The crop of Capitol Hill murals popping up this fall includes a new work on the side of a 15th Ave E bank that would be an apartment building if the currents of redevelopment bringing change to the neighborhood twenty years ago had not been blocked by a worldwide financial meltdown.
For artist Glynn Rosenberg, her newly unveiled giant work on the north side of the street’s Key Bank is a message to Capitol Hill that the artist says explores housing insecurity and the reality “people can’t afford to live in Capitol Hill anymore” —
This mural is my love letter to my neighborhood. It is a utopian vision that reflects the past while having hope for the future. It is deeply personal to me, as I try to understand my own place in Capitol Hill. Change, progress, development – all of this moves at its own pace, determined by broader socio-economic factors – and I don’t think it can be stopped or slowed in an effort to preserve the Soul of Capitol Hill.
The 2008 financial crisis also helped.
In 2005, Key Bank had the property lined up for a rezone approved by the city to make way for what would have been a first on the street — a 40-foot tall mixed-use apartment building. The project — with d...