These unique manhole covers (or what the City of Seattle likes to refer them as,
personnel hatch covers) are two of many artistic hatch covers (115 to be exact) that are located throughout downtown Seattle. These two hatch covers are located at the corner of the YMCA. One hatch cover has a relief map of the City of Seattle designed into the metal plate, with names of popular locations bordering its edge and small icons that represent the location of each landmark. It is located on the sidewalk. This hatch cover and 18 others of the same type were commissioned by the City in 1975 and designed by artist Anne Knight. The
Corporate Seal of the City of Seattle is located on the cover as well. The other hatch cover located on the street corner was created by artist
Nancy Blum in 2002 and titled
City Light City Bright.
The following text taken from the Kpluwonders.org website says:
Why the city decided to decorate these “personnel hatch covers,” as the city now refers to them, harks back to a time when the city was full of creative energy and lots of city activists were looking for ways to improve the quality of urban life ... The hatch cover art program began in 1976 and was part of something much larger ... coming off of protests against the Viet Nam War and other social movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s there was a desire to try new things ... Paul Schell, who later became mayor, was the head of the city’s Department of Community Development at the time and said, “It was a time in the city when there was a lot happening. I mean it was everything from historic preservation to stopping freeways to saving Pioneer Square. And we’d just come off of saving Pike Place Market and finding ways to rebuild it with urban renewal funds.” ... Public art became a major focus of Schell’s department. They were looking for ways for the public to engage in art and art to engage the public. He said it was being “argued about and discussed and bandied about” at the time.
The following text comes from the cityofseattle.net website:
The idea for artist-designed hatch covers in Seattle came from Seattle Arts Commissioner Jacquetta Blanchett, after seeing hatch covers in Florence, Italy in the late 1950s. (Paul Schell) persuaded Blanchett to make a private donation, which paid for 13 hatchcovers displaying a design created by artist Anne Knight. Other donors supported the project as well, and a total of 19 hatchcovers of Knights' design were installed. Anne Knight produced a relief map of downtown Seattle. Thirteen major Seattle landmarks are keyed around the rim of the map. A stainless-steel button on each hatchcover indicates its location within the city. Each of the 19 hatchcovers produced weighed 230 pounds.