Quadrant Lake Union Center Mosaic - Seattle, WA
N 47° 38.958 W 122° 20.970
10T E 548852 N 5277528
This small mosaic piece is imbedded in a sidewalk on the corner of Fremont Ave and N 34th St in the Fremont district of Seattle, WA and near the Groundspeak Headquarters, home of Waymarking and Geocaching!
Waymark Code: WMGCJV
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 02/14/2013
Views: 38
Passersby in the Fremont district of Seattle might notice a small mosaic piece of art imbedded in the sidewalk and near a very popular sculpture titled,
Waiting for the Interurban by deceased sculptor, Richard Beyer. This mosaic piece has the words 'QUADRANT LAKE UNION CENTER' spelled in bricks around the mosaic tiles and the words 'A BURKE PROPERTY' underneath colored tiling representing a part of the Aurora Bridge (in which you can see in the background to one of my attached pictures). The words in this mosaic represent a group of seven buildings (and soon an eighth building) that make up this quadrant and includes the Groundspeak headquarters, home of Geocaching.com and Waymarking.com. Suzie Burke is the owner of these buildings and many others that comprise much of Fremont and inherited the land that this quadrant and other buildings reside from her late parents. Her mother cut the ribbon to the opening of Aurora Bridge in 1932 and may be why the bridge is symbolized in this mosaic, as a memorial gesture. Her father owned a waterside mill which later became an industrial park.
Many denizens of Fremont have blamed Suzie Burke of 'selling out' to the corporate entities who have leased the buildings that Burke owns in Fremont and convey a campus-like quality and feel when visited. The reasons behind this 'tag' on Burke have to do with the cultural identity that seems to have been lost in Fremont over the last 15-20 years, as a Bohemian and off-beat mecca of Seattle's artisans and hippies that once frequented this area along with a tougher crowd of motorcycle gangs and a drug culture to boot. Suzie Burke credits herself for replacing much of this 'downtrodden' culture with a more modern flair and she stands behind her establishments and doesn't look back.