Feb 23, 2009 10:17 am
by Scott Schrantz
Ben Lukoff points to an article in the Seattle Times about Thomas Horton, a Queen Anne resident who has spent his time cataloging the stairways of Queen Anne Hill. He’s mapped 120 of them, and the map is for sale from the Queen Anne Historical Society.
I haven’t spent any time exploring Queen Anne, and I didn’t know there were so many stairways dotting the hill. I need to add that to my list of things to do in Seattle.
Yep. I grew up just a few blocks from one of Seattle’s stairways, the one in the E. Mercer right-of-way between 32nd and 33rd Aves. E. I remember wondering why 1) the street didn’t just go through (grade too steep) and 2) there wasn’t a corresponding one at the other end of the street between 36th Ave. E. and Hillside Dr. E. (still don’t know the answer to that one).
I am glad Seattle put stairs in the rights-of-way rather than letting them be absorbed by the neighboring property owners.