photo by Flickr user manthropologist

The globe on top of the Seattle P-I offices was a hot topic earlier this year. When it was announced that the newspaper would be shutting down, it seemed like more people were concerned about the future of the globe than of the newspaper itself. In the end the P-I decided to live on as a web-only publication and keep its headquarters, so the globe was granted a reprieve. But that’s not necessarily the end of the story. The new P-I could still end up failing at its new mission, or decide to move into offices with lower overhead, and the globe’s fate would suddenly be right back where it was in February.

That’s why the globe has been added to the 2009 list of the state’s Most Endangered Historic Properties, put out by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. Being on a list like this doesn’t really mean much. I can think of a few structures on Nevada’s list that are gone regardless. But it raises awareness and keeps the conversation going, and at the very least it lets the parent company of the P-I know that we the people like having the globe around, and would appreciate if they put some effort into making it stay around.

So who knows. The globe could be on top of that building for 20 more years, or it could be scrapped next week, or it could be donated to MOHAI sometime in the next 2-5 years. It’s all possible, but hopefully they get the message that Option #2 is the one we don’t want.

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