Seattle’s Gas Works Park turned a coal gas plant into a lakeside playground, and fall is the time to go
Most cities hide their industrial past. Seattle put a kite hill next to it and called it a park. Gas Works Park sits on the north shore of Lake Union, and the first time you see those rusted towers rising over the grass, you’ll wonder how this is allowed.
The answer is that someone had a very good idea. Here’s what you’re looking at and how to spend an afternoon here.
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A coal gas plant that became a park
From 1906 to 1956, this spot was a gasification plant. The city bought the site in 1962, and the park opened in 1975. Seattle landscape architect Richard Haag designed it, and instead of flattening the old plant, he kept the best of it.
The park is on the National Register of Historic Places (added in 2013), and it’s easy to see why. Six of the old generator towers still stand, with their processing towers beside them, and the effect is part ruin, part sculpture garden.
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What to do once you’re here
Start with the Play Barn, which used to be the pump house and still has plenty of industrial character. The old boiler house is a picnic shelter now, and a refurbished smoke arrestor hood doubles as a climbing structure for kids.
Then head up Kite Hill. It’s an artificial hill built for exactly one purpose, flying kites, and there’s a sundial at the top. Fall breezes make it a fun place to bring one, and the view of the Seattle skyline across Lake Union is the reward for the short climb.
Here’s my one confident opinion: skip the crowded downtown viewpoints and come here for your Seattle skyline photos. You get the water, the skyline and a giant rusting machine in the same frame. Nothing else in the city looks like it.
Good to know before you go
The lake sediment here contains hazardous substances left over from the plant days, so swimming, boating, fishing and wading are prohibited. The towers are for admiring from the ground, not climbing. Check the Seattle Parks page for current details.
The park is at 2000 N. Northlake Way, at the south end of the Wallingford neighborhood. It also connects to the Burke-Gilman Trail, so you can arrive on two wheels if you’d rather skip parking.
Would you fly a kite here, or just show up for the view? Tell me in the comments.
Trip tips: grab a rental car to get around the city, and lock in your hotel before the good rooms are gone.
