Sammamish Historic Society stands up for the Freed House
June 15, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
New June 15, 8:39 p.m.
Virginia Kuhn looked longingly at the old growth timber building, bolstered by cement blocks, surrounded by a bent metal fence, the paint chipping more every year.
She said she remembered seeing it for the first time in 1985, when she and her husband were driving into the city. The house was on the Freed farmstead, its kitchen and porch still intact at that time – both were lopped off when it moved to its present location on 212th Avenue near Southeast 20th Street. A barn and 4,000 square-foot chicken coop were also on the farmstead, and were subsequently discarded.What struck Kuhn immediately about the house was its elegance, she said.
“It caught my attention. I’ve always had an interest in old buildings and history,” Kuhn said.
The 114-year-old building is stuck in limbo, with some city council members saying they fear that relocating and renovating it would create a “black hole” of city tax dollar spending. On the other side is a slate of defenders including Kuhn, the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce, and City Councilwoman Michele Pettiti, who have been vocal in their support of preserving the house.
“We should save this. It’s important,” Kuhn said.
Kuhn recalled visiting her great grandmother’s home as a 2-year-old girl in Alliance, Ohio, a two-story house on a two-acre property.
“That began a long-time love affair with old buildings,” she said.
The Freed House evokes a sense of nostalgia for Kuhn, who says the building has value to all members of the community as a marker of the area’s identity and history.
In an effort to save the Freed House from being sold or torn down, Kuhn founded the Sammamish Heritage Society in 1999. The building is the reason Sammamish has a historical society, she said.
Her goal had been to salvage the entire Freed farmstead, which did not happen, but at least the building was saved – or so she thought.
At the June 9 meeting, City Councilwomen Kathy Huckabay and Nancy Whitten voiced strong reluctance to vote in favor of moving the house unless other parties step forward and commit non-taxpayer funding to the project.
Some images courtesy Sammamish Heritage Society.
City Councilman Mark Cross called into question spending money on the Freed House relocation as early as April, saying his priority was to find funding for establishing a teen recreation center in the city. In spite of pleas from Kuhn and others, Cross has not backed away from his original line of reasoning.
“This would take a lot of energy,” Cross said at the June 9 City Council meeting. He added that the council should not make a decision about the Freed House in isolation – it should consider how funding the house would impact other projects.
“The future is leaner each year. I want to make sure that we’re headed toward a teen center,” Cross said.
The City Council will vote on the Freed House and the rest of the lower Sammamish Commons Park project at 6:30 p.m. June 16 at City Hall.
Future uses of the Freed House
City Councilwoman Kathy Huckabay has repeatedly questioned the rationale of saving the historic Freed House if the city does not know who would use the building and how.
But some individuals have answered Huckabay’s call, saying they would commit their time and money to saving the building.
Joe McConnell, a former member of the Arts Commission, sent the City Council a letter offering to lead a group of volunteers to clean up and restore the Freed House.
City Councilwoman Nancy Whitten said she would donate a month’s* worth of her City Council salary — $850 – to the fundraising effort. Parks and Recreation Commissioner Hank Klein also said he would donate to the cause, too.
As for potential uses, Helen Baxter, co-president of the Sammamish Heritage Society, addressed the City Council June 2, proposing a variety of options. She suggested turning the house into a small museum, an exhibition space for local artists, a small café or bakery, a professional office space or a venue for special celebrations such as weddings.
Baxter said the building could also be an educational space for local school children to take field trips and learn about the history of their city.
She pointed out that both the Sammamish Heritage Society and the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce have told the council they would use the building.
Huckabay addressed the issue again at the June 9 City Council meeting, saying she wanted a more definite commitment from funding sources other than the city. Huckabay said private residents or nonprofits would need to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, something close to the $238,000 the city is scheduled to commit as part of the Sammamish Commons Park improvements this summer.
“I’m not interested in moving it unless we have some pledges first,” she said. “Until we see some sort of a plan, along with some real financial pledges from the community, I can’t vote in favor of moving it.”
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
*This version corrects the amount of salary that Whitten has pledged.
Comments
Got something to say?
Before you comment, please note:
- These comments are moderated.
- Comments should be relevant to the topic at hand and contribute to its discussion.
- Personal attacks and/or excessive profanity will not be tolerated and such comments will not be approved.
- This is not your personal chat room or forum, so please stay on topic.
