Queen Anne Pool has always been the kind of neighborhood spot where kids learn to swim, neighbors swap gossip in the sauna and nobody gives the brick walls a second look. Now those same walls are officially carrying a bigger story. The modest midcentury building was designed by Benjamin F. McAdoo Jr., the first Black architect licensed in Washington, and preservation advocates say its design is emerging as a public marker of access and civic memory. On Tuesday, the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods signaled that a designating ordinance for the pool has been referred to the Seattle City Council for consideration.
The pool was named a City of Seattle historic landmark after the Landmarks Preservation Board voted in 2024, a move preservationists say recognizes both the building's clean modern lines and the social history built into its walls. Those interior details, from exposed brick to thin wood-slat paneling and glulam beams, reflect McAdoo’s regional modernist approach and his insistence that modern design be accessible to everyone, according to Front Porch.
A milestone in Black architecture
McAdoo graduated from the University of Washington in 1946 and became the first African American architect licensed in the state, building a practice that stretched from houses and churches to civic projects across the Puget Sound region. His blend of design work and civic engagement, including low-cost housing projects and leadership roles in community organizations, is increasingly cited as part of the reason the pool's nomination resonated, according to the UW College of Built Environments.
How the landmark process moved forward
The Queen Anne Historical Society prepared the nomination, and the Landmarks Preservation Board voted to designate the pool in May 2024, finding that it met multiple criteria tied to architecture and community significance, the society wrote. A designating ordinance has now been transmitted to the City Council for consideration, as detailed by the Queen Anne Historical Society.
What this means for Queen Anne and beyond
If the Council adopts the ordinance, the city would gain tools to protect the pool's character-defining features while allowing Seattle Parks to keep running neighborhood programs. Seattle Parks and Recreation lists Queen Anne Pool at 1920 1st Ave W and notes that the center offers lessons, lap swim and diving features, but is currently closed for emergency maintenance, per Seattle Parks and Recreation.
For neighbors and preservation advocates, this fight is about more than bricks and beams. It is about making visible the contributions of Black Seattleites whose work has long been under-recognized. As the ordinance moves through the Council process, members will weigh landmark protections against competing priorities, and the pool's story will stay in the spotlight as part of the neighborhood's public history.
