Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority

Ever get tired of seeing neat older buildings in once one-​house neighborhoods razed and boring condos and townhouses replace them? Wonder why the City of Seattle does so little to protect them?
You have not be familiar with it, but Historic Seattle shares your concern (s) and been saving buildings of historic/​aesthetic value for some time now: (1) Queen Anne High School (now condos, but they saved the outside and preserved the integrity of the interior), (2) the oddly modernist Egan House (which I saw as part of a Historic Seattle-​sponsored tour) above I-​5, (3) Cadillac Hotel (now the Klondike Gold Rush Historical Museum run by the U.S. Parks Service), (4) Church of Christ (now Town Hall!), and (5) the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.
Both the Egan House and Good Shepherd Center are actually owned by HSP.
Sometimes to save a historic building, HSP has had to actually move them!
For example, it was instrumental in moving a group of 1890s-​era workers’ cottages from Chinatown to the Ballard Avenue Historic District. The beautiful Italianate house near Half Price Books on Capitol Hill, now an attorney’s office, was originally at Pike and Boren.
Washington Hall was one of the focus of its efforts (and was as of mid January 2009 was designated as a Historic Landmark by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board), thus hopefully being saved from the demolition ball.
Currently the organization is trying to save bungalow courts on Capitol Hill from being razed.
The non-​profit organization is housed in the 102-​year-​old Dearborn House mansion on First Hill and sponsors tours and lectures throughout the year. There is a library in the basement that is open to the public (which I have not had the opportunity to visit).
Late this month, an exhibition on the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Pacific Northwest at MOHAI will open.
One of the major annual events its sponsors is the Bungalow Fair (the next one, in late September 2009, will offer a tour of Ravenna bungalows as well as a contemporary Arts and Crafts exhibition and related lectures at Town Hall). Other events include tours of notable houses («tea and tour») in the area.
I am not sure how large a membership base it has, but there are a number of volunteer openings, apparently, at this very active but not very well-​known – to the general public – civic organization.