Shoreline Preservation Society awarded grant to research Fircrest Chapel

Fircrest Chapel
Photo by Janet Way

The Shoreline Preservation Society is proud to announce they have been awarded a Special Projects Grant by 4Culture to research and nominate the Fircrest Chapel for Landmark Status!

The Fircrest Chapel (historically known as the Seattle Naval Hospital Chapel) was, according to U.S. Navy records, the very first freestanding Naval Hospital Chapel in America. It was built 1945 while the war still raged in the Pacific. It was designed largely by staff and situated on a peaceful hillside surrounded by fir trees.

Shoreline Preservation Society will be working closely with professional historians from Northwest Vernacular Northwest Vernacular, as well as others with expertise such as the Shoreline Historical Museum and Friends of Fircrest. They will be seeking input from the US Navy historians and members of the community who may have had family members who were staff or patients there during World War II.

The building is particularly beautiful and is largely intact from its original design. It is set off by its location amidst a lovely forest setting.

Fircrest School is now the home of many disabled people who receive services there and was also previously the TB Sanatorium after being relocated from Firlands (now CRISTA) in the late 1940's and early 1950's.

The property is owned by the the State Department of Natural Resources and Fircrest School is run by DSHS.

Shoreline Preservation Society is an all volunteer WA State Non-Profit that strives to work for preserving Shoreline's cultural and environmental assets for the benefit of current and future residents.