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ASUW Shell House | |
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Alternative names | UW Canoe House |
General information | |
Address | 3655 Walla Walla Rd, Seattle, Washington 98195 |
Owner | University of Washington |
The Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW) Shell House, also known as the UW Canoe House, is a historic building on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. The building was constructed in 1918 as a Navy seaplane hangar during World War I. It was later used as a shell house for the University of Washington men's rowing team from 1920 to 1949 and a canoe rental space until 1975. The building is located northeast of the Montlake Cut on Union Bay. [1]
The shell house was home to the famous 1936 Olympic Gold medal-winning UW Men's Rowing team until the rowing program's eventual transfer to the Conibear Shellhouse facility in 1949. [2] It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2018, UW Recreation began campaigning for a $13 million restoration of the old shell house to shed light on its history and enrich the waterfront. [3]
The original building was constructed in 1918. [2] After the United States entered World War I in 1917, the University of Washington granted the government access to its campus facilities for U.S. naval training and storage. [4] The Navy hangar was an approximately 10,500 square foot wooden structure. [2] However, the building's naval use was rather short-lived due to the end of the war that year, and the Navy gave ownership of the hangar to the University. [1]
Rather than demolishing the hangar, the University chose to repurpose the building as the ASUW Shell House. The Shell House's convenient waterfront location was perfect for storing and transporting the crew team's rowing shells to both competition and practice on Lake Washington.
The Shell House was also partially transformed into a workshop for George Yeoman Pocock, the renowned boatbuilder who previously built pontoons for the Boeing company. Pocock constructed racing shells at this location until 1949. [1] His designs were commissioned by university crew teams across the nation.
The UW men's varsity eight won the gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. [5] This feat is further detailed in Daniel James Brown's novel The Boys in the Boat, which includes information about the team's use of Pocock shells built in the ASUW Shell House.
In 1949, the UW crew team transferred its operations to the newly built Conibear Shellhouse. [1] The ASUW Shell House became the Canoe House after renovations to the interior. George and Cora Leis operated the canoe rental space until 1956; it remained a rental option for UW affiliates until 1972. [1]
The Washington Yacht Club, UW's Student-run Sailing Club, was established in 1948 and has used part of the Shell House as a storage space for the last 73 years. [6]
In 1958, the Lake Washington Rowing Club began using the Canoe House to store its boats. [1] Six years later, George Pocock relocated his business off campus, [5] and in 1969, the newly revived UW women's rowing program took over the Shell House. [1]
In 2018, the ASUW Shell House was designated as a landmark by Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board. [1] It was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. [1] It was the first Seattle Landmark on the University of Washington Campus.
After canoe rentals transferred to the Waterfront Activities Center in 1976, the building was left dormant and unused. [1] It wasn't until the release of The Boys in the Boat and a campaign by the University's Recreation department in 2018 that the Shell House became recognized by the public for its rich history. [1] UW currently offers "Boys of '36" tours of both the ASUW Shell House and the Conibear Shellhouse. [5] [7]
The University set in motion its efforts to renovate the ASUW Shell House by 2021 [1] and "bring long overdue attention to [the] entire waterfront." [3]
The University of Washington is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the United States.
Lake Union is a freshwater lake located entirely within the city limits of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a major part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which carries fresh water from the much larger Lake Washington on the east to Puget Sound on the west. The easternmost point of the lake is the Ship Canal Bridge, which carries Interstate 5 over the eastern arm of the lake and separates Lake Union from Portage Bay. Lake Union is the namesake of the neighborhoods located on three of its shores: Eastlake, Westlake and South Lake Union. Notable destinations on the lake include Lake Union Park, the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), and the Center for Wooden Boats on the southern shore and Gas Works Park on the northern shore.
The University District is a major district in Seattle, Washington, comprising several distinct neighborhoods. The main campus of the University of Washington (UW) is located in the district, lending its name to both the district as well as University Way NE.
The Daily of the University of Washington, usually referred to in Seattle simply as The Daily, is the student newspaper of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is staffed entirely by University of Washington students, excluding the publisher, advertising adviser, accounting staff, and delivery staff.
The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
Laurelhurst is a residential neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, US. It is bounded on the northeast by Ivanhoe Place N.E., beyond which is Windermere; on the northwest by Sand Point Way N.E. and N.E. 45th Street, beyond which are Hawthorne Hills, Ravenna, and University Village; on the west by Mary Gates Memorial Drive N.E., beyond which is the East Campus of the University of Washington; on the southwest by Union Bay; and on the east by Lake Washington. Seattle Children's Hospital is located in its northwest corner. Once a seasonal campground of the Duwamish people, the neighborhood has been a part of Seattle since its annexation in 1910.
The Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW) is the student association at the University of Washington. It is funded and supported by the University's Services and Activities Fee with which it provides services that directly and indirectly benefit student life. The ASUW consists of over 80 student employees and 500 volunteers, and the organization spends approximately $1.5 million annually to run events, lobby the legislature, and fund various Registered Student Organizations as they put on their own programs.
Pocock Racing Shells is a Seattle, Washington-based racing shells manufacturer, founded in 1911.
Husky Ballpark is a college baseball park in the Northwestern United States, located on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle. Opened 26 years ago in 1998, it is the home field of the Washington Huskies of the Pac-12 conference. The playing field was renamed for donor Herb Chaffey in May 2009.
PLU Crew is the varsity rowing program for Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. The team was founded in 1964 as a joint program with University of Puget Sound. Today the team consists of Men's and Women's programs for both Varsity and Novice rowers, and competes as a member of the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference (NCRC) and Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA).
Hiram Boardman Conibear was an American football and rowing coach. He served as head football coach the University of Montana from 1903 to 1904, compiling a record of 5–7. Conibear was head rowing coach at the University of Washington from 1907 to 1917, coaching both the men's and women's rowing teams. He developed the distinctive style that became known as the Conibear stroke that "had an effect on the sport that lasted for 30 years".
George Yeomans Pocock was a leading designer and builder of racing shells in the 20th century.
The Husky Union Building is a building at the University of Washington that is known as the center of campus as it functions as an event center, a place for student engagement, and a place intended to improve student experience.
The Campus of the University of Washington is located in the University District of Seattle. Campus buildings are categorized by the major street or vicinity on which they are located on campus. In 2011, Slate magazine and Travel+Leisure described the Seattle campus as one of the most beautiful university campuses in the United States.
John T. Condon Hall is an academic building of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. The building formerly housed the UW School of Law. The hall was named after John T. Condon, the first dean of the School of Law.
The More Hall Annex, formerly the Nuclear Reactor Building, was a building on the campus of the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, Washington, United States, that once housed a functional nuclear research reactor. It was inaugurated in 1961 and shut down in 1988, operating at a peak of 100 kilowatts thermal (kWt), and was officially decommissioned in 2007.
The Conibear Shellhouse is a rowing training and support facility in Seattle, Washington, on the campus of the University of Washington. It is used by the men's and women's rowing teams of the Washington Huskies. The building was completed in 1949 and renovated in 2005. It is located on Lake Washington, near the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
The Liberal Arts Quadrangle, more popularly known as the Quad, is the main quadrangle at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It is often considered the school's trademark attraction. Raitt Hall and Savery Hall frame the northwestern boundary while Gowen, Smith, and Miller Halls frame the southeast. At the top of the quad sits the latest buildings on the quad, the Art and Music Buildings. The quad is lined with thirty Yoshino cherry trees, which blossom between mid-March and early April.
Gerberding Hall is a building in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Fritz Hedges Waterway Park, also known as Portage Bay Park, is a 3.5-acre (0.014 km2) park on the north shore of Portage Bay in the neighborhood of University District of Seattle, Washington.