c/o Birthplace of Seattle Log House Museum, 3003 61st Ave. S.W.

, Seattle, WA 98116
206.938.5293 www.loghousemuseum.info
Our mission: to promote local heritage through education, preservation and advocacy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9 a.m. Saturday, March 14, 2015

Alki Homestead to be restored

Builder Dennis Schilling purchases 111-year-old Seattle landmark,
begins work to repair and reopen West Seattle icon after forging
parking-lot agreement with Southwest Seattle Historical Society
WEST SEATTLE, Wash. One of West Seattles most beloved landmarks, closed and dormant for
more than six years, has a new owner and is slated to be fully restored.
The 1904 log building, first known as Fir Lodge and for the past 65 years as the Alki Homestead
restaurant (famed for family-style chicken dinners), was purchased by builder Dennis Schilling from Tom
Lin. The sale closed on Friday, March 13, 2015.
Schilling, who does not know how long restoration will take, is consulting with a structural engineer
before taking the first hands-on steps at restoration, and he is studying a variety of uses for the Alki
Homestead, including reopening a restaurant there, once it is habitable.
A Mercer Island resident who restored the Shoremont apartment building on Alki Avenue Southwest
in 2012, Schilling had entered into contract with Lin to purchase Alki Homestead last December.
A crucial factor in his decision to close the transaction was an agreement he forged with the
Southwest Seattle Historical Society to modify the easement the historical society holds for the Alki
Homestead parking lot.
The historical society board has agreed that Schilling can use part of the parking lot to build an
apartment building of up to six units to help him finance the restoration. The agreement is contingent on
Schillings restoration of the Homestead guided by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board.
The agreement leaves the historical society with a scaled-down number of parking spaces for use by
staff, volunteers and visitors to its Birthplace of Seattle Log House Museum one-half block south.
The museum building was constructed in 1904 as the carriage house for Fir Lodge. It has been
operated by the historical society as a museum since 1997. Both Fir Lodge/Alki Homestead and the
Birthplace of Seattle Log House Museum were designated city landmarks in 1996 by the Seattle
Landmarks Preservation Board.
In January 2009, a portion of the interior of Fir Lodge/Alki Homestead was damaged by an electrical
fire, and the building has been closed and dormant since then.
We are thrilled that the Alki Homestead will be brought to life again, says Marcy Johnsen, president
of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society. We are grateful that Dennis Schilling has stepped forward to
restore this treasure, and we thank everyone who has aided this quest, including the Seattle Landmarks
Preservation Board, Seattle City Council member Tom Rasmussen and our Alki Homestead coalition
partners at Historic Seattle, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and 4Culture.