SHORELINE – For as long as Susan Karlsen can remember, she has wanted to own and restore an old building. But she never thought she would actually get the chance.
“The very first time I came through Richmond Beach I stood in front of this building, fell in love with it and thought about having a business here,” she said.
Twenty-five years later, she is living in and running her own business, Luminaries Wellness Center, from the very same old building on 195th Place in Shoreline. She is also receiving some extra help with her ongoing restoration project in the form of a $2,500 preservation grant from the King County 4Culture’s Landmark Rehabilitation Program.
The grant money will go toward repainting the exterior and repairing some siding and trim. The chosen paint color? Haystack yellow, she said, the original color of the building in the early 1920s. She bought the building in 1999.
“I’ve done the best that I could to keep it the same and not make any big changes,” Karlsen said, adding that she has spent $60,000 in upgrades that include hardwood flooring, new walls and a foundation. “I did some research and I found out that originally the building was a pale yellow color, so soon it will be painted the color it was when it was the Crawford General Store.”
From her own research, Karlsen also learned that her building was not only once a general store but also a fix-it shop and a real estate agency.
“There are pictures,” she said. “There was just a dirt road with a wooden sidewalk and a boardwalk out front. Women wore long skirts and there were horses.”
According to Vicki Stiles, Shoreline Historical Museum director, not much is truly known about the history of the Crawford Store other than the store was named after Langford Crawford, who owned one of the first businesses in the building.
“The property record shows that it was built and owned by John T. Holloway in 1922,” Stiles said.
While changes such as the transformation of a shed space into a massage room have occurred in order to accompany the needs of her small yoga and massage therapy business, signs of the building’s age still are apparent. Karlsen is quick to point out where a wood burning stove once sat and the rippled, single-pane windows.
“People say I need to change the windows, but it makes me remember that it’s an old building so I just left them. If I replace everything, then it’s not old anymore,” she said.
Old or not, what once was a place to buy eggs or milk, bring a broken toaster or finalize plans to sell a home, is now a place for the community to partake in yoga classes, meditation workshops, massage therapy and make selections from a soon-to-be array of oils, books and other products. Pursuing a passion she has had for holistic medicine for almost thirty years, Karlsen wants to educate others.
“It’s a lot of work but I can’t imagine doing anything else,” she said.
The Crawford Store joined the Ronald School, now the Shoreline Historical Museum, on a list of nine properties in Shoreline, Auburn, Carnation, Duvall, Fall City and North Bend that received preservation grants. A combined total of $58,425 was awarded to the properties based on the recommendation of a panel comprised of those with expertise in architecture and historic preservation.
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