Seattle Landmarks: Bethany Presbyterian Church (1930)

HistoryLink.org Essay 3213 : Printer-Friendly Format

Address: 1818 Queen Anne Avenue N, Seattle. The Bethany Presbyterian Church is the third home for this congregation which began in 1888. The English Gothic style building has an L shape, with the nave oriented toward the street. The structure partially encloses a grass courtyard.

The tower and spire are significant elements, rising to 80 feet. The church was designed by James Hay and was completed in 1930. In the 1960s, Durham, Anderson and Fried designed an addition that fit well with the original structure.

In 1888, the congregation formed as the Second Presbyterian Church out of the First Presbyterian Church. Their first home, in 1889, was on the future site of the Seattle Center. In 1907, they occupied a second church at 1st Avenue N and N Roy Street.

Because the church represented a unique architectural style and because of its prominence in the neighborhood, the city council designated it a Seattle Landmark on April 21, 1986.

Sources:
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Landmarks Preservation Board, 700 Third Avenue, 4th Floor, Seattle, Washington; Lawrence Kreisman, Made to Last: Historic Preservation in Seattle and King County, (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999), 53.

By Dave Wilma, April 17, 2001

This file made possible by:
The SCHOONER Project:
The Hon. Jan Drago
Seattle City Council
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Queen Anne Hill, Seattle, 2001
Photo by David Wilma