One of Ballard’s oldest buildings is more likely to still be standing after an earthquake because the owners have undergone a voluntary seismic retrofit with the help of King County.

The two-story building at 5101 Ballard Avenue is known as the Hansen Building, and until recently many Ballardites would recognize it as the at the location of Dock Street Brokers. The business operated there for the last 40 years. Dock Street Brokers recently sold.

The building was built in 1905 and was added to the U.S. Department of Interior National Register in 1976 as a building that adds to the Ballard Avenue Landmark District.

Hansen Building in 1937 operated as the Ballard Hand Laundry.

Laurie Lohrer and Roger Lohrer have owned the building for the last 18 years and their aim has been to maintain its historic qualities, such as the ornamental brickwork made from bricks used as ballasts in ships that sailed around Cape Horn. The Lohrers came to own the building when they bought Dock Street Brokers. Roger had worked for the firm for years before buying the business.

The Lohrers had been considering the retrofit for a long time; especially after earthquakes like the 2001 Nasqually devastated buildings like the Hansen Building in other communities. The Ballard City Hall was lost in the 1965 earthquake and the Sunset Hotel to the Nisqually earthquake.

Like the buildings lost, the Hansen Building is recognized by the City of Seattle as an Unreinforced Masonry Building (URM). These buildings are known to be unsafe during earthquakes because they are not braced with rebar concrete or cinderblock. The structures are not only a danger to the people inside but also to people outside: the bricks and stones from ornamentation on top of the buildings are known to fall during an earthquake.

The City has identified roughly 1150 URM buildings in Seattle. 69 of those types of buildings are in Ballard and are concentrated in the heart of the neighborhood on Ballard Avenue N.W.

“Unreinforced Masonry (URM) buildings are the most vulnerable building type in the event of an earthquake. A typical URM is a brick building built prior to 1940 that lacks the steel reinforcement and structural connections between the floors and walls,” said Bryan Stevens, media handler for the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection told the Ballard News-Tribune last August. “We haven’t allowed these types of buildings for many decades.”

The City is developing a policy that would make it mandatory for owners of URM buildings to have them seismically retrofitted. The first step was to identify all the URM buildings and then notify owners. They sent notification letters last April.

The Lohrers were a little worried about the cost of the retrofit after they received their letter.

“They sent a letter to all of us poor building owners who need are retrofitting should be there be another earthquake, and we thought ‘this as going to be pricy,’” said Laurie Lohrer.

The procedure can cost as much as $300,000, however King County offers grants through the 4Culture Grant Program to encourage owners to undergo the retrofitting.

Lohrer said she wasn’t aware of the grant until recently. The Lohrers applied and were pleased to find they were selected. The Hansen retrofit was partially funded in part by King County Bonds “Saving Landmarks” 4Culture “Building for Culture” grants, which was awarded in January 2016. Work to the two-story portion roof was partially funded by a 4Culture “Landmarks Capitol” grant, and was awarded in June 2016.

“We value our role to preserve this architectural gem. We decided in invest in the voluntary seismic retrofit, as the best, long -term way to protect the building, passersby and our tenants.”

“Seismically retrofitting unreinforced masonry buildings in the Ballard Avenue Landmark District ensures not only that these buildings are safer for people during an earthquake, but also continue to maintain the historic character of Ballard Avenue that is so cherished by the community,” said Heather McAuliffe, Coordinator for the Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board.

The building has a rich history and has been described at "the most important building" in the Ballard Landmark District because it’s an example of turn of the century architecture. The building was originally home to the Henry Brothers Saloon and was the site of a number of a number saloons afterward, and later, during Prohibition, it was rumored to be a speakeasy and bordello but known as Ballard Hand Laundry. The laundry operated until 1950. Later in the 1971, then owners, Anne and Bob LeCoump, started the Ballard Avenue preservation movement and began restoring their building. The Lohrers purchased the building in 1998 and started making improvements of their own.

“Our thanks goes out to 4Culture and King County for grant funding; thanks to our tenants for their patience and cooperation; our terrific project team - Marpac Construction, SMR Architects and IL Gross Structural Engineers; to City of Seattle DCI, SDOT, Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board and Puget Sound Energy, who all helped make our retrofit possible,” wrote Lohrer.

“The experience and communication within our project team, combined with cooperation of City of Seattle DCI and SDOT, Puget Sound Solar and Puget Sound Energy made this project possible and successful.”