An unusual landmark
No, this has nothing to do with that boarded up building with the unique swooping roofline that you won’t see much longer at the corner of 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest Market Street.
Exactly how to preserve a landmark comprised mainly of living plants could get complicated.
Landmark board members said the garden is an obvious landmark candidate because of its historical, cultural and architectural significance.
But they were concerned that the designation be worded in a way that means arboretum staff won’t need their approval every time a rotting tree is removed or new bulbs are planted. Landmark staff said they will work to come up with something.
The 3.5 acre garden is mainly the work of Juki Iida, a Japanese landscape architect who came over and worked with Seattle’s William Yorozu, a Japanese-American general contractor.
It was the first large-scale post WW-II Japanese Garden completed in the U.S.
On the garden’s opening day in 1959, everyone who wore a kimono got in free.
