Howe Street Stairs | |
|---|---|
| Public stairway | |
 Three flights of the Howe Street Stairs pictured in June 2016 | |
| Opening date | 1911 |
| Steps | 388 |
| Location | Seattle, United States |
| Coordinates: 47°38′10″N122°19′14″W / 47.6360°N 122.3206°W | |
The Howe Street Stairs (also known as the East Howe Steps, Howe Stairs, Howe Street Staircase, and the Howe Staircase) are a public, outdoor staircase that straddles Seattle's Capitol Hill and Eastlake neighborhoods. They were constructed in 1911.
Due to Seattle's difficult topography, the city has spent more than a century building in excess of 650 staircases linking sections of neighborhoods that are otherwise isolated or disconnected. The Howe Street Stairs were originally built in 1911 to provide a pedestrian link between two different lines in Seattle's former streetcar system. [1]
A proposal to construct a plaza at the bottom of the staircase has been advanced by area residents since the 2000s. [2]
The stairs, which begin at Eastlake Avenue, are divided into 13 flights interrupted by landings and streets. They contain 388 steps and are the longest such staircase in the city. [1] A portion of the stairs pass through the I-5 Colonnade, a city park under an elevated section of Interstate 5. They terminate at Howe Street, from which they take their name. [1] [3]
The stairs sit parallel to the nearby Blaine Street Stairs, which transits an identical route. They are used for exercise and fitness, as well as commuting. [3] [4] [5]
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in the older parts of towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road, or a path, walk, or avenue in a park or garden.
Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage to the other level by stepping from one to another step in turn. Steps are very typically rectangular. Stairs may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles.
Capitol Hill is a densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. One of the city's most popular nightlife and entertainment districts, it is home to a historic gay village and vibrant counterculture community.
Eastlake is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because of its location on the eastern shore of Lake Union. Its main thoroughfare is Eastlake Avenue E., which runs from Howell Street at the northeast corner of Downtown north over the University Bridge to the University District, where it connects to Roosevelt Way N.E. and 11th Avenue N.E. A second thoroughfare is Boylston Avenue E.; as an arterial, it parallels Interstate 5 for the four blocks between E. Newton Street to the south and E. Roanoke Street to the north, acting as an extension of Capitol Hill's Lakeview Boulevard E.
Cascade is an urban neighborhood abutting Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States, located adjacent to South Lake Union. It is bounded by: Fairview Avenue North on the west, beyond which is the rest of the Cascade Neighborhood; the Interstate 5 interchange for Mercer St to the north, beyond which is Eastlake; Interstate 5 on the east, beyond which is Capitol Hill; and Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Denny Triangle. It is surrounded by thoroughfares Mercer Street (eastbound), Fairview Avenue N. and Eastlake Avenue E., and Denny Way. The neighborhood, one of Seattle's oldest, originally extended much further: west to Terry Avenue, south to Denny Hill on the South, and east to Melrose Avenue E through the area now obliterated by Interstate 5. Some recent writers consider Cascade to omit the northern "arm", while others extend it westward to cover most of South Lake Union.
Lincoln–Lemington–Belmar is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is located in the northeastern section of the city and spans the Allegheny River. Lincoln–Lemington–Belmar houses PBF 15 Engine, and is covered by PBP Zone 5 and the Bureau of EMS Medic 1.
The Haʻikū Stairs, also known as the Stairway to Heaven or Haʻikū Ladder, is a steep, steel step structure that is currently being dismantled and removed. It provided pedestrian access to former U.S. Navy communication facilities on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaii with more than 3,000 steps along O‘ahu's Ko'olau mountain range. The pathway has been used as a hiking trail at various times but is not open to the public. The city council voted to remove the stairs in 2021. On April 10, 2024, the city of Honolulu held a news hearing, announcing that the removal of the stairs was to begin at the end of the month.
East Hills is a neighborhood in the east side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Its ZIP Code is 15221. It has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 9.
Kalvarija, also formerly known as Marija Bursać is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zemun.
The Potemkin Stairs, Potemkin Steps, or, officially, Primorsky Stairs are a giant stairway in Odesa, Ukraine. They are considered a formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea and are the best known symbol of Odesa.
The Survivors' Staircase was the last visible remaining original structure above ground level at the World Trade Center site. It was originally an outdoor flight of granite-clad stairs and two escalators which connected Vesey Street to the World Trade Center's Austin J. Tobin Plaza. During the September 11 attacks, the stairs served as an escape route for hundreds of evacuees from 5 World Trade Center, a 9-floor building adjacent to the Twin Towers. The staircase is now an important feature of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Dundurn Street is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is a two-way street that starts off at Mountain Face Park, Niagara Escarpment in front of the Bruce Trail as a collector road, right behind Hillcrest Avenue and then turns into a four lane thoroughfare from Aberdeen Avenue northward to York Boulevard where it ends in front of Dundurn Park.
I-5 Colonnade in Seattle, Washington, United States, is a 7.5-acre (30,000 m2) city park underneath Interstate 5 connecting the Capitol Hill and Eastlake neighborhoods, which were divided by the freeway in the 1960s. It stretches south of E. Howe Street to E. Garfield Street between Franklin Avenue E. and Lakeview Boulevard E. It was created in 2005.
The "Santa Monica Stairs" refer primarily to a pair of outdoor stairways in California descending to the northwest from Adelaide Drive in Santa Monica, to Santa Monica Canyon in Los Angeles.
Plaza Lafayette is a 0.09-acre (0.036 ha) pocket park and surrounding streets in the Hudson Heights neighborhood of Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. Named after the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, the park is roughly trapezoidal in shape, and is bounded by Riverside Drive – originally called Boulevard Lafayette in this area – on the west, the westbound lane of West 181st Street – also called "Plaza Lafayette" here – on the north, the eastbound lane of West 181st Street/Plaza Lafayette on the south, and Haven Avenue on the east. The land was acquired by the city on February 23, 1918.
A step street is a thoroughfare fitted with steps for pedestrian traffic rather than paved or tracked for motor vehicles. It is a practical way of providing access up and down a slope that is too steep for automobiles. Step streets consist of a staircase of stone or concrete steps, often with a handrail on posts down the center, and sometimes lined with trees. Examples can be found in hilly urban areas. Step streets fell out of popularity with urban designers as the use of the automobile increased in cities. In the early 2010s, efforts were made to restore some of these open-air staircases in New York City.
The Moore Stairs, also known as Moore Steps, are a NSW heritage listed public access flight of stairs which connect East Circular Quay with Macquarie Street in Sydney, Australia. Constructed in 1868 of Melbourne bluestone, they were named in honour of the city's mayor Charles Moore, and remain in use.
The Blaine Street Stairs are an outdoor staircase in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, in the United States. Adjacent to the Streissguth Gardens and parallel to the Howe Street Stairs, the staircase has 293 steps.
The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, colloquially known as the Moraga Steps, is a stairway in the Golden Gate Heights neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Fodor's calls it "possibly the world's largest mosaic staircase", and it leads up to Grandview Park. The flight contains 163 steps stretching 90 feet (27 m) high. These steps are also covered in over 2,000 unique tiles from over 75,000 glass fragments.
The East Republican Street Stairway is an outdoor stairway in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. The remaining staircase is a remnant of the Republican Hill Climb, which was completed in February 1910 to connect the Cascade and Capitol Hill neighborhoods. Much of the climb was removed during the 1960s, for the construction of Interstate 5. The remaining stairs have been designated an official city landmark.
