The Landmarks Preservation Board is set to consider whether the Liberty Bank building at 2320 E. Union merits landmark status. The meeting will take place in February.
Now Key Bank, the application cites the building as the “first banking institution for African Americans in the Pacific Northwest region.”
The application lists other, related reasons why the building should receive the designation:
This building is a worthy historical landmark in Seattle for a number of reasons, notably:
1. It opened as the FIRST and ONLY African American bank in the Pacific Northwest region of the United Sates;
2. Its founders included a number of people of historic note, and it was designed by one of America’s few well known African American architects, Mel Streeter (1931– 2006);
3. Its design is reflective of the culture that characterized Seattle’s predominantly African American Central Area in the 1960s, and is one of the few remaining high quality examples of this type of utilitarian urban blue-collar architecture left in the neighborhood and
4. The changing demographics of Seattle’s Central District, without protection of the neighborhood’s historical landmarks, portends an erasure of a rich cultural past and heritage created by Seattle’s African American community.
The nomination will be considered at a public meeting on Wednesday, February 5 at 3:30 p.m. in the Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 5th Avenue, 17th Floor in Room 1756. The public is invited to attend the meeting and make comments. Written comments should be received by the Landmarks Preservation Board by 5:00 p.m. on February 4 at the following address: Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, P.O. Box 94649, Seattle WA, 98124-4649.
You can read the full text of the application here.