After break-ins and fires, the old Queen Sheba house across from Capitol Hill Station is being torn down

“Queen Sheba restaurant at 916 E John street is abandoned and the plywood has been breached and broken into again,” a January complaint to the city read. “With the history of fires in this building due to vagrancy this building needs to be secured again.”

Seattle’s vacant building monitoring program and a series of fires, complaints, and violations will bring the demolition of the more than 120-year-old E John house turned storefront formerly home to the Queen Sheba restaurant, ending a multiyear effort to rehabilitate the historic structure.

A demolition permit was filed last week for the property just a block off Broadway across E John from busy Capitol Hill Station.

The demolition will add only an empty lot to the property sandwiched between the 102-year-old, five story Capitol Building on the corner and the Broadway Locksmith to the east. There are no permit filings currently in the works for any plans, yet, to redevelop the Queen Sheba parcel.

CHS reported here two years ago on the closure of the longtime Ethiopian favorite Queen Sheba after decades on the Hill.

Property owner and developer Dru Agarwal had plans for rehabbing the 1900-era building and giving the structure a new paint job after purchasing the property in 2021 for $1.8 million.

Last year, it was still being put up for lease (PDF) for a possible new restaurant or bar.

Standing empty int he busy area, the property suffered vandalism and trespassers and at least two fires brought major responses to the block.

The house was subject to the city’s costly vacant building monitoring program and was dinged by repeated complaints and violations including an emergency order issued in September ordering the property “closed” over “OBSERVED HIGH HAZARD CONDITIONS.”

The order included a fine of up to $1,000 per day for continued violations if the property wasn’t secured.

A half year later, the property is about to be secured — permanently. The demolition permit includes Seattle’s standard “rat abatement” plan for the property and directions for the contractor to remove and protect some of the hold house’s valuable features including doors and windows, and the hardwood floors.

The city’s Historical Sites listing includes the property, calling the structure a “gable-front house” with a storefront “added below and a later flat-roofed addition made on the east elevation.”

“This house was built about the same time as the 1903 completion of Seattle (later Broadway) High School, the city’s first modern high school,” the city’s entry reads.”

“Broadway, already an important street, flourished with new businesses, especially those catering to students, such as sandwich shops.”

As for what comes next for the soon to be empty lot, there is no plan, yet for those 3,360 square feet.

“We are exploring options,” Agarwal said.

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