Thanks to dozens of donors and local corporate sponsors, the Bad to Beautiful initiative has been successfully completed!
Workers from Queen Anne Upholstery unpack and unload the reupholstered seats.
The Museum participated in the Seattle Foundation’s Give BIG event last May. Give BIG 2012 was the second annual day of giving hosted by the Seattle Foundation with participation from hundreds of local charities. Individual donations were partially matched by a stretch pool funded by local companies including Seattle Sounders FC, Microsoft and JP Morgan Chase. Donors made contributions through the Museum’s page at the Seattle Foundation.
The Museum pledged support from the event for new seat upholstery on the interpretive railway. Seats in car 1590 were selected – they were last reupholstered during the Roosevelt administration. That 1913-built car’s seats actually came from an early 20th Century first class coach because the 1590’s original café and parlor chairs were removed during WW II.
Completed seat cushions in car 1590.
Twenty-two seats in the car 1590 have now been reupholstered with commercial fabric, a product several orders of magnitude more durable (and costly!) than fabric used on home furniture. The dark green mohair-like material is very similar to the original fabric used on these seats nearly 100 years ago. Work was performed by Seattle’s Queen Anne Upholstery and the results are spectacular! So come and check
out the new seats – train departs weekends through the end of October and again for Santa Train.
out the new seats – train departs weekends through the end of October and again for Santa Train.
Thank you to everyone who supported Give BIG 2012, corporate donors who matched those donations, and to the Seattle Foundation for hosting it!
Hiawatha, Beautiful job on those seats! They look great and they'll last a long time. You belong to a very dedicated group of preservationists… Take Care, Big Daddy Dave