In 1916, Lake Washington dropped nine feet when the Ship Canal opened. At the foot of Madison Street, the pavilion, piers and promenade from the old amusement-park era ended up on dry land, and they had to come down. Three years later, the Seattle Municipal Railway put up a small wood-frame bathhouse on the new beach.
That building at 1900 43rd Ave E is still in use, and it has been remade every time the neighborhood changed how it used the water. The architects present its next version at a community meeting on Tuesday, November 10, at 7 p.m. That evening, Friends of Madison Park is bringing in the architects to present new schematic designs for the Bathhouse Renovation and Shoreline Restoration project. The meeting takes place inside the bathhouse. The schematic drawings got an early preview at Party for the Park on October 24. November 10 is the first time the architects walk the neighborhood through them.
This plan names the shoreline as one of its goals, alongside the building.
Three Remodels Already Behind It
The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods historic inventory records the original building and three later rounds of work.
- 1919. The streetcar authority built a modest building with a hip roof on a high concrete foundation. It faced a wide grassy beach that sloped down to the water.
- 1922 and 1929. The park moved to the Parks Department in 1922, and the department remodeled the bathhouse in 1929. Less than ten years later, the department found it unsanitary and inadequate.
- 1937 to 1938. The city was short of money during the Depression, so the Works Progress Administration took on the job. The WPA added locker and bag storage for the summer crowds, built a large addition on the lake side, reshaped the roof into today's saltbox form, built the concrete beach steps and put in the tennis courts across the street.
- Mid-1980s. The building was remodeled again to work as a more flexible community center.
The building that came out of all this measures 60 by 45 feet, with clapboard siding and Palladian-style windows on the north and south sides. According to the same inventory, it is the only one of Seattle's early wood-frame bathhouses still standing. Green Lake, Madrona and Seward Park all replaced theirs with masonry buildings. The survey also judged it eligible under both the National Register criteria and the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.
The building already does much more than its name suggests. It houses a preschool that the renovation plans to keep. In a 2024 Parkways notice, Seattle Parks and Recreation sought an early-childhood program for the space under a proposed five-year term with one five-year extension, running from September 2024 through August 2034. Friends of Madison Park also holds its neighborhood meetings in the building.
What the November 10 Drawings Are Meant to Answer
Friends of Madison Park is leading the project with Seattle Parks and Recreation and the Seattle Parks Foundation. Signal Architecture + Research is designing the bathhouse, and the landscape architecture firm Anchor QEA has assessed the shoreline. The early groundwork included a spring and summer 2024 survey that drew more than 500 responses from park users, both locals and visitors from across the city.
The project page lists six goals. Here is how each one compares with what is at the site now:
| Stated goal | What it proposes | What exists now |
|---|---|---|
| Renovate the historic bathhouse | Keep the historic character, keep the preschool, add flexible space for meetings, gatherings and exercise classes year-round | A function room upstairs, restrooms, and a lifeguard office on the beach level |
| Improve recreation facilities | Upgraded restrooms, better space for lake access, swimming, lifeguard gear and small-craft storage, and a look at kayak and paddleboard offerings | A swimming beach that lifeguards patrol in season, per Seattle Parks and Recreation |
| Restore the shoreline | Address erosion, remove invasive plants, support wildlife including migrating salmon, improve water quality | The beach and the WPA-era concrete steps |
| Safety and accessibility | Barrier-free and ADA-compliant access to the water, safer street crossings | Stairs and ramps along the lake side |
| Programming | Cultural, educational and recreational activities in the park | Neighborhood meetings and seasonal events |
| Sustainability | Energy-efficient renovation and operation | Not described |
The historic inventory records the 1938 WPA work at the water's edge as concrete beach steps and describes the 1980s work as a remodel of the building. This plan treats the lake edge as part of the same project. The goals include restoring the shoreline for salmon and adding storage for the boats people would launch from it.
A Year of Quiet Design Work
The project has moved more slowly than most neighborhood efforts. In April 2025, Friends of Madison Park said it was still in the earliest phase, gathering community values and working through constraints like zoning and feasibility. Its September 26, 2026 newsletter said it had been almost a year since the last project meeting. In that time, the group had been working on the design with Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Madison Park Co-op Preschool and the architects. The progress meeting was set for October 13 and then moved to November 10 because of scheduling issues.
Some things are still unknown as of publication. Friends of Madison Park has not published a cost estimate, a funding plan, a permitting schedule or a construction start date. It also hasn't said whether the swimming beach would close during the work. The event listing describes the evening as a chance to see the plans and learn how to get involved. Schematic design is an early stage in architecture, before the detailed drawings and permits. Those open items are likely to make up most of the questions at the meeting.
The evening also covers holiday plans and other events in the works. Most of those events take place on the same stretch of park and beach the drawings are about.
The Season Runs Through the Same Shoreline
The busiest weeks of Madison Park's winter calendar happen on the ground the project would reshape.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Tue., Nov. 10, 7 p.m. | Bathhouse and shoreline schematic designs | Inside the bathhouse |
| Sat., Nov. 14, 9 to 10 a.m. | Fall cleanup of the business district, park and streets | Check in at the Bank of America parking lot |
| Wed., Nov. 25, 6:30 p.m. | Madison Books club, reading Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler | Parlour Wines |
| Sat., Dec. 5, 5 p.m. | Tree lighting and singalong with McGilvra Elementary students | The park, by the playground |
| Sat., Dec. 12, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Outdoor holiday artisan market | Bank of America lot, Madison and 41st Ave |
| Sat., Dec. 19, 2:35 to 2:55 p.m. | Argosy Christmas Ships, with a bonfire afterward | The beach |
The fall cleanup asks volunteers to sweep and rake the business district and the park. Tools are provided, or you can bring your own. Friends of Madison Park's calendar notes that the book club meets on the last Wednesday of every month, with no sign-up needed. The Christmas Ships stop is the only one of these events held on the sand itself. It lasts 20 minutes in mid-afternoon, followed by a bonfire on the shoreline the restoration plan is meant to rebuild.
One Storefront Also in Transition
The business district is going through its own change this fall. The Independent Pizzeria at 4235 E Madison St served its last pizzas on October 16. Tom Siegel and Tora Hennessey opened it in April 2010 and are now retiring. WhatNow Seattle reported that the owners pushed the closing up two days from the original October 18 date to give themselves time to pack up. On their own site, the owners said a new restaurant is moving into the space and that they would share more on their Instagram on November 1.
Friends of Madison Park's newsletter lays out the renovation goals in full for anyone who wants to read them before Tuesday.
Lisa follows changes like this along Madison Park's waterfront closely, because the shoreline is a large part of what makes the neighborhood what it is. If you would like to talk about how the bathhouse plans fit into the longer story of Madison Park, Lisa Turnure is glad to talk it through, and you can sign up for exclusive listings to hear about properties near the water first.
