Carnegie Library up for sale, price tag $3 million

The owners of the old Carnegie Library are selling the historic building. Karoline Morrison and Dennis Beals are asking $3 million for the 1904 building, our news partner the Seattle Times is reporting.

“This building is the love of my life,” Morrison told the Times, “I think I’ve had a longer association with it than with nearly any person. It’s a part of me.” The right buyer will have more than just the financing to purchase it, they’ll need to take care of it. Morrison says she wants the next owner to continue to preserve the building the way she has.

The building, which was a Seattle Public Library from 1907 to 1963, is on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, but according to the Times who spoke with Greg Griffith, a deputy state historic preservation officer, it’s considered an “honorary” recognition that doesn’t come with any protections.

To read more from the Seattle Times, click here.

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16 thoughts to “Carnegie Library up for sale, price tag $3 million”

  1. “Morrison says she wants the next owner to continue to preserve the building the way she has.”

    If by “preserve,” she means “tear down and replace with condos,” then I think she’ll be happy. Otherwise… Denny’s?

  2. I love that building, and hope any new owner will respect its heritage. There are so many things it could be, and I don’t care if it is a restaurant (Ballard needs a great steakhouse!) or historically-preserved building for apartments or condos. I really wish it wasn’t being “chopped up” into massage and therapy offices, though…as if we need any more massage and other assorted therapists in the neighborhood…and no more yoga studios either, please…

  3. Kemper Freeman or some other BS developer who likes to pave the earth … please … save us from our vacant lots, due to failed commercial investments … knock down that POS, and replace with a Denny’s or bowling ally. Is Susie Burke still alive?

  4. Ballard needs a big beer hall. Huge glasses – tons of beer – very little food, maybey a pinball or a fooze – but beer – open from 8 till 2:00 ..

  5. Suzie Burke is alive and well and living in Ballard. And thank God she moved The Red Door instead of tearing it down- my family used to own it. Carnegies was a great restaurant- too bad the owner raised their rent before putting the property on the block.

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