Building History

A Seattle Times article of 12/12/1909 outlined expectations for the new sanitarium: "Under the direction of John C. Olmsted, the noted landscape architect of Brookline, Mass., J.S. Warner of the firm of Bigger & Warner architects, yesterday completed plans designating the location of buildings which will grace the eighty-acre tract on the east side of Lake Washington acquired Thursday afternoon by the Antituberculosis League of King County. Warner tomorrow will begin the work of designing the buildings upon which active construction work will be started shortly following Button Day, Saturday, December 18, when thousands of dollars are expected to be raised by the league through the sale of buttons. The plans of the league at present contemplate the construction of only four buildings in the near future, but in drafting plans for the general arrangement of the various buildings which will make up the institution Olmsted and Warner have been careful to take into consideration the fact that additions will be made from year to year as the sanitarium grows. The tract acquired--considered by everyone familiar with its topography an ideal one for the purpose to which it will be devoted--embraces eighty acres flanked on the north and west by county roads. For the most part the buildings will be grouped at the north end. In the center will be administration building, a two-story frame structure in which will be the administrative offices and the general dining room and kitchen. On the north side of this building will be two lean-to frame structures one story each in height and about 100 feet long by 25 feet in width, which will be the men's dormitories. On the south side will be a dormitory of women identical in every respect with those used by men patients. These will be the only buildings erected at first, as they will offer sufficient accommodation to the sixty patients the league so far has been guaranteed. The dormitories probably will present a rustic appearance. The ends and rear wall of each will be tightly boarded up, but the front will be left open except for posts which will support canvas curtains when weather conditions are unfavorable. The middle of each dormitory will be cut into a large general lounging room, back of which will be located baths and dietic kitchens. In time, many other dormitories will be added and a farmhouse and superintendent's residence will follow. A heat and power plant and a cow barn in all probability will be constructed along with the first buildings. The farming phase will be strongly emphasized, as it is the intention of the league to operated at the southeast corner of the tract a farm where will be produced vegetables, butter and eggs for the patients. In front of the administration building there will be recreation grounds, it being the desire of the league to stimulate in the patients interest in outdoor sports. Every department of the institution will be connected by a network of roads and paths, the plans outlined yesterday calling for the projection of a road extending diagonally from the northwest to the southwest corners of the tract, upon which the administration buildings and the first dormitories will face." (See "Architect Draft Sanitarium Plans," Seattle Sunday Times, 12/12/1909, p. 31.)

A sanitarium under the auspices of the Antituberculosis League of King County tuberculosis sanitarium was never constructed for a site on the east side of Lake Washington, but one was completed in Shoreline, WA, by 1911. (See Paula Becker, "Influential citizens found the Anti-Tuberculosis League of King County on February 15, 1909," HistoryLink.org, 07/29/2002, accessed 05/06/2026.)

PCAD id: 25989