Photo courtesy of the Yakima Valley Museum The Wilson building, right, as it appeared in the early 1900s. The building in downtown Yakima is slated for destruction as part of an expansion plan of the adjacent Capitol Theatre. Links   E-mail             Print              Comments (1) Advertisement

Memo to the Yakima City Council: End the cover-up!

That's the message the city's Historical Preservation Commission wants to convey to the City Council about the fate of the doomed Wilson Building, which is slated for demolition as part of the Capitol Theatre's ambitious $15 million expansion plan.

Meeting Wednesday at City Hall, the commission agreed informally to petition the City Council to take an active interest in a humble structure that has witnessed 102 years of history from its perch at the busy corner of Yakima Avenue and Third Street.

Commission members want the council to flex its political muscle and demand the theater immediately remove the rusting metal facade that has covered up the building's second floor for decades. The city owns the theater, which in turn owns the Wilson.

What happens after that is anybody's guess -- theater CEO Steve Caffery insists the building has major structural deficiencies and is neither historically nor architecturally significant. But commission members said they could not continue to stand by and watch another downtown building be torn down without saying something.

"I would like to see it removed so it (the building) can be assessed," said commission member Joe Mann, himself the owner of several buildings in the downtown area.

Underlying the commission's attitude is a belief that Caffery, the driving force behind the expansion plan, does not want the public to see the true exterior for fear it might lead to a messy preservation effort.

"It's in the center of downtown," explained commissioner Jenifer Wilde-McMurtrie. "Its importance cannot be overlooked."

The theater bought the Wilson in 2006 with the express purpose of tearing it down to make way for a new multi-use facility as part of the Capitol's goal of creating a more versatile downtown venue for the arts.

Commission members stressed that they support the Capitol's efforts to reinvigorate downtown Yakima and swore they are not so committed to the cause of preservation that they won't respond to rational evidence.

"It could go 50-50," predicted commission member Scott Irons, who said removal of the siding could uncover exterior architecture worth saving or "it may be just the opposite."

On a side note, local historian Yvonne Wilbur briefed the commission on the background of the building's namesake, George Wilson, a Scottish immigrant who once farmed on 1,000 acres in the West Valley before moving to the city to pursue business interests.

Wilbur told the group that Wilson sunk $11,000 into the construction of the building, a figure she described as princely for its time.