Kirkland Arts Center
History
THE PETER KIRK BUILDING - CENTER OF ACTIVITY

The Kirkland Arts Center is housed in the the Peter Kirk Building in beautiful downtown Kirkland. The brick building was conceived as the keystone of English entrepeneur Kirk's steel empire and as a major spoke in the hub of activity at the corners of Market and Picadilly (now Seventh Avenue). Ground was broken in 1889 for the two-story brick building, which was raised upon a foundation of dizzying optimism in a period of economic expansion. Kirk and his business partner, Seattle Post Intelligencer owner Leigh S.J. Hunt, envisioned the Moss Bay Iron and Steel Works of America as the "Pittsburgh of the West". Together they forged the Kirkland Development (Land) and Improvement Company as the administrative aegis for the iron works.

Bricks for the building were produced from locally dug clay and fired at Kirk's brick works, which was located in the present day Peter Kirk Park. The building, a quintessentially Victorian construction, was designed in the Romanesque Revival style, which borrowed elements from European architecture of the eleventh and twelfth century such as semi-circular arches, turrets, recessed doors and windows, and heavy materials like rusticated stone and brick. Initially, the first floor housed the Guptil and Evans dry goods store and Elder Drug. Kirk's offices occupied the second floor.

However, Kirk's dream for an industrial magnet on the shores of Lake Washington were thwarted by economic realities and crashed with the financial upheaval of 1893. Although the steel mill never opened, Kirk remained an active town booster. He eventually retired to the San Juan Islands where he died in 1916.

But the beautiful building did not vanish with Kirk's faded dreams. The building changed ownership and usages, but remained a central component of the Kirkland landscape. The second floor was later was converted to apartments. Over the years, the first floor housed a butcher shop, a grocery store, and a furniture store, including the Eastside Furniture store, owned by Kirkland's youngest mayor, Al Leland, in the 1940's.

By the early 1960's, the Peter Kirk Building was deteriorating due to years of neglect. The owner was barely able to make ends meet. Without intervention, the building was slated to be demolished. But hope was around the corner. Or, rather, on the second floor.


William Radcliffe - Building Community Together

William Radcliffe was a visionary and a pragmatist. He was also a teacher for the Lake Washington School District from 1949-1967. In 1958, he rented the Cupola Room (Kirk's former office) on the second floor of the Peter Kirk building, which he used as an art studio. It was one of the few spaces that did not leak in an otherwise dilapidated structure. But Radcliffe saw beyond the broken windows and sagging plaster and visualized a community arts center.

It was no wonder that he emerged as the instigator and inspiration of the Creative Arts League. As the founder of the Cellar Gallery, Radcliffe was a driving force in the realization of an active Eastside arts community. He and his cohorts, the Peter Kirk Syndicate, a group of attorneys, architects, educators and physicians, rescued the crumbling building from certain demise and were instrumental in establishing a truly community oriented arts center. In 1961, the Peter Kirk Syndicate organized to purchase the building and, in 1962, to form the Creative Arts League, convened to provide local opportunities in the arts and address preservation of a Kirkland historic landmark. The enthusiastic support of local businesses, media, artists and other citizens helped realize Radcliffe's vision.


Peter Kirk Syndicate 1961

The original investors made the purchase of the Peter Kirk Building possible and later sold or donated their shares to the Creative Arts League with the restriction that the League preserve the building as an historic structure and use the building for the cultural enrichment of the community.


The Creative Arts League, dedicated volunteer artists and art lovers, as well as members of the Peter Kirk Syndicate, cleaned the building and initiated needed repairs. In the meantime, the League offered classes in framemaking, ceramics, painting, poetry, drama, dance, puppetry and life drawing and operated a small theater.

In 1973, the Peter Kirk Building was listed in the National Historic Register. In 1977 the first major renovations were undertaken, supported by local and state funding assistance.

Radcliffe's philosophy, that democracy entails giving people the opportunity to make positive changes in their communities, fuels the Kirkland Arts Center today. A supportive Board of Directors, talented instructors, hardworking staff and dedicated volunteers all contribute to maintaining the Kirkland Arts Center as a vibrant and vital creative hub of the community. KAC continues to offer a range of visual arts classes to students of all ages, as well as the opportunity to learn about new and changing visions of the world in the Peter Kirk Gallery.