University Unitarian Church was fenced off for renovations as of July 2018. The congregation moved back into their building in November 2019.  Photo by Valarie.

In 2018-2019 the University Unitarian Church congregation vacated their building so that it could be renovated.  The congregation met elsewhere while the work was done on the UUC building located on 35th Ave NE at the southeast corner of NE 68th Street.   UUC resumed use of their building on November 17, 2019.

The following article is a history of how the University Unitarian Church came to its present location in Wedgwood in 1959.

The first Unitarian church in Seattle was founded in 1885 and met in a downtown location.  The migration of the church to the University District and then to the Wedgwood neighborhood, parallels the historical lines of growth of northeast Seattle.

Northeast Seattle acquired population more slowly than other areas of the city, beginning with a few scattered homestead claims in the 1870s and 1880s.  The enumeration district of the federal census of 1880 was called Lake Washington, and included the entire north-of-Lake Union area from Phinney Ridge all the way over to Lake Washington.   The white settlers of northeast Seattle in those early years did not establish any centers of population, so only “Lake Washington district” was used as an identifying name.   By 1890 two “villages” had been established and had post offices: the sawmill Town of Yesler (present site of Laurelhurst) and Pontiac, site of a brick factory, at Sand Point around NE 70th Street.

The emblem of the AYP (1909) depicted figures representing the Pacific slope (right), the Orient (left) and Alaska (center.) This prize-winning logo was submitted by photographer Adelaide Hanscom, who came to Seattle after her San Francisco studio was destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906.

In 1895 the University of Washington moved from downtown to its present location in northeast Seattle.  Even though the school was moved to this much larger plot of land, little development of the university campus was done.  The university remained small and struggling until it got a big boost when it was chosen as the site of a world’s fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (the AYPE).

The AYP Exposition opens up northeast Seattle

In preparation for the AYPE which opened in 1909, a plan was laid out for the UW campus and more buildings were built.  Intense infrastructure improvements of the entire surrounding area were undertaken so that both tourists and locals could easily travel to and from the fairgrounds.   University District streets were paved for the first time, electricity put in and trolley lines extended from downtown Seattle out to the AYPE on the UW campus.   It was at this time that the University District acquired its name and identity; it has previously been known by its plat name of the village of Brooklyn.

As soon as the campus of the University of Washington was chosen as the site of the AYPE, northeast Seattle really began to grow and develop.   A land rush took place radiating out from the University District as real estate developers began building houses in nearby areas such as Ravenna, Roosevelt and Laurelhurst.  Land plats with AYPE-related names were filed, such as Exposition Heights (east of today’s Union Bay Place.)  There was even a tract of land named Wilson’s Exposition Heights all the way out at NE 105th Street on 35th Ave NE – a bit far to be AYPE-related, but the landowner must have thought the name would attract buyers.

A 1938 Seattle Engineering Department map of the city showing the annexations dates of different neighborhoods. A “jog” can be seen at the northeast corner where the City Limits were at NE 65th Street as of 1910. Map from the Seattle Municipal Archives Record Series 2616-03.

In 1910, after the AYP Exposition, there were enough people living in the University, Ravenna and Laurelhurst areas to bring these neighborhoods into the boundaries of the City of Seattle, as shown on the city map at right.   But to the northeast of NE 65th Street in today’s Wedgwood, Sand Point and Lake City, the population was still so sparse that it wasn’t until 1943 these northeast Seattle areas started to become part of the city.

The Unitarian Church in Seattle

At the time of the AYPE in 1909, members of the downtown Seattle First Unitarian Church had already begun migrating to live in the University District.  The Unitarian church creed was unique among churches in that it did not specify a belief system, but advocated the pursuit of truth.  Unitarian church members tended to be well-educated, intellectual, politically liberal and in the forefront of social movements, and it was only natural for them to gravitate towards the social atmosphere of a university.

In November 1912 an organizing group in the University District met to discuss establishing a Unitarian program, because they were not satisfied to attend any of the more traditional churches.  This organizing group which contained women as some of the leaders was well aware of the difficulties of travelling by streetcar with all of their children to the downtown Unitarian church.  The women wanted to have their own Sunday school program for their children, somewhere close by in the University District.  By December 1912 a Sunday school had been set up using space at the University District Masonic Temple.

