned off in 2002, the resulting settling made the building unsound. At the Slog there’s a lot of discussion about whether it really needed to come down, and whether this is another step towards gentrifying Georgetown. We hope not. The Seattle P-I gives history and more info here.
photo (c) matt tamaru
Lots of photos of the demolition and building at flickr.
