Published August 2002

Everett considers Weyerhaeuser building
as home for city museum

By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Writer

Everett City Council member Bob Overstreet had his first job interview in the ornate old Weyerhaeuser building that graces the entrance to Everett’s Marina Village.

That classic, 79-year-old building is an “absolute gem” and could be the perfect site for a long-awaited city museum, Overstreet said.

There’s just one catch: Overstreet doesn’t want the city to get stuck with a big bill for the building’s upkeep.

“I strongly believe the city should not own that structure,” he said.

Overstreet made those comments in July just before the council unanimously agreed to spend $17,932 on a feasibility study to look into what it might cost to move the Weyerhaeuser building, restore it and turn it into a museum.

The city has been without a museum since the early 1990s. The city is considering moving the building to city-owned property at the corner of Everett and Rucker avenues across from the Everett Public Library, Everett Parks and Recreation Director Susan Francisco said.

The port owns the building and the land it sits on. Turning the building into a museum was not really what the port had in mind for the building, so it would probably have to be moved, said the port’s executive director, John Mohr.

He said keeping the building as a museum at its present site doesn’t fit into the port’s redevelopment plans for the marina, which include public walkways, shops and homes.

“We would donate it for the utilization of a museum because we can see the higher and better value in that if it was under the city’s ownership,” Mohr said. “If it’s under the port’s ownership, a museum is not an appropriate use. We have enterprise centers. We have a different criteria direction for our properties.”

But Overstreet said he would object to the city buying the building and getting stuck with the maintenance costs. A better idea, Overstreet said, is for the port to lease the building to the city for $1 a year.

“The feasibility study will tell us whether we can move the building a third time,” Francisco told the council.

The English Tudor building with the gingerbread trim was designed in 1923 and served as a Weyerhaeuser office for nearly 60 years. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The building cost $30,000 to build and was located at Mill A on the waterfront. That mill closed in 1937 when the company consolidated its lumber operations and office headquarters, and the building was barged up the Snohomish River to Mill B.

In 1983, the building was donated to the Port of Everett, and at that time it was barged back down the river and relocated to its present location at 1710 Marine View Drive. Everett’s Chamber of Commerce used the building from 1984 until December 1999. Historic displays are housed inside, but the building is currently vacant.

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