Historic Status Nomination for Brewery District Shops & Stables Building

We've written a couple times recently about possible plans to begin significant development in Tacoma's Brewery District, plans involving the City Stables building, among others. Interested parties have been talking for a while now about getting the Stables added to the Register of Historic Places. Now it looks like that's moving forward, with an application submitted to Tacoma's Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The building has a place in Tacoma's history, having been home to municipal operations of various sorts for all of its 100 years. It has obviously seen some additions and upgrades to keep it functional, but a lot of the original lines clearly remain.

The Tacoma Municipal Barn, commonly known as the “City Shops and Stables,” was designed by City Engineer Wilbur C. Raleigh as a stable building to house city-owned horses and wagons, street maintenance operations, and facilities for other tasks (including carpentry, painting, and machining – and broom making). Opened in 1910, it has continuously housed city operations since. The Municipal Barn embodies the transitional period between horse-dominated transportation and automobiles, and is a rare example of a Craftsman style concrete building.

The nomination for inclusion on the Historic Places list was submitted on behalf of Historic Tacoma. Inclusion on the register would mean that future changes to the exterior of the property would require approval by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, as would demolition, and any future renovations might qualify for a special property tax incentive. We haven't heard whether the potential developers support the nomination. 

The Landmarks Preservation Commission will review the nomination at its meeting this Wednesday. If the building meets criteria for inclusion on the historic register, a public hearing on the nomination will be scheduled. Read more about the property in this week's LPC meeting packet (pdf).