Scoop: Sole Searching

Those of us who napped our way through Washington state history class in eighth grade might not have—had the curriculum been as engaging as Seattle Architecture: A Walking Guide to Downtown Seattle (Seattle Architecture Foundation, 2007, $20), the debut book by Queen Anne resident Maureen R. Elenga, who recently earned a master’s in art history at the University of Washington. The tome tells Seattle’s story by looking at how its most iconic buildings—downtown’s terra-cotta-clad Dexter Horton Building, Pioneer Square’s 14-story Alaska Building, the city’s first steel-framed skyscraper—helped shape the Emerald City. In addition to more than 400 new and vintage architectural photos, the book includes architectural walking tours of nine downtown Seattle neighborhoods with designated buildings of interest and area maps. Appropriately, Seattle Architecture begins with a tour of Pioneer Square, pointing out historical landmarks such as the Smith Tower, and ends at Seattle Center, the site of the futuristic 1962 World’s Fair. Overall the nuanced architectural trove works best as a historical reference book. At 300-plus pages, it’s a bit cumbersome for Seattle’s peripatetic set to haul along.