King County recently announced the winners of this year’s Spellman Awards, given for exemplary achievement in historic preservation of buildings around the county – and a very noticeable North Bend renovation project was one of the honorees.
The 2019 Spellman Awards for Historic Preservation were held at Issaquah’s Village Theater in late October and Craig Glazier was on hand to accept the award for his work to restore the old Sunset Garage – at the corner of North Bend Way and Bendigo Blvd – to its origins dating back to the 1920’s.
For decades the building had been mostly used for storage, but through Craig’s work, the building’s auto dealership roots were brought back to life.
The Sunset Garage first opened in 1922, but it was torn down to make way for a new [cement] ‘Art Moderne’ style building that opened as the depression hit in 1929.
Five years ago Craig tackled the interior of the garage in order to attract building tenants and then began work on the exterior this past year – something that pleased many North Bend residents.
Major restoration work included: opening up the original drive-thu bay located at the busy downtown corner of Bendigo and North Bend Way and adding back the flat awning above it, along with reconstructing tile awnings above the storefront windows.
Congratulations, Craig! See info about the Sunset Garage history below.
From our earlier story about the restoration and history of the Sunset Garage:
Around 1929 the original wooden Sunset Garage – built by Harry Snyder – was torn down and the current concrete building was constructed. According to the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum, the building held its grand opening in October of 1929, just as the stock market crashed.
Snyder’s granddaughter told the museum that the garage held on through the Depression because of her grandfather’s reputation as a mechanic who could keep older cars running.
About the time the new Sunset Garage opened, it became a Buick dealership, with Durant Motors going out of business a couple of years later. Snyder’s granddaughter said the garage was the first Buick dealership on the Eastside.
In the 1960’s Harry Snyder sold his Buick-Pontiac dealership, but his successors continued to sell Buicks from the iconic building. During that decade the building was purchased by the Glazier family, who still own it today.
