2024/04/24 Council Agenda Packet

semi-circular crushed velvet booths that were used in the dining room – now The Gatsby Room – and now provide sea3ng in 16Eleven. Exterior cornices were replaced in 2010 due to rot, and interior dental and plaster work was performed to restore the original beauty of the building’s architectural touches. Because the building sat vacant for almost a decade, Carswell facilitated necessary repairs and upgrades to both mechanical equipment, exterior and interior facades and the roof. F. Statement of Significance The building presently used as the APEX Art and Culture Center was built in 1921 by the Evere< Council of the Knights of Columbus. It represents an important phase in Evere<'s growth, built shortly aker the Evere< Massacre and with funds generated by the first-ever public fund drive of its kind. It has addi3onal value to the community as a fine piece of architecture by a prominent Northwest architectural firm, and it retains significance as a building of importance with rich cultural and civic meaning. It embodies the social impact of the American experience in the Great War, and it also offers rich possibili3es for future use within the community it was designed to serve more than a century ago. The Evere< Council of the Knights of Columbus was organized in 1903 during a mee3ng in St. Ann's Hall of the Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Concep3on. Numbering 550 members, the group was one of the city's largest men's organiza3ons in 1920. A fund drive was launched in that year, property was quickly acquired, and construc3on commenced in May 1921. The blessing and laying of the cornerstone were observed ceremoniously on July 24, 1921. That the project was intended to benefit the community as a whole was underscored by Sea<le a<orney James H, Kane, state deputy of the Knights of Columbus, whose address on the occasion was 3tled "The Building and Its Service to the Community." Within the statewide organiza3on of the Knights of Columbus, Evere<'s council had dis3nguished itself by being the first to stage a public drive for funds for a war memorial building. The laying of the cornerstone was a<ended by a delega3on of members from Sea<le, Tacoma, and other neighboring councils. Dedica3on of the building was scheduled in the late fall, and the building was opened before the end of the year. A.D. McAdam, a member of the Evere< council, was general contractor. The cost of construc3on was reported at $110,000; the cost of equipment and furnishings at $25,000. The structure, known originally as "The Community Center and War Memorial Building" was controlled and managed by an auxiliary corpora3on called the Knights of Columbus Club. Within a compara3vely short 3me, the cost of opera3ng the building appears to have become difficult. Membership in the Evere< council began to decline and by 1926, membership had dropped to 350. An eloquent plea for community support to sustain the venture was unsuccessful, and in 1928 the Knights of Columbus turned over the holdings at Evere< and Wetmore avenues to the Masonic Order. The building was placed on the Washington State Register of Historic Places in December of 1975. Several years later the building was added to the Na3onal Register of Historic Places. At that 3me the City of Evere< was considering acquisi3on of the property for use as a cri3cally-needed museum.