(UPDATED 4:27 PM with video)

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand. Above, Susan Melrose ceremonially presents Jack Menashe with first letter inviting survey participation)
9:06 AM: As West Seattle grows and changes, there’s been talk for more than a year of doing a survey to capture the historic character of at least part of our area. We first wrote about it in January 2014; updates have ensued as the Southwest District Council met; and this morning, it’s finally “a go,” as announced at a news conference that’s under way right now at Husky Deli in The Junction.

For the first time, the historical character of the West Seattle Junction will be documented in a professional survey.

Funded by 4Culture, the West Seattle Junction Historical Survey, launched on Wednesday, March 18, 2015, will interview property owners in the two-block Junction core to elicit data and anecdotal information and contract with an architectural historian to identify elements that define The Junction’s character, give it uniqueness and allow it to thrive as the business hub of the West Seattle peninsula.

The project teams the Southwest Seattle Historical Society (the survey’s fiscal agent) with the Southwest District Council, West Seattle Junction Association, Junction Neighborhood Organization and ArtsWest.

The 4Culture grant totals $10,000, most of which will pay for the evaluation services of a professional architectural historian. The grant states that while The Junction “has undergone dramatic changes,” elements such as “the low-story look, the traditional narrow and deep interiors and the compression of multiple businesses into small spaces” have allowed the district to retain a distinctly “small-town feel.”

It also states that because there is only “outdated and insufficient knowledge about the worthiness of any of the structures” in The Junction, the survey will have great value.

One aim of the survey is to determine if buildings in The Junction would qualify for nomination as Seattle landmarks, which is part of why property owners are “key stakeholders” in the survey.

Over the next six months, all 45 property owners in the survey area will be invited to be interviewed about the history of their buildings, including enhancements and uses, along with how the district’s milieu has contributed to the success of the businesses operating in their buildings. The interview findings will be merged with architectural data, and results of the survey will be made available to the public.

“We trust that the resulting information and insights will be useful to property owners, businesses and the community at large in shaping the future of this treasure of a business district,” says the survey’s letter to property owners.

The district got its name immediately prior to West Seattle’s annexation to Seattle, in 1907, when the West Seattle and Fauntleroy streetcar lines converged at a transfer point at California Avenue and Alaska Street, forming “The Junction.” Among the oldest buildings in The Junction are the Campbell Building (1918), housing Cupcake Royale, and the Hamm Building (1926), home of Easy Street Records.

We’re at the news conference with numerous community leaders and will add photos/video later.

10:16 AM: Adding our photos for starters (we were the only news organization at the event). Photo above shows those who spoke at this morning’s event and/or are integrally involved with making this happen – from left, Clay Eals of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society; Jack Miller of Husky Deli; Susan Melrose of the West Seattle Junction Association; René Commons of the Junction Neighborhood Organization, Jack Menashe of Menashe & Sons Jewelers (WSB sponsor), Deb Barker and Chas Redmond on behalf of the Southwest District Council.

Photo immediately above this line shows many of the community leaders who were there to be part of it. Video and a few event notes still in the works.

ADDED 4:27 PM: Three video clips; the first and third are by WSB’s Patrick Sand, from this morning’s event; in the middle, the video clip shown at the event, profiling Jack Miller and Husky Deli, is courtesy of the Junction Neighborhood Organization:

Though all that’s set in motion right now is a report – in Q/A after the announcement, SWSHS’s Eals expressed confidence that it will be a spark to preservation and celebration, not just a reference document. We’ll check in from time to time to see how it’s going.