The Unitarian Church is established in the University District

With great rapidity of organization, in January 1913 the University Unitarian Church (UUC) was established and began holding Sunday morning church services.  The group received enthusiastic support from the Unitarian Church central office in Boston.   The central headquarters helped in arranging to call a minister, and sent continual financial support to UUC, from $800 to $1200 every year.  The first Board of Trustees of UUC was comprised of three men and two women, expressing the Unitarian church social practice of equality.  The concept of “fair gender ratios” is still practiced today in UUC leadership.

The University Unitarian Church’s first location was in this brick chapel (1916) on NE 47th Street between NE 15th and 16th Avenues NE, next-door to University Presbyterian Church.  The site is now owned by University Presbyterian Church and is landmarked for historic preservation.  Photo by Valarie.

While never very large (average Sunday attendance was forty people) the UUC program developed strongly in the period of 1913 to 1915.  The Unitarian home office in Boston purchased a site for UUC, and UUC began fundraising to build its own church building.  The site was on NE 47th Street at the southwest corner of 16th Ave NE, just one street over from 17th which was the main boulevard of “Greek Row” fraternities.

UUC chose a well-known Seattle architect, Ellsworth Storey, who designed a brick chapel for UUC in restrained “collegiate Gothic” style in harmony with the University of Washington campus and other buildings in the District (including fraternities and other churches.)  The building’s total cost was $5,464 of which the Unitarian home office in Boston contributed $2,500.

With the incredible rapidity which characterized UUC’s start-up years, the group moved into the new building in January 1916.   UUC had begun in 1913 with an organizing core of seven families and in only three years’ time had joined the community of established churches with their own building.

The path of UUC was not completely smooth, however, even though they had their own building.  In 1917 a small roofed-gate structure, called a lychgate, was added to the church property.  A lychgate is part of a typical English churchyard and marks a walkway or courtyard leading up to the church entrance.  UUC’s lychgate was designed by architect Ellsworth Storey with the cost underwritten by UUC members.  The lychgate was placed at the sidewalk to frame the entrance to the chapel at the corner of 16th Ave NE.  But unexpectedly some neighbors of the church objected to the structure as violating zoning regulations, and the issue was taken to court.

Eventually the lychgate dispute travelled all the way to the Washington Supreme Court, and UUC prevailed.   The lychgate at UUC came to symbolize the Unitarian’s right to exist as “out of the mainstream” but upholding principles of integrity and spiritual search.   Even today, the church newsletter is called The Gateway in reference to the struggle of those early years.

Pressures of crowding at the University District location

University Presbyterian Church at 4540 15th Ave NE grew to be one of the largest churches in Seattle in the 1950s.  Their building grew to take up most of the block where the Unitarian church was at the top right corner of this photo, not visible.

UUC suffered from the pressures of growth and development in the University District, which sometimes brought conflicts with neighboring property owners as in the lychgate dispute, and sometimes with other churches.

In the period of the 1940s and 1950s following the end of World War Two, almost all churches thrived with an infusion of young families with children.  UUC shared their block with the University Presbyterian Church, and as the attendance at each church swelled, there was competition for space.   University Presbyterian was one of the most successful churches in the District, and it grew to take up most of the block.  The sound of their powerful pipe organ disturbed the Sunday services at UUC.

Northeast Seattle’s car culture

Other pressures included the post-war change in transportation, when a majority of families began driving to church in cars instead of coming on foot or by bus/trolley.   In the 1950s UUC families, like others, were migrating out farther to the northeast into single-family neighborhoods like Wedgwood.  There was almost no public transportation available, so residents of northeast Seattle became “car people.”   They began driving to church just as they drove everywhere else, to work and to shopping.  People who drove into the University District to attend Sunday services at UUC had a hard time finding a place to park.  UUC did not have its own parking lot, as the idea of driving to church in a car had not even been thought of when the UUC built its building in the University District in 1915-1916.

Looking west on NE 47th Street we see the former University Unitarian Church building.  In the foreground, corner of 16th Ave NE, the lychgate has been removed for re-doing the courtyard and garden.  University Presbyterian Church, which owns the site, is doing the modifications of the landscaping as of July 2018.  Photo by Valarie.

