ands of people’s personal histories as they lived and worked on First Hill. Harborview Hall represents a place in time when, under the leadership of Elizabeth Sterling Soule, UW established the School of Nursing in the 1930s as one of the best nursing programs in the nation, a ranking that continues today. The teaching model was a first on the West Coast and, nationally, second only to Yale University. Over a period of 30 years the building was home to thousands of nursing students, where they studied, wrote a popular weekly newsletter, staged annual plays and attended a weekly tea hosted by their house mother. In the late 1940s history was made when the first African Americans were enrolled in the nursing program, lived at Harborview Hall and worked at Harborview Hospital
Harborview Hall at a Crossroads
King County owns Harborview Medical Center, which is operated by the University of Washington under the direction of a county-appointed Board of Trustees. For many years the Medical Center has planned to demolish Harborview Hall. Years ago, that may have made economic sense, but several factors have changed:
• Increased awareness of the environmental cost if the building is demolished
• Eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places allows for the use of federal tax credits.
• A rehabilitated Harborview Hall will provide well over 100,000 square feet of usable space in an area expected to experience strong growth rates for the foreseeable future.
• Rehabilitation creates more local labor jobs than new construction and produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions. King County, the UW, and the Harborview Board have put demolition plans on hold while King County Executive Dow Constantine works with a developer to further explore the costs and benefits of preservation. Working with a developer, King County is conducting financial and technical analysis to ensure the project will be self-sustaining from lease revenue. Rehabilitation of Harborview Hall would include seismic retrofits, updates for plumbing, heating, and electrical systems, preservation of the building’s architectural features and development of a plan to create open space on the site.
