Leschi Park

Situated approximately two miles east of downtown along the western shore of Lake Washington, this steeply sloped, eighteen-and-a-half-acre park incorporates land originally used by Duwamish peoples as a seasonal settlement. In 1889 the site, located at the terminus of an electric streetcar line, was developed by the Lake Washington Cable Railroad Company as a private park with lakeside amenities that included a ferry landing, boathouse, six-story casino and theatre, roller-skating rink, dance pavilion, and zoo. By 1895 the park’s eastern section was cleared of vegetation and curvilinear paths were laid out to frame irregularly shaped lawn panels, interspersed with deciduous canopy and coniferous trees, likely selected by head gardener, Jacob Umlauff. 

In 1903 Olmsted Brothers recommended that the city acquire the park and contiguous acreage (now Frink Park) to prevent development. Six years later the city purchased Leschi Park and laid out a curvilinear drive (now Lake Washington Boulevard) through its westernmost section. The city established new amenities, including a tennis court and Tudor Revival comfort station (1929), and introduced a road (now Lakeside Avenue) parallel to the shore. In 1949 a moorage was built at the park’s eastern extent. 

Today the park’s lower section is framed to the north and south by residential properties and to the east by Lakeside Avenue, itself edged by a curvilinear sidewalk and an irregular row of coniferous trees. Separate paths lead west, traversing sloped lawns interspersed with several species of deciduous and coniferous trees. The paths meet below the comfort station, sited atop a hillock planted with cedar, tulip-poplar and a giant sequoia specimen purportedly planted by Umlauff.  The northernmost lawn rises to meet a tennis court located at the intersection of a trestle bridge (1912) and Lake Washington Boulevard. From the boulevard, narrow footpaths wend through a steep, second-growth forest that extends into Frink Park, located immediately south.