Historic Seattle’s Annual Preservation Celebration is coming up on September 25, 2025. We’ll celebrate the projects and people that help amplify our mission. Today, we feature Lisa Howard, the 2025 Preservation Champion Award recipient.
Congratulations to Lisa Howard!
Executive Director, Alliance for Pioneer Square
“Preservation isn’t just about saving buildings—it’s about honoring the stories, people, and possibilities that make a place matter. Pioneer Square is living history, and I’m proud to help shape its future.” —Lisa Howard
For the past 17 years, Lisa Howard has been a steadfast guardian of Seattle’s oldest neighborhood. As Executive Director of the Alliance for Pioneer Square, she has led the district through economic highs and lows, cultural shifts, and the unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic—always with vision, resilience, and heart.
Lisa’s leadership is rooted in relationships. She collaborates with city and county officials, neighboring business districts, human service providers, tourism entities, nonprofits, cultural organizations, architects, preservationists, developers, and property managers. Her voice is trusted at every level of policymaking, whether addressing urgent neighborhood issues like public safety or shaping long-term strategies around transportation.
Her impact is tangible. Lisa has championed projects that prioritize walkability, accessibility, and public space—ensuring that preservation is not just about buildings, but about people and place. Her work with the City of Seattle on the East-West Pedestrian Improvements project reconnected the neighborhood to the waterfront and brought wider sidewalks, added greenery and landscaping, nine new pedestrian crossings, and four new curbless street sections, all designed to improve safety and accessibility. It also incorporates historical storytelling through pavement markings and interpretive panels about Indigenous history.
In 2025, the momentum is undeniable. Foot traffic at the First Thursday Art Walk exceeds pre-pandemic levels. Tourism is rebounding. Beloved local businesses like Molly Moon’s, Caffè Vita, and the long-awaited Populus Hotel and rooftop bar Firn have opened their doors. A trio of Renee Erickson restaurants and the famed cocktail bar Death & Co are slated to debut this fall—clear signs of renewed investment and optimism.
Lisa’s influence can be seen in every corner of Pioneer Square. She understands that preservation is not static—it’s a living practice, shaped by community, culture, and care.
Perhaps nothing captures Lisa’s spirit more than her daily walks through the neighborhood. She knows most business owners by name. That’s leadership. That’s the mark of a true champion.
Seattle is stronger, more vibrant, and more rooted in its history because of Lisa Howard’s unwavering commitment to preservation and progress in Seattle’s first neighborhood, Pioneer Square.
Photo courtesy of Alliance for Pioneer Square