Mapping Historic Ballard: Shingletown to Tomorrow
Project Background
With a Small and Simple grant from Seattle’s Department of
Neighborhoods, the Ballard Historical Society and its 100 volunteers hit the
streets of Ballard in 2016 to document what is ‘still historic’ in its
structures. They were looking for structures with minimal changes since their
construction.
The impetus for the project was to document Ballard’s
architectural history amid the rapid and widespread changes to building stock
now occurring through remodels and new development. Without this documentation,
valuable history in the form of built structures is being lost as Ballard
evolves in the 21st century.
With the launch of this on-line site the Mapping Historic
Ballard (MHB) project is now available in more forms than previously, and with
more content being added regularly. The interactive maps have been loaded with
specifics on 160 of the structures.
Creating the Survey
The term “small & simple” doesn’t do justice to the
efforts and products of this project. The project team, led by architect
Davidya Kasperzyk, worked with consultants and the volunteers to conduct a
survey of existing pre-1960 buildings north of 58th NW from the water’s edge on
the west to 8th Avenue NW on the east, and up to NW 85th (north
edge). Parcel by parcel, volunteers used mobile data collection to document and
evaluate each structure, photographing each building, noting exceptional trees
and completing information on its architecture and building materials.
All volunteers received training in historic preservation
and research prior to hitting the streets with the mobile survey app. Even
before volunteers began the street survey, existing historical information was
loaded into the Geographic Information System (GIS) app, using King County
property data. Historical maps have been loaded onto this website so that in
addition to looking at what is standing now, the viewer can “rollover” to see
what the site looked like in an earlier map and two earlier surveys (1904,
1937, 1996).
After the street survey was completed, all of the data was
analyzed and sorted by decade, and architectural style and integrity. The GIS
consultant created interactive maps and the project moved onto its next stage,
selecting representative structures within the architectural styles common in
the history of Ballard. Out of 7000 structures mapped, some 650+ were
identified as “vintage,” or fairly unchanged. Out of the 650+, some 160
structures were found to have the most historical significance and/or
architectural integrity. Researchers then wrote detailed historical summaries
and architectural descriptions for each of the ‘select’ properties. In June
2016 in a presentation at the Sunset Hill Community Center, the public was
invited to see the first products, in a slideshow and with individual property
summaries. Since that time the data has been further refined, and every effort
has been made to upgrade photographs and information as it has become
available. The work goes on!
Want even more background?
Mapping Historic Ballard is an ongoing community effort to
document the rich history of Ballard architecture and provide guidance for
preservation of that architectural heritage. The Historic Resource Inventory
and related static and web based GIS maps with historic and contemporary data
describing homes and other buildings from the many eras of Ballard development
is just part of this website..
http://ballardhistory.org/volunteer-for-mapping/
http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/2015/11/19/news/bhs-project-map-historic-ballard-launches
https://www.king5.com/video/news/local/seattle/ballard-neighbors-photograph-historic-homes/281-2218852
Related:
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/teardown-town-1500-small-houses-replaced-by-giants-since-2012/
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