Madison and Harrison/Denny-Blaine

Yesterday, my husband and I took a 7.7 mile walk in the Madison Park and Harrison/Denny-Blaine neighborhoods. We walked streets east of Madison from E Blaine to Lake Washington Blvd E.

There are commercial areas with restaurants and shops on each end of the stretch of Madison we walked. Close to the northeastern area (I think it's referred as Madison Park Village), there are large condos. Other areas have mostly single family homes. The streets near the lake are flat but the land slopes up fairly steeply going west. Most of the streets have sidewalks and curbs and many streets have underground utilities.

To say that this is a "tidy" neighborhood is an understatement - many streets were closer to "manicured." With its upscale atmosphere, spectacular views and proximity to the UW, it's no wonder that Hill-Crest Mansion (the UW president's residence) is located here.

Walking west on Valley, we could see the dome of Holy Names Academy. Walking east, we saw three areas of public shore access. One was just north of the Seattle Tennis Club,

one was at Highland and 42nd

and the other was near Lee and 42nd.

This neighborhood is home to Fire Station No. 34 (which is hoping to expand),

Washington Pioneer Hall which houses the Fiske Genealogical Library and the Pioneer Museum. (The museum is open to the public on the second Sunday of each month from 1-4 pm - admission is free.)

and the Bush School.

This area abuts Broadmoor (with its manned guardhouse) and Madison Park Beach (pictured in an earlier post).

We passed a mailbox (near Madison and 36th), sidewalks with tiled street names, majestic trees, a staircase from E Mercer down to Lake Washington Blvd and 32nd Avenue, a sign letting us know we were under video surveillance and cross-walk flags we could use to stop traffic on Madison.

We saw lots of gardeners, a dog walker (with four dogs), an older gentleman with a newspaper under his arm an a few women out walking. The closer we got to the commercial areas, the more people we saw.

Like some streets on Capitol Hill, this area made me wonder what Seattle life was like when these homes were built and who lived here.