Madison Park Bathhouse Renovation and Shoreline Restoration Project

Our Goal:

The Madison Park Renovation and Shoreline Restoration Plan seeks to revitalize one of Seattle's most cherished public spaces, preserving its historical significance while adapting to the needs of a growing and diverse community. Led by Friends of Madison Park in partnership with the city, the project aims to revitalize the park and renovate the historic bathhouse into a year-round hub for community activities. This vision emphasizes environmental sustainability, cultural exchange, and community pride, ensuring that Madison Park remains a vibrant, inclusive, and well- maintained space for future generations.

Aerial view of a park with labeled areas and paths, showing a pier, boat launch, sandbox, sports courts, and surrounding streets.

Current Park Layout

A white house with steps leading to a gray door, surrounded by green lawn and bushes, two tall trees on either side, and a clear blue sky with sunlight shining behind the left tree.

Key Objectives:

  • Preserve the historic charm of the bathhouse while modernizing it to create additional flexible spaces. These will support its continued use as a preschool while also accommodating a broader range of community needs. The updated facility will enable indoor meetings, public gatherings, exercise classes, and other year-round activities.

  • Redesign the layout of the bathhouse and surroundings to enhance recreational opportunities by upgrading restroom facilities and improving the dedicated spaces for lake access, swimming, lifeguard equipment, and small craft storage. The redesign will also explore the potential for offering kayaks, paddle boards, and other watercraft, expanding recreational opportunities and ensuring the park meets the growing needs of the community.

  • Implement shoreline restoration techniques to address erosion/degradation, remove invasive vegetation, support local wildlife including migrating salmon, and improve water quality, creating a more resilient and ecologically beneficial shoreline.

  • Upgrade park infrastructure to ensure barrier-free access, including ADA-compliance and improved accessibility to waterfront areas, safer street crossings, sanitary bathrooms, etcetera.

  • Leverage the improved facilities to activate the park with cultural, educational, and recreational programming that celebrates the diverse fabric of Seattle’s communities and that enhances value to the neighborhood and city.

  • Integrate sustainable design practices including energy-efficient building renovations to reduce the park’s environmental footprint and ensure sustainable operation.

Shoreline Restoration

Working with the Seattle Parks Foundation and Seattle Parks & Recreation, we have gathered feedback from 500+ park users and conducted initial code review. We have also partnered with the landscape architecture firm Anchor QEA to assess the park’s current conditions and identify opportunities for improvements.

Map of Madison Park renovation and shoreline restoration with areas marked for shoreline topics, park topic areas, and specific improvements such as pier renovation, shoreline habitat, boat access, water edge access, beach edge, lawn and landscape, vehicle access; includes a legend with scale and north arrow.

Project Vision Board:

A collage of images showing a waterfront area with various shoreline features and amenities, including piers, beaches, shoreline plantings, and accessible facilities.
A collage of images showing park renovations, including shade trees, lawn seating, open lawns, accessible pathways, pole lighting, paving, shoreline connection, pedestrian prioritization, art crosswalk, picnic areas, benches, seatwalls, playful seati
A collage of images depicting the phases of a community project. It includes an arrival point with a building, kayak storage, a community gathering with people sitting indoors, and landscape-first structures like a church and a golf course. Additiona