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A New Lake View

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COURTESY OF LAWTON GOWEY Then: The double block on East Green Lake Way North between Latona and Sunnyside streets was developed in the early 1900s with the typical late-Victorian Seattle homes shown here. PAUL DORPAT Now: Most of the old homes survive, although you cannot tell it from the verdant park that, after Green Lake was lowered in 1911, was developed on top of the exposed lakebed.

NOW WE RETURN to Green Lake, as promised last week.

In the 1910 photograph we see today, the lake still rests against its northern shore. That was the year the Green Lake Library opened. And while we can see it on the far right, we cannot, of course, tell if all the tables and books are yet in place. As noted last week, after the lake was lowered seven feet in 1911, this shore, like all others, was exposed. The Seattle Parks Department did not simply drop a few grass seeds and plant a few exotics on the exposed beach. Rather, it prepared and extended the new park land with considerable fill. The results are spectacularly revealed in the "now."

Most of the homes showing in the historical view were built in the first years of the 20th century, Green Lake's boom years. It is a double block extending between Latona and Sunnyside streets. With three exceptions, these homes survive, although most have had lots of changes. For instance, the big house on the left at 7438 E. Green Lake Way N. looks nearly new, though built in 1908. The missing homes have been replaced with a row of three nondescript, multi-unit boxes. For these, the park landscape is an effective screen.

One of Green Lake's principal early developers, W.D. Wood, proposed to the city in the early 1890s that it acquire the lake's waterfront for a surrounding park. Had the city followed Wood's advice, there would have been no need to lower the lake and dry up the stream that ran from its east side to Lake Washington. Nor of course would the homes we see here have been built on park land.

Wood was later elected mayor of Seattle in time to resign and join the Yukon gold rush in 1897.

Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.