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  • Ellen Mirro

Edmonds Historic Resource Survey 2011: background and methodology.

The Edmonds Landmark Commission was created in 2002, to allow the City to participate in the Washington State Certified Local Government Program. An initial survey of downtown and the “bowl” area was complete in 2005, and recently the City received a grant to complete another survey. The Johnson Partnership, was selected to complete the survey.

The objectives of the survey were to expand the surveyed area, to re-examine some previously surveyed areas, to enter the survey data into the State’s historic property database, and finally to share this information with the Commission.

The survey was intended as a “windshield” level survey. That means we only looked at properties within the survey area from the public right of way and did not extensively research their histories.

For a property to be identified as historic they were required to meet reasonable standards of physical integrity and significance as defined by the National Park Service.

Archival evidence was also used if readily accessible. The two photos below illustrate the contrast between an archival photo in the Edmonds Historic District collection on the right, while on the left is the current photo from our survey.

Written on the back of the archive photo: “This house was originally located on a five-acre tract on 5th Avenue S. owned by Phoebe Reynolds. It was moved to its present location onto property deeded to Reuben and Jean Roscoe by C.T. Roscoe. It has had many owners over the years until now.”

We started survey reconnaissance on June 1, and finished the field work on June 17. Starting from the southeast and moving northward and then westward, approximately 172 miles were covered in the survey. All 235 properties previously identified by the Commission were reviewed. 122 additional resources were identified as historic during our survey. Most are residential properties, but there are some commercial properties, and one school that is over 50 years old.

We then entered all survey data and photographs of the surveyed properties on the State’s historic resources database. You can access the survey results by going to the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation’s web site. Just click on “START WISAARD.”


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