University Unitarian moves to a new location in 1959

Because of increased attendance and the pressures of lack of space and parking, UUC began to study the idea of moving.   The study committee determined that UUC’s chapel in the University District could not be enlarged without destroying the character of the building.   It was found that rebuilding on site would not be adequate and would be more expensive than simply “starting over.”   For these reasons, in 1955 UUC purchased property at its present site, the southeast corner of NE 68th Street on 35th Ave NE, diagonally across the intersection from the Northeast Branch Library which had been built in 1954.

UUC’s last Sunday service in the University District was on March 1, 1959, and they met at their new NE 68th Street building the following week.   The UUC’s University District chapel was sold to the neighboring University Presbyterian Church.   The chapel is “landmarked” under Seattle’s historic preservation ordinance and will be preserved.

The University Unitarian Church building is an example of award-winning modernist architecture.  Photo by Valarie.

While not yet historically landmarked, UUC’s present building on NE 68th Street earned awards for architect Paul Hayden Kirk in 1959.   UUC’s building is considered to be one of the best expressions of the Pacific Northwest Modernism architectural movement.   The soaring façade along 35th Ave NE uses “rectilinear geometry” to draw the eye upward, suggesting man’s quest for spiritual knowledge.   The long expanses of vertical glass windows between the beams bring light into the interior and create a sense of indoor/outdoor continuity.

Awareness of the environment and a building’s relationship to its site is one of the principles of Northwest Modernism which Paul Hayden Kirk expressed in the design of UUC.   From an engineering standpoint the UUC building is a success, as well, because the exterior beams distribute the support of the building.

Renovations for the church’s sixtieth year

In July 2018 the University Unitarian Church began renovations and expansion.  The congregation moved out and met elsewhere during the construction period.  Photo by Valarie.

In the summer 2018 UUC completely moved out of their building in order to have renovations and expansion.  The congregation met at Meadowbrook Community Center, 10517 35th Ave NE, until they could move back into their building on November 17, 2019.  In 2019, UUC’s sixtieth year, the church will celebrate being back in their refreshed building.

In addition to expansion of their building, in 2019 University Unitarian Church also expanded their parking lot at the south end of the building.

UUC has fostered other congregations

UUC has the unusual distinction of having fostered two different Jewish congregations which later settled into other, permanent locations in Wedgwood.  Temple Beth Am had begun using space at the old University District site before the move, and the group moved to Wedgwood along with UUC.  The Beth Am congregation continued meeting at UUC on NE 68th Street until their own building on NE 80th Street & 25th Ave NE, north of Dahl Field, was completed in 1965.

Congregation Beth Shalom at 6800 35th Ave NE is in a building formerly owned by University Unitarian Church.  Photo by Valarie.

To the north of UUC across NE 68th Street there was a building which had a very short life of only eight years as View Ridge Brethren Church.   In 1963 the building was purchased by UUC and remodeled into classrooms with a social hall.  Since the building had become general-use and had no Christian religious symbols, it was suitable for use by another Jewish congregation which was starting up, Congregation Beth Shalom.

Congregation Beth Shalom purchased the building in 1973 and they have undertaken more than one remodeling since then.  This building is the only one in Wedgwood which has been so completely transformed from its original use, from Christian to Jewish expression.

Sources:

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition:  Washington’s First World’s Fair.  Alan J. Stein, Paula Becker and the HistoryLink Staff, 2009.

HistoryLink Essays: #505: Yesler Post Office (1890.)

#2217: Pontiac Brick & Tile Company (1889.)

#3280: Pontiac Post Office (1890.)

#3345: Seattle Neighborhoods: Laurelhurst Thumbnail History.

The Unitarian Church on Seventh Avenue in downtown Seattle as it appeared in 1908.

Reflective Light: the 75-year Story of the University Unitarian Church of Seattle, 1913 to 1988.  Alma L. Howard, 1988, UUC church library.

Seattle Municipal Archives Annexation Map and list of dates when neighborhoods came into the boundaries of the City of Seattle.

University Unitarian Church :  in revising its webpage in 2013, UUC unfortunately no longer included the pages of info about its history and architecture.  Some descriptions of the church building are available on the webpage of Docomomo-wewa in the essay “Modernism 101” and in the biography of Paul Hayden Kirk.