Seattle PI globe being considered for landmark status
Mar 7, 2012, 8:09 AM | Updated: 9:30 am
An agreement among Hearst Corp., the city of Seattle and the Museum of History and Industry are expected to preserve the iconic Seattle P-I globe.
The fate of the 18-ton, neon-lit orb has been uncertain since the Hearst-owned Seattle Post-Intelligencer ceased printing and became seattlepi.com in 2009.
Seattle historian Feliks Banel said about 10 years ago someone from Hearst told him maintaining the globe was a pretty costly endeavor.
“They told me it cost about $60,000 a year just to maintain it,” said Banel, in an appearance on 97.3 KIRO FM Seattle’s Morning News. “It’s a big commitment from anyone willing to take it on.”
Banel said the globe is made of sheet metal and rotates on rubber tires. “It’s a very complex mechanism.”
The globe was inspired by a P-I promotional contest in 1947 that sought designs for a new symbol for the paper.
“It’s the most romantic era of newspapers because there is all this revenue,” said Banel. “Advertisers were spending most of their money on newspapers. Until about 1960 that’s where people mainly got their news from.”
The Landmark Preservation Board will consider the globe for landmark status on Wednesday.
Banel thinks the globe “certainly qualifies.”
Seattlepi.com reports three city council members who are all former reporters, Jean Godden, Tim Burgess, and Sally Clark, are expected to announce an agreement to preserve the globe on Wednesday.
The globe is expected to remain indefinitely atop the old Seattle P-I building on the waterfront. But if it ever has to move, the city would provide staff time and community outreach to help find a new location.
By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
