SEATTLE
Shoreline resident and noted author Ivan Doig saw his name on more than a book cover Jan. 25 when King County Councilman Bob Ferguson named the first floor of Seattle’s newest municipal building in his honor.
“I’ve won some literary awards in my time but never before have I been the first among floors,” Doig told a room full of county officials, honorees and their family members on the first floor of the 13-story Chinook building at 401 Fifth Ave. in downtown Seattle.
Each member of the King County Council named the floor whose number corresponded with the number of his or her council district. The remaining final four stories were named by the county executive.
Ferguson said he wanted to honor a prominent person from within District One who may not be widely recognized for their accomplishments.
“We’re surrounded by people who make contributions to society but are largely unrecognized even by those who live closest to them,” he said.
Ferguson became a fan of Doig’s work after receiving a stack of his novels from his father; he learned Doig was a resident of his district while campaigning in 2005. During his introduction of Doig, Ferguson read from Doig’s memoir, “This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind.” He said the novel inspired him and he vowed to find a few copies of the book to keep on the floor so that other people could “find the same joy in his tremendous writing that (he has) for many years.”
Doig accepted the honor by quoting a line from poet William Butler Yeats.
“William Butler Yeats said a poem should close with the click of a well-made thought,” he said. “If we’re lucky, this sometimes happens in the throes of life too and it has for me here today.”
In 1966, Doig left a behind a magazine job in Chicago when he and his wife, Carol, arrived in Seattle. He studied the history of the American West at the University of Washington and wrote a dissertation titled, “The Life and Times of an Urban Frontiersman,” about a U.S. district attorney named John J. McGilvra who, like Doig, traveled to the King County area from Chicago.
“The title seems to me to be echoed now in well-made fashion in the click of this day and ceremony,” he said. “I am historically pleased to be the name that will greet people at the elevators to ascend to the constellation of floors of my fellow King County honorees.”
The honorees of the floors ranged from a coal miner to a labor organizer and a historic town name. A member of Ferguson’s staff, George Allen, shared his idea to have local middle school students take part in naming the government building. Middle school students in grades seven through nine submitted essays in support of suggested names ranging from the “Edgar Martinez” building to “The Tower of Power.”
The name “Chinook” was selected from 140 entries. Ninth-grader Megan Drews said that “Chinook” is an “important name to me and my family because it celebrates our Northwest native heritage,” and also because “it is a great fish to eat.”
Another student essay submitted to the council by eighth-grader Connolly McHugh suggested that significant names be used for “certain rooms or wings for individuals, groups or symbolic logos” to make this a government building “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Drews and McHugh were both present at the naming ceremony and cut a ceremonial ribbon.
Following the ceremony, honorees and guest were allowed to tour the building.
“It’s a beauty,” Doig said. “It’s really nice to see the arts and the environment represented…King County Council did very well by its citizens by this building.”
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