The Big Blue (Sunrise) House Restoration

Harry Leavitt, Mike’s Dad, bought this central Seattle property in the late 1970’s as a rooming house. The 1908 building had a long and illustrious history, from its 1970’s “Sunrise House” heyday through the ‘80s, during which time Harry held solar energy workshops, built a massive educational greenhouse and ran a “Recycling Olympics” summer camp for kids. In 2003, Mike started actively restoring the structure and improving the grounds with fencing and walkways. The task of scraping and sanding the 4-story exterior prepared the house for a transition from brown & beige to bright blue, and welcomed a new community large enough to earn the place new nickname, “The Big Blue House”. The house also located Mike’s first art shows, self-produced from the house’s main floor in a small neighborhood business district, complete with an “ArtShop” gallery that Mike operated for 3 years until his started showing in “real” art galleries like Roq La Rue in 2004.