Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza: Celebration tomorrow; more brick sales
(photo by David Hutchinson)
After two months in storage during plaza construction, the Alki Statue of Liberty is back – and on its new pedestal. Today, the pedestal and plaza get a few finishing touches, just in the nick of time for tomorrow’s all-day dedication celebration (schedule here). At the site Thursday afternoon, Plaza Project co-chairs Libby and Paul Carr revealed they’ve reopened brick sales – they have the green light to sell hundreds more, $150 personal/$300 business, to be engraved on-site – the money, they say, goes to a special fund the city Parks Department will use to maintain the plaza. Brick-buying forms will be available at Saturday’s event, and online at sealady.org.
Update: Alki Statue of Liberty is back – in a way
Less than 48 hours to go till the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza dedication celebration – and Parks Department workers, under the direction of project manager Patrick Donohue, are racing to the finish of what was an incredibly short construction schedule – less than two months. As part of that, the statue itself is to be placed atop its new pedestal by day’s end – it’s already on site, resting in the back of a pickup truck (as shown above) on the north side of the construction site. Its current position affords a view that hopefully won’t have to be seen again – inside the statue from its base:
Right now, crews are working to be sure the new pedestal, its steel support, and the bronze lantern between pedestal and statue all fit together – they were built in different places at different times, in part because of the project’s time constraints. Also at the site, along with Donohue and his crew members, Plaza Project co-chairs Libby and Paul Carr, who are busy putting the final touches on the plan for Saturday’s all-day celebration (we’ve got one of the first copies of the official program; you can see the schedule online here); one data point they shared – if you bought a brick in the plaza, you will be able to find it easily on Saturday, because committee members David and Eilene Hutchinson (who have kindly shared great photos with WSB along the way) have catalogued the location of each brick, and a schematic will be available at a table by the plaza to direct brick-owners to the locations. 4:16 PM UPDATE: The statue has just been replaced atop its pedestal – so that’s what you’ll see if you come by Alki tonight – we’ll be adding more visuals a bit later – some paving work at the site is scheduled tomorrow morning, for finishing touches.
Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza construction, 3 weeks to go
More new photos from David Hutchinson with the Seattle (Alki) Statue of Liberty Plaza Project, as construction of the plaza enters its final weeks leading up to the September 6th dedication.
The pace has been picking up this past week … The bronze bench and landscape plaques arrived at the beginning of the week and the final pouring of cement took place. Three of the fifteen bench plaques were embedded in the newly poured apron around the front of the seat walls. Work also began on the first three wooden bench tops. The middle of the week saw continued work on the bench tops, work began on the new irrigation system, and holes were bored in the concrete for the step railing supports. The end of the week highlight was the arrival and installation of benches 13, 14, and 15 which were fabricated offsite as a single unit.
This coming week should see continued work on the benches and the arrival of the inscribed pavers which are scheduled to be installed over the next couple of weeks. At this time the new pedestal which is being cast offsite is scheduled to be put in place around the beginning of September with the Statue to be in installed in time for the September 6th dedication ceremony.
Here’s how the site looked Saturday:
You can catch up on this entire project and what led up to it over the past year-plus, in our Alki Statue of Liberty archive.
Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza progress, 4 weeks to go – and a search
Thanks yet again to David Hutchinson for another update on plaza progress — along with that panorama of how the site looked as crews wrapped up work at the end of the week. (Panoramas are hard to appreciate in our formatted sizing, so click the image to see a full-size version.) He adds:
Forms are in place for the final pouring of cement on Monday. Work is in progress to drill holes for the hand railings for the steps. Scheduled for next week are the installation of the bench plaques and the beginning of the installation of the inscribed pavers.
The scheduled dedication ceremony for the new plaza – by which time the statue will be back, too – is four weeks from today. And looking ahead to that ceremony, Plaza Project co-chair Libby Carr is trying to track down any of the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, or Sea Scouts who were present at the 1952 dedication of the original statue. If you were among them, or know how to reach one or more of them, she can be reached at libby@carrbiz.com or 206-938-8721.
Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza construction: 1 month till dedication
We’re at Alki checking on Heat Wave ’08 (warm and hazy but not THAT bad) and just noticed the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza is really taking shape in a big way. The big dedication celebration, in fact, is scheduled for exactly one month from today (tomorrow marks one month since construction began with site demolition/prep). After we took today’s photo and went across the street for a beverage and wi-fi, we looked back across the street and noticed two people we believe to have been the original architects, Matt Hutchins and Chris Ezzell, over at the construction site, taking pictures (added later: Matt confirms it was an onsite meeting for SSLPP reps and adds, “Construction is proceeding nicely, and we’re pretty excited to see it starting to take shape!”). We’d also received word a few days ago from David Hutchinson that “Kenadar has just about finished the production of all inscribed bricks. The bronze bench and landscape plaques will be cast by the end of (this) week and the new pedestal is being cast offsite for later installation.” All our Alki Statue of Liberty coverage is archived here, including video from the early stages of construction last month, such as the semi-famous “flying lady” clip.
Two Alki notes: New Beacon online; Liberty Plaza progress
NEW BEACON ONLINE: Editor Cami MacNamara has just posted the latest edition of the Alki Community Council-published semimonthly newspaper Alki News Beacon; you can get it here. We contribute to the News-Beacon sometimes and wrote up the beach-fire-controversy flareup for this edition. The ACC’s next meeting, by the way, is a week from tonight — 7 pm July 17, Alki Community Center. Also from Alki:
ALKI STATUE OF LIBERTY PLAZA PROGRESS: Thanks again to David Hutchinson for that photo and another update on the project, about to start its third day (see our extensive video/photo coverage of its momentous Day 1, plus the past year of what led up to it, archived here). He reports:
Virtually all of the rubble has been hauled away. (Today) begins the construction phase of the project with Patrick Donohue, Parks Department Project Manager, indicating that this would begin with surveying and grading. Then will come the construction of the forms in preparation for the first pouring of cement next week.
Alki Statue of Liberty construction work: Old base now gone
Thanks to David Hutchinson for that photo; he was there as the old Alki Statue of Liberty base came down just before 9 am today. David says, “Even as an enthusiastic supporter of the new plaza, I was sad in a way to see it fall. After living at Alki for quite a few years, it had become a familiar landmark and a connection to the past and many good memories.” This is the second day of construction for the new Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza, with money coming from an extensive fundraising drive in the past year; archived WSB coverage is here, including our video and photo updates yesterday as site demolition work began and the statue itself (video of the “flying statue” here) was taken away for temporary storage before the scheduled September 6th plaza dedication.
Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza construction: More Day 1 video
Before Day 2 begins, with more demolition work at the site of the Alki Statue of Liberty‘s old base, much of which was gone by quitting time yesterday (hours after Lady Liberty herself “flew away”; WSB video here), we have a few more video clips from Day 1 — including the statue “riding” off after its “flight” and plaza fundraisers Paul and Libby Carr talking with WSB immediately afterward:Read More
The “flying damsel”: Video of Alki Statue of Liberty removal
“Flying damsel” is how Libby Carr of the Seattle (Alki) Statue of Liberty Plaza Project described the sight you see in that two-minute video clip (she was next to us atop a picnic table, watching it all unfold; we’ll add video of our interview with Libby and Paul Carr later), as the statue is lifted off its old base, not to return till a new pedestal is in place as part of the plaza work. As we showed you in updates earlier this morning, the statue is off to storage and demolition of the old base, asphalt, and benches is under way – project manager Patrick Donohue, who’s been on site supervising, says demolition should be done by day’s end; “regrading” will get under way tomorrow; actual construction of new elements should start next week. Goal is for this to be done by September 6th. 4 PM UPDATE: Ran by Alki again and noted the construction crew leaving, with the final core of the old statue base still standing, so that may not be coming down before tomorrow.
Updates – So long, Liberty: Alki statue is gone, for now
(see the bottom of this post for newest pix/info)
The crane’s in place and will soon be lifting the Alki Statue of Liberty off its old base – never to return to that one – since a new pedestal is part of the plaza project for which construction started this morning. More to come.
10:12 AM UPDATE: Lady Liberty has been removed from the pedestal and is en route to temporary storage (till sometime before the planned Sept. 6 dedication); Paul and Libby Carr of the Statue of Liberty Plaza Project have been here watching the milestone unfold on a spectacular sunny morning. They note that the benches and plaques being removed – three in all – as part of the demolition/construction work are all being replaced; two of the families, they say, chose to have benches in the new plaza, another asked to have a bench/plaque elsewhere on the beach. Now that the statue’s gone, the fencing is completely closed, and jackhammering has resumed (it’s pretty noisy down here right now). 10:34 AM UPDATE: Now the demolition of the old base is under way.
Two pieces of heavy equipment are at work on the site now, tearing up the blacktop within the fenced area as well (as mentioned elsewhere, the promenade along the water is NOT blocked, though it’s a little narrower now at the plaza-construction site) 11:05 AM UPDATE: Jacqueline Tabor of the Parks Department is putting up historic photos on the fence around the construction site – not just of the statue’s past, but also Alki from as long as a century ago. They’re going up today along with an informational sign about the project.
More pix and video to come.
Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza: “Groundbreaking” imminent
That backhoe has just moved into place as the Parks Department gets ready to start construction of the plaza to be built around the Alki Statue of Liberty, which –as reported here yesterday — is scheduled to be taken away this morning and put in storage for the two-month duration of the construction. Right now, Parks is loosening the statue off its soon-to-be-replaced base to prepare for the move. (Archived coverage here; more updates later.)
Parks Department’s site plan for Alki statue’s plaza
Thanks to Parks Department project manager Patrick Donohue for that drawing of the just-finalized city-approved site map for the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza, as they prepare to put out bids for construction. (We recently reported the newest developments in both the plaza-construction plan and the Plaza Project committee’s vision for the September celebration – read that report here.) Click the image to see the full-size version; as you’ll see in the legend on that version, the darker area will be brick, the dotted area will be concrete – the top of the drawing is the existing asphalt promenade (north). Just thought those who have been following the project closely would be interested to see this; note that no new color “pictures” are available from the city, according to Donohue — we’ve featured some of them over the months in our Alki Statue of Liberty coverage archive, and the Plaza Project’s site also has some of the original design art).
Alki Statue of Liberty updates: Party plan; construction details
(fall 2007 photo by Mark Bourne)
New information as the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza gets closer to construction: The group that raised money for the project has gone public with details of what it’s planning for a Sept. 6 event celebrating its expected dedication, and the Parks Department project manager has talked with us about the latest details — including a couple recent changes in the plan, and the one big concern that could cause construction snags — read on:Read More
It’s not online yet but the agenda for next Thursday’s
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