The Stairways of Queen Anne

Our May, 2008 program presenter will be Thomas Horton, local resident, who will delight us with a talk about our stairways and their history.

The following was written by Thomas Horton, Architectural Designer by profession and Urban Explorer by delectation.

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Hi, I’m Thomas Horton and I’ve lived on Queen Anne Hill for about seven years now (over by Kinnear Park about midway up the southwest slope).

Soon after I arrived in Queen Anne I began my exploration of the neighborhood’s great walking streets and quickly found some of the public stairs that are scattered about the hill. As my area of exploration increased, I found more public stairs: some were along main paths and others were secreted away. Some were covered with wild brambles while others had well manicured gardens on either side of them. Each stair was different and they all seemed to have their own interesting personalities. Over the course of a few years I explored the entire of Queen Anne Hill and I got to a point where I thought I knew where all the stairs were.

But sometimes heading home in the evenings I’d find a stair I’d never seen before. These ‘new’ stairs were paths that would take me up (or down) to another level of the Hill and to another section of the neighborhood I hadn’t seen before. It was like a life-sized game of Snakes and Ladders.

My interest in the public stairs grew until one day, on a whim, I set myself the task of systematically locating and mapping all the stairs on Queen Anne Hill. I pulled out a street map and carved the Hill into zones: The Heart of Stair Country, Stairs On the Nob, The Wilds, Nee Fremont, My Interbay Honeys. One by one I scoured each of these zones. Weekends in the spring and summer I went out with my notepad, my iPod, and a bottle of water - determined to track down all the stairs.

As I started to map and document the stairs I also developed questions about the public stairs; Who maintains them? When were they made? Why are they where they are? Why are there so many different construction styles? To answer these questions I did some research. After a few months I approached the Queen Anne Historical Society. The Society did not have much information to offer on the stairs but they were able to provide information about the neighborhood and other invaluable assistance with my project.

Flash forward to the present and the Queen Anne Historical Society is currently assisting me by hosting my presentation on the Public Stairs of Queen Anne Hilll. They have graciously offered time at their May meeting so I can share what I know about the stairs.

They are also assisting me with the creation of a travel sized ‘Map of the Public Stairs’. With this map, people can not only learn a little about the history of the stairs, but they could take a sunny day (or three) and hike around Queen Anne, trace out a path, and find a previously unknown corner of this great and interesting neighborhood. That’s our hope anyway.

So please come to the presentation and if you’re feeling particularly adventuresome, take an hour one day on your own to hunt out the public stairs of Queen Anne.

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A glimpse of some of our stairways:

Note: Current photos by Thomas Horton, historical photos courtesy of City of Seattle Archives