The Seattlest has a visual puzzle this week, courtesy of our old friend RoKet and the Seattle Municipal Archives: a photo of Wallingford taken sometime around 1929, but from where? The angle suggests from a height, but an airplane doesn’t seem likely. Go on over, read what RoKet has to say, then speculate on where you think it was taken from.
(Photo from the Seattle Municipal Archives)
It actually says an estimate of 1925 on the municipal archives. According to Rob’s Flickr tag, the Brooklyn Laundry was on 34th above of what is now Gasworks and in between Densmore and Wallingford Looking up the hill from there, I don’t see Hamilton International, which was built in 1927, so unless it’s there and I’m missing it, would have to be before that.
Photo could be from up the hill on Fulton, (that street you’d hit if you went straight after passing over Fremont Bridge) with a zoom lens. (I checked, they existed then. 🙂 )
Is that Good Shepherd Center in the upper left corner (1906)?
Overexposed tank structure in lower right is at the Gas Works, began operation in 1906.
Cannot find Interlake School (1904 + 1908 addition) along Wallingford Ave. Doesn’t Wallingford Ave run diagonally up to the left from the right side of the Brooklyn Laundry in the foreground?
Hamilton would be to the left of Interlake School if the photo was after 1927.
Thanks for passing on the info request, Jordan!
@Chris and greg, did you see the notes I left on the flickr photo? When I was immersed in this photo I thought I saw Interlake in the middle right. I’m going to take another shot at dating it this weekend, using your feedback and the comments on the photo.
I posted another Wallingford shot this week, http://seattlest.com/2011/01/31/retake_lake_union_indoors_and_afloa.php .
I think the reason there’s no sign of Hamilton is because it’s out of the shot – likely just a touch to the left.
We’re looking pretty much right on to the 45-degree coast that’s just to the west of Gasworks park – we’re looking close to NE. Good Shepherd is visible in the photo almost at the extreme left edge. From a vantage point E of Aurora on Queen Anne (ie on the hill or from the air over the ship canal), Hamilton is going to appear to the left of Good Shepherd, and since Good Shepherd is at the left edge of the shot, Hamilton’s not going to show up.
Or, another way of looking at it: seems the left edge of this is about where Stone Way meets the lake (I think it might actually be about a block or so to the East of there) – draw a line on a map that connects that with good Shepherd – that represents the left edge of the field of view. Hamilton seems to be just to the left of that line.