Crystal Pool: A Unique Part Of Our Past

I AM reminded of the story of the blind men who grab hold of different parts of an elephant and try to describe the beast. The owners of Bethel Temple and its future developers argue that the Crystal Pool at Second Avenue and Lenora Street has undergone a number of significant alterations that call into question its integrity and historic value.

Others find that, despite these alterations, all the clues to its former use are there to be seen and experienced - the terra cotta facades, the bleachers, the tile pool edging, the wooden floors and doors leading to the dressing rooms, the original chandelier that hung in the entry rotunda, and the structural columns and spans that are boxed in and hidden but intact. The original boiler equipment, manufactured by "The Natatorium Company," and the original ventilating system, manufactured by Western Blower Company of Seattle, are also intact.

On Nov. 17, the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board was prevented from discussing the building's integrity or its ability to convey its significance because Bethel Christian Ministries, the owner, withdrew it from landmarks consideration at a designation hearing. Ironically, they had nominated the building only a few weeks earlier.

But Crystal Pool deserves discussion because it is a significant piece of public history that belongs to all of us who reside in Seattle. The building's polychrome terra cotta facades are decorated with dolphins and tridents that were visual clues to the building's purpose. Its structure was developed to allow for uninterrupted open space; enormous arched steel trusses supporting a glass roof spanned the pool. Surrounding the pool were tiers of seats for as many as 1,500 spectators. It had salt water piped direct from Elliott Bay, heated, filtered, and chlorinated.

The pool was a major investment by C.D. Stimson, one of the city's prominent businessmen, in providing Seattle with a first-class recreational facility that was a model of its type. For its architect, B. Marcus Priteca, it and the Coliseum Theatre, designed at the same time, were prototypes for significant entertainment palaces for Alexander Pantages plus the Warner and Orpheum theater chains.

There may be disagreements over the building's integrity at this point in time, but there can be no question that it has the ability to convey its significance, and that all the clues to its original use are in place, even with alterations, with the exception of its entrance rotunda. Even in that case, one can climb stairs in the bleachers leading to corridors that led into the dome of the rotunda.

We are in a particularly active growth period that will continue to affect existing buildings that were important in shaping downtown and neighborhood character. The Landmarks process is not going to solve those problems. Nor should it be the place for it.

The city really needs to stand behind and support the cultural resources it discusses in the Comprehensive Plan with some concrete efforts. It gives lip service to the importance of historic preservation and historic-built resources in defining and enlivening communities and encourages neighborhoods to do strategic planning that may include these. But it also encourages development that endangers the same resources that it should be protecting - not through the landmark process, but by a more careful and long-sighted approach to development.

Not every building should be a landmark, but many are certainly significant to the community and should be protected simply because they are valuable physical definers of place. Fortunately, developers of projects that affect potentially eligible properties do have to bring these properties before the board for review.

Why does the Crystal Pool hold importance to the city? In previous Seattle Landmarks Board hearings, it has been possible to bring in examples of other buildings of a particular type that still exist in the city as a basis for comparison. We cannot do that with the Crystal Pool for the simple reason that it is unique in Seattle. This kind of pool was a popular recreational feature in any major city early in the century.

The Crystal, because of its size, its filtered saltwater and its convenient downtown location, became one of the most popular spots in the city. While it has not operated since the 1940s, it still evokes vivid memories for generations of senior Seattle residents. Consequently, its social and cultural value is equally as important as its architectural presence.

Since the proposed development would preserve only the outer walls, the integrity of building and interior space, which is integrally related, will be totally lost. For comparison - and to think about how such a building could be refurbished to allow experience of its interior spaces - one can visit the Crystal Pool in Victoria, B.C.

Because it is unique, because there are no others like it anywhere in the Seattle area that we know of, its integrity and continuing use are less an issue than the fact that it exists to tell its story. Current zoning may allow commercial and multifamily housing of many floors on the site. But it is also possible to redevelop Crystal Pool in the same way as developers in Spokane recently redeveloped their historic downtown steam plant into meeting space and retail space. The project gives visitors an opportunity to experience and understand the workings of this important industrial building, including its coal bins, chimney stacks, and steam-generating equipment.

For that matter, The Coliseum Theatre, despite the replacement of its rotunda and some major alterations to its interior, was designated a Seattle landmark in its entirety. Banana Republic architects worked with the Landmarks Board to develop a different use for it while preserving its ceiling, balcony and proscenium with an eye to a potential return to its original use.

In adaptive reuse terms, the Crystal Pool is a gem of an opportunity waiting to happen - not an obsolete and useless building sitting on a million dollars of developable real estate. ------------------------------- Lawrence Kreisman is program director of Historic Seattle and director of the Viewpoints tour program for the Seattle Architectural Foundation. He serves as historian on the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board and is author of "Made to Last: Historic Preservation in Seattle and King County."