Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Rehabilitated old buildings, Part 2

A couple weeks ago, I posted some links to photos showing the progress of urban revitalization in downtown Tacoma. Here's another entry in that series, but I'll just show a few photos here rather than give you the links.

This is the Waddell Building in downtown Tacoma. It was built in 1890, although unfortunately I can't seem to find any photos of it prior to the 1970's. These first three photos are from the Tacoma Public Library archives:




Here's a closer view of the building's front in about 1979:



And here's a shot from a corner angle:



Needless to say, downtown Tacoma was pretty seedy in the 1970's and 1980's. But that's the great thing about urban revitalization: when it's done well, entire neighborhoods and cities get turned around. Today the Waddell Building houses one of Tacoma's nicest restaurants, the Pacific Grill. The first two photos are from Flikr, the third is a marketing photo by the restaurant:










Inside the building, they make very good use of the old  exposed brick:



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11 comments:

  1. TMGiesonJuly 17, 2012 at 1:44 PM

    Wow! Incredible photos! I love preserved buildings. We lived in a 1921 home in Jacksonville, FL and redid almost every room and the outside, too. It was a blast and we were broke when we were finished! We found old photos of our home in the neighborhood assoc. archives and had so much fun comparing our home in 1921 to the present. Did you find these photos above online or did you scan them from the library?

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    1. Dan HardebeckJuly 17, 2012 at 9:40 PM

      Thankfully the library has their archives online, so I took the photos from there. I lived in an old house like that about 10 years ago, but I simply did not have the patience or the money to put into it! Kudos to you for sticking with a complete remodel.

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  2. JSevyJuly 17, 2012 at 4:14 PM

    I definitely don't know much about this sort of thing, but the refurbished buildings look phenomenal. I love when old building can be restored to better than original.

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    1. Dan HardebeckJuly 17, 2012 at 9:53 PM

      I sure didn't know much about this either before I moved to this neighborhood, but it's been fun looking up old pics of all the buildings around where I live.

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  3. VanessaJuly 17, 2012 at 5:26 PM

    It makes me so sad to see old historic buildings falling tho the ground in disprepair. Tacoma's downtown buildings is a story with a happy ending!

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    1. Dan HardebeckJuly 17, 2012 at 9:54 PM

      Some have a happy ending, but there are others that are not so happy. They just tore down a building last week from 1930 - I guess it just couldn't be saved.

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  4. UnknownJuly 17, 2012 at 6:55 PM

    These are great pictures - I really like seeing the change in the neighborhood across time.

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  5. AnonymousJuly 17, 2012 at 8:26 PM

    Wow!! What an amazing difference! I have an entire book on this type of development and rehabilitations here in Houston, and I love looking at it and then realizing what I drive by everyday during my commute. --danicamarble

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    1. Dan HardebeckJuly 17, 2012 at 9:52 PM

      I've heard Houston has gone through some pretty great urban renewal as well!

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  6. JodiJuly 19, 2012 at 2:41 PM

    Awesome! Is the food as good as the building looks?

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  7. Dan HardebeckJuly 20, 2012 at 1:51 PM

    The food is REALLY good, but pricey.

    http://www.pacificgrilltacoma.com/images/stories/menus/Dinner.pdf

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