Built 1940–1942 Area 5,750 m² Architect B. Marcus Priteca | NRHP Reference # 09000506 Added to NRHP 8 July 2009 | |
 | ||
Location 860 Terry Avenue North, Seattle, Washington Architectural styles Art Deco, Streamline Moderne Similar Museum of History & Industry, Lake Union Park, Wawona, Northwest Seaport, Center for Wooden Boats | ||
The Naval Reserve Armory in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington "is a massive concrete building exhibiting restrained Moderne and Art Deco features". It was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1941–1942, and "served as an Advanced Naval Training School" during World War II. The main interior feature is a 133 x 100-foot (30 m) drill hall which was used in Naval Reserve training of thousands of young recruits for service in the war. It is significant for its association with mass mobilization during the World War, for association with Depression-era work relief, and more.
Map of Naval Reserve Armory, 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
The building was designed by Seattle architect William R. Grant and by B. Marcus Priteca, with Priteca apparently in the lead position. Its construction was promoted by a citizens committee, then was delayed by fears it would be a white elephant, but eventually politicians endorsed and promoted the project, and it secured a $99,997 WPA grant. Later a $69,983 increase was granted, and the project was also funded by $6,399 from the State of Washington and $14,204 from, perhaps uncharacteristically, the University of Washington.
It cost $500,000 to construct the building. It was dedicated on July 4, 1942, a "grim summer" point during the war, at a ceremony with honored guest Mrs. Peter Barber, whose three sons had been killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The armory was decommissioned after the war, but got renovation funding in 1946. It was disestablished in 1998. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on July 8, 2009 and the listing was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of July 17, 2009. In 2009, the building is in good condition.
In 2012, the armory underwent a major renovation and is now home to Seattle's Museum of History and Industry It is located in what is now the Lake Union Park, at the south end of Lake Union, a lake connected to the Puget Sound by the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1917. An earlier use of the site was for the Eastern Mill, a sawmill.