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Overview

In 2023, only the bell remained of the City of Ballard's City Hall, but for eight years between 1899 and 1907, it functioned as the center of the town's government. Ballard was annexed into the city of Seattle in 1907. A brick structure, the city hall stood until a powerful earthquake in 1965 undermined its structural integrity. It was demolished in 1965.

Building History

This simplified, Richardsonian Romanesque, three-story building served as the Municipality of Ballard's City Hall until the its annexation into the City of Seattle in 1907. As the center of Ballard City Government, the building contained city offices, the jail, meeting rooms, and a fire department hose company. A fraternal hall banquet hall and ballroom composed the third floor. After 1907, the building became a local precinct house.

Demolition

The building was structurally damaged by large earthquakes in 1949 and 1965. It was demolished in 1965. The city hall's fire bell (from its original belfrey) was officially placed in a newly constructed memorial tower on 04/11/1976. (It stands in Marvin's Garden Park at the corner of 22nd Avenue NW and Ballard Avenue.) Because of Ballard's strong Scandinavian heritage, King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden attended this 1976 dedication of the bell tower and the surrounding Ballard Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. He read a proclamation dedicating the bell tower and the neighborhood's register inclusion.

PCAD id: 6330