Freeway Park

{{Short description|Urban park in Seattle, Washington, US}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}

{{Infobox park

| name = Freeway Park

| photo = Aerial view of Freeway Park at night, looking south from Pine and 9th.jpg

| photo_width = 300px

| photo_caption = Aerial view of Freeway Park at night

| type = Urban park

| location = {{Unbulleted list|700 Seneca Street,|Seattle, Washington, United States}}

| area = {{convert|5.2|acre|ha mi2 km2}}{{Cite report |title=Annual Report 2019 |date=2020-04-13 |url=https://issuu.com/freewayparkassociation/docs/fpa_2019annualreport |publisher=Freeway Park Association|access-date=October 25, 2021 |via=Issuu}}

| mapframe-custom = {{Maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=300|frame-height=300|zoom=14|frame-lat=47.6095|frame-long=-122.3315|type=shape|stroke-color=#000|stroke-width=1|id=Q5501246|title=Freeway Park}}

| map_width =

| map_caption = A map of downtown Seattle with Freeway Park highlighted in black

| coords = {{Coord|47|36|35|N|122|19|52|W|format=dms|display=inline,title|type:landmark_region:US-WA}}

| opened = {{Start date and age|1976|07|04}}

| owner = Seattle Parks and Recreation

| operator = Freeway Park Association

| visitation_num =

| open = 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.{{cite web |title=Freeway Park - Seattle Parks and Recreation |url=https://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/freeway-park |website=Seattle.gov |publisher=City of Seattle |access-date=October 25, 2021}}

| publictransit = {{rint|seattle|link}} Symphony station

| embedded = {{Infobox NRHP

| embed = yes

| name =

| image =

| built =

| architect = Lawrence Halprin, Angela Danadjieva

| architecture = Brutalism

| designated_other2_name = Washington Heritage Register

| designated_other2_abbr = WHR

| designated_other2_link = Washington Heritage Register

| designated_other2_date = October 25, 2019{{cite news |last1=Reiner-Roth |first1=Shane |title=Seattle's Brutalist Freeway Park is reviewed for National Register and approved for renovation |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2019/11/seattle-freeway-park-national-register/ |access-date=October 25, 2021 |work=The Architect's Newspaper |date=November 5, 2019}}

| designated_other2_number =

| designated_other2_color = #FFE978

| designated_other3 = Seattle Landmark

| designated_other3_date = May 18, 2022{{cite news|url=https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/freeway-park-downtown-seattle-declared-city-landmark/IJA2QNYOU5B4JMIR2EZNEZFA4Q/|title=Freeway Park in downtown Seattle declared city landmark|work=KIRO 7 News|date=May 20, 2022|accessdate=July 8, 2022}}

| area =

| added = December 19, 2019{{cite web |title=Weekly List 20191220 - National Register of Historic Places |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2019-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf |website=National Park Service |publisher=United States Department of the Interior |access-date=October 25, 2021 |language=en |date=December 20, 2019}}

| refnum = 100004789

}}

}}

Freeway Park, officially known as Jim Ellis Freeway Park, is an urban park in Seattle, Washington, United States, connecting the city's downtown to the Seattle Convention Center and First Hill. The park sits atop a section of Interstate 5 and a large city-owned parking lot; 8th Avenue also bridges over the park. An unusual mixture of brutalist architecture and greenery, the {{convert|5.2|acre|m2|adj=on}} park, designed by Lawrence Halprin's office under the supervision of Angela Danadjieva, opened to the public on July 4, 1976, at a cost of $23.5 million.{{cite web |last=Beckner |first=Chrisanne |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Freeway Park |date=September 2019 |url=https://wisaard.dahp.wa.gov/api/api/resultgroup/518278/doc |publisher=United States Department of the Interior |format=PDF | access-date = October 25, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211025013606/https://wisaard.dahp.wa.gov/api/api/resultgroup/518278/doc | archive-date = October 25, 2021 | url-status = live}} An expansion of the park that stretches several blocks up First Hill, including a stairway and wheelchair ramp, was opened in 1982.{{cite news |last=Easton |first=Valerie |date=July 27, 2008 |title=In the concrete jungle, Freeway Park will offer respite once again |url=http://old.seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2008065997_pacificplife27.html |work=The Seattle Times |access-date=October 27, 2019 |archive-date=June 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616002034/http://old.seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2008065997_pacificplife27.html |url-status=dead }}

The park is also a cultural landscape and a precedent setting park that, according to The Cultural Landscape Foundation, helped define a new land-use typology for American cities.{{cite web |last1=Maryman |first1=Brice |last2=Birkholz |first2=Liz |year=2005 |title=Freeway Park/Past, Present and Future? |url=http://www.tclf.org/features/freeway/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228183550/http://tclf.org/features/freeway/index.htm |archive-date=2009-02-28 |access-date=2009-05-31 |website=The Cultural Landscape Foundation}} It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 19, 2019, having been listed on the Washington Heritage Register in a unanimous vote on October 25; it was also declared a Seattle Landmark by the city's landmarks preservation board in a unanimous vote on May 18, 2022.

The park's unique architecture has made it famous among parkour enthusiasts. The World Freerunning and Parkour Federation listed Freeway Park second on its list of the seven best parkour locations in the world.{{cite web |url=https://wfpf.com/the-7-best-parkour-locations-in-the-world/ |website=World Freerunning and Parkour Federation |title=The 7 Best Parkour Locations in the World |last=Parham |first=Sam |date=February 18, 2020|access-date=2021-02-21}}