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What of Destroying Houses?

· Posted Wednesday May 24, 2006 by jamie

Biking home yesterday, I came across a house that had been plowed to the ground. The specific location doesn’t matter (you’re free to guess), as the house was nothing particularly special. It has changed ownership multiple times in the past few years, and most recently sold for $268k in 2005. And now, it’s a pile of rubble.

A lot of people have been thinking about this sort of thing recently, what with the unexpected destruction of the Mattson House.

Peter Callaghan writes in the TNT about the moral obligation to protecting historically significant architecture, much as we protect fine art. I think he’s right on with this take.

A comment added to Barbara Clements’ blog posting (also TNT) raises some questions about whether proper environmental procedures were followed with regards to the asbestos, lead paint, and possible mold that were cited as reasons for the destruction of the house. This is also a big deal, especially since the asbestos in the home, left undisturbed, was relatively safe, and lead paint is equally easy to not disturb and just paint over. Instead, who knows what is now in the air and on the ground at the property.

But one of my biggest pet peeves about the whole process, and I get the impression that others who have written and commented about the topic by and large agree, is the amount of waste. From the historical standpoint, the greenhouse from Thornewood Castle, the windows, and other unique elements of the mansion were all bulldozed after being unceremoniously shot with paintballs. And moreover, it’s just a waste of useful building materials: wood flooring, old growth beams, antique fixtures, the list goes on.

I feel similarly about the plight of the house in my pictures, or when I see the folks on “Extreme Home Makeover” smash an entire house in minutes so they can replace it with something “all new”. How many things are being destroyed that could easily be reused elsewhere?

How is it that we live in such a throwaway society? Why do we not see the value in re-using as much stuff as possible? And even if we don’t reuse our own stuff, we should at least be salvaging as much as possible so others can use it. And similarly, we can look to find things that others do not need and we do. And suddenly, we need much less “new” stuff.

So what to do? Lots of options, whether you’re tearing out or building up! Check out ReHarvest, who can do salvage and deconstruction and sells salvaged materials in the tideflats, whether you’re tearing down or building up. (Also check out Seattle’s Second Use.) If you tear out some reusable materials, drop them off at the Habitat For Humanity dropoff at the landfill. If you want to check out some salvage supplies (or just wander around a cool junk yard), check out Jones Glass & Used Materials on Wilkeson Street, just off of 19th. And of course Craigslist offers classifieds, including “free stuff” listings.

I know as well as others the lure of remodeling and of nice, shiny new things. It can be harder to seek out salvaged materials instead of just running to Home Cheapo and buying something there (lest we forget it can also be less expensive). But wholesale destruction just disheartens me. Let’s take a stand and be less wasteful. Please add your thoughts/ideas in the comments.


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  1. Ah, I see Derek nailed it on the head with the location of this home lot: 645 S Trafton, at the intersection of Trafton and 8th.

    Based on his info from others, my guesses were confirmed that we may get to look forward to something in the vein of townhomes/apartments/condos on the site.

    I’m conflicted on this, because I think high-density urban development is important, but I worry they will build something ugly (like those “tall garage” townhomes), and we have our share of problems with rentals in the surrounding neighborhood…

    Sigh…

    — jamie    May 24, 12:48 PM